Clothing Retailer Trumps Borders as Detroit's Largest Store

DETROIT-When it comes to size, the clothes horse has beaten the book worm Downtown. Less than a week after Borders opened of the city’s largest store– an 8,000-sf book store–clothier Julian Scott announced plans to trump the chain with a 15,000-sf store opening of its own.

The clothier, which will open Friday in the People’s State Bank Building on W. Fort Street features men’s and women’s fashions and accessories, including everything from furs to men’s custom suits and shirts. The store will also employ about 25 workers.

The public will get a preview of Julian Scott on Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A by-invitation-only reception follows Friday night, and the store opens for business the following day.

The Julian Scott Inc. partnership owns two other stores Downtown, both much smaller than Julian Scott. Style, which opened in March 2002, occupies the point of a piece-of-pie-shaped building at Randolph and Congress. It opened with about 1,000 sf of men’s and women’s accessories, later expanding into the basement level to also carry women’s clothing.

In March 2003, the partnership opened Rodeo Drive at 301 W. Fort St., on the spot of a former travel agency. This store, barely 500 sf, offers women’s accessories, including handbags, sunglasses, jewelry, belts and scarves, as well as a small collection of women’s clothing.

The owners have modeled their new store after Henri Bendel and Barneys, the New York fashion retailers that had stores in the Somerset Collection in Troy, MI, in the 1990s.

The selection is broad, encompassing men’s and women’s wear, accessories, jewelry, housewares, furs and cosmetics, as well as a CD-DVD section, a juice bar and a cigar lounge. It also will offer custom tailoring for men and women, with four tailors on staff. The lineup includes familiar names such as Armani, Canali, St. John and Gucci, as well as “undiscovered” brands such as Two Star Dog, a women’s knitwear line, and Baabaazuzu, a contemporary women’s collection. Local designers Mark England and Cedi Johnson also will be represented.

The men’s department, housed in a series of small rooms at one end of the store, has been dubbed Julian Scott Suites for Men. Its leather chairs and fireplace give it the aura of a men’s club. Lynn and Washington have further plans for Julian Scott. The second level will be home to a fur department and cafe, while the basement will house gift wrapping and a concierge.