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Visit
simplycasual
clothingstore ™ and purchase an exclusive
card for only $10, where all members have year-round savings!
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simplycasual
clothingstore ™
Has been a
specialty store on Detroit’s
west side since 1997. Owned by Rufus Bartell, the men and women’s
retailer has continually improved
its physical image and embodied Bartell’s commitment to customers
and the community.
simplycasual
™ has always carried a strong
selection of fashion goods for the urban customer aged 25
to 45. In its tenth year in 2007,
simplycasual ™
has moved (in 2006) from Wyoming and
Seven
Mile Road, to Livernois, Detroit’s historical Avenue of Fashion, now
known as the University Commons
District.
In the
new custom built space
simplycasual ™ now enjoys an “out
of the box” design
featuring
loft-style, exposed duct work and ceiling, and a former dry
cleaners’ conveyor that allows a
two-level display of up to eighteen hundred garments. Like
comparable world-class offerings,
store design here is a display even without the merchandise.
Along with store
redesign and relocation is expansion in customer reach and merchandise
selection. Though only a mile away from its former address, the new location’s
simple change in neighborhood has brought a broader buying
taste to
simplycasual
™
expanding to include customers aged 25 to 65.
University
Commons is a potential “walk-able shopping district” according to
Bartell. Mature
professionals, business owners and the University of Detroit Mercy
faculty and student
body populate the area. “The grown and sexy,” Bartell described them.
Running the
“seven figure” business, Bartell is a veteran merchandiser, yet a
lifelong
student of
merchandising, and has expanded inventory with the New
simplycasual ™.
The new store is
divided into three merchandise categories: 1) “Core” provides
customers basic clothes
needed for everyday and is the store’s “meat and potatoes” according
to Bartell, 2) “Premium” are the
high-end, designer goods and imports from Paris, Italy, etc., 3)
“Casual” are the non-denim
offerings: sweaters, slacks, blazers; comfortable separates for work,
court, and executive style
needs. Merchandise includes medium to upper price points. “A young
lady can find a jean from sixty to in the three hundred (dollar)
range.
A guy can find a
jean from fifty dollars to five hundred dollars, so there’s something for everybody,”
Bartell shared.
We aren’t a store
that no one can afford, yet we are a store carrying better goods
because this is what people are
asking for. They don’t want any more dollar stores. We have enough of
that.
Customers want
quality merchandise that they can get some wear-ability out of,” he
said. From
the décor to the music the whole experience of distinct sights,
sounds, smells, and tastes at
simplycasual
™ is dedicated to
engaging the senses of the shopper.
Bartell described
the green with red accents color scheme displayed throughout the store
as expressing
profitability combined with excitement.
Whether shopping
or talking with Bartell, you discover his unwavering sense of
responsibility toward business, the
city and in delivering a global standard of excellence to his
customers. When building out the store to
provide the best presentation and easiest navigation for those
customers, he and his staff considered
everything including countertop height, dressing room location and
window direction.
Positive reception to
the New simplycasual ™
from passers-by,
customers old and new,
the political
community, and neighborhood mainstays, has been the reward and
affirmation of that
diligence and of the business philosophy.
The simplycasual ™
philosophy is, “Live, love, serve.”
Bartell
explained, “Live means to enjoy life in all its abundance. Love means
to love people and love to do the things
you want to do in life. Then serve, which I think is the epitome of
living and loving, is to serve people
in everything you do.”
Rufus Bartell is
a stickler for details forever striving to be better. He lives an
unmistakably dedicated and purposeful
life, as he loves those he serves. Believers in his circle and among
his staff are constantly
challenged to give their best. Along with Bartell, they live up to
that philosophy and their own potential, as
evidenced in the outstanding shopping experience, always provided and
getting
better, at
simplycasual ™.
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