Sales staff Denise Zuckerman, Frances Berger, Ray Epstein, Muriel Rudack and Pearl Cohan.

After 31 years,
Ray Epstein
will retire
from the
upscale retail
business.

hen Anita Naf-
taly stopped by
Ray and Ida's
Southfield dress
shop a few weeks ago,
she had only a few
words.
"How can you do this
to me?" she asked Ray
Epstein, founder of the
31-year-old store that
will close on Sunday.
This week, Ms.
Epstein, 60, begins pre-
paring for her retire-
ment, closing the doors

W

KIMBERLY LIFTON
STAFF WRITER

GOODBYE
ay
and
Ida's

of her popular shop in
Applegate Square, which
specializes in evening
wear and mother-of-the-
bride attire.
She considered selling
the business, but brokers
advised her such a move
could take up to a year.
And she was ready to
leave.
"She deserves a break,"
Ms. Naftaly said. "But
there will be a void. She
will be missed. I used to
come to her store when it

was in Oak Park, and
she used to dress me.
This is like an institu-
tion."
The story of Ray and
Ida's dates back to the
old Jewish neighborhood
of Detroit, where Ms.
Epstein and her late
mother, Ida Cohen, each
invested $500 and
opened a dress shop in
the basement of the
Cohen home on Cherry-
lawn, between Curtis
and Six Mile Road.

Ever since, Ms. Ep-
stein, now 60, has
worked "six days a week
for 31 years."
She rarely has allowed
herself time for relaxing
vacations. The retail
world, she said, is
rewarding but a tough
field. Buying trips to
New York are hard work
— not a world of glam-
our, she added.
Now she wants to
relax. Ever since her

GOODBYE page 52

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