Jan 13, 2011

Reinventing themselves: Shops fight off tough times by changingBy Jim TottenLivingstonDaily.com

As the economic downturn took hold several years ago, Mondi Miller watched the flow of customers slow to a trickle in her Heirloom Oriental Rugs shop in downtown Brighton.

“Nothing was happening,” she said.

The shop owner eventually realized she had to make a decision: change or close up.

“We’re reinventing ourselves,” she said.

During the vibrant economy of the 1990s, interior decorators from southeastern Michigan used to bring customers into her high-end shop to look at hand-knotted rugs which took workers in India up to two years to make. The rugs sold for $1,800 to $10,000 depending on size, and original oil paintings went for $180 to $2,300.

All that changed when the economy tanked. Mondi Miller said two local decorators moved out of state; no one was buying handmade wool rugs.

“With the economy, we could have hung in there a little longer,” she said. “But if we didn’t change, we would have had to close.”

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