Roz & Sherm Becker

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Paris vacation was the defining moment for retailers Roz &
Sherm Becker. At a Paris cafe, Roz noticed her husband star-
ing. "I thought at first he was watching some pretty, young
girls," said Roz. But she realized he was looking at jeans. The styling
of the jeans was unusual—baggy in front and sexy from behind. Roz
knew the look—and the attitude—of the Paris streets were fresh
and original. She had to have them in Detroit.
Back in Detroit, Roz phoned "Davy Stone, who was the fashion
columnist for the Detroit News. "Tavy knew what they were and who
was producing them. We made arrangements to sell the jeans, get-
ting them directly from the manufacturer in Paris."
The timing was perfect. Sherm just opened a new shoe store at
the Bloomfield Plaza that was a departure from his other opera-
tion, a chain of family stores called Becker's shoes. He put Roy, in
charge and Roz & Sherm opened in 1975. Roz added clothing and
costume jewelry with a sense of style.

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While Roz flexed her viewpoint in fashion, always a bit different
from the department store fare, Sherm knew shoes. He met a young
shoe manufacturer in New York by the name of Stuart Weitzman
and decided to carry his complete line of well-crafted plain pumps
in a myriad of colors and textures. Roz & Sherm is Weitzman's largest
single account, selling at least 5,000 pairs of Weitzman's pumps each
year.
Sherm sees fashion shifts in ten-year cycles with the '90s being a
rime of soberness and restraint, contrasting with the excesses of
the '80s and the brash period of youth and international chic that
characterized the '70s and figured so prominently in their own ear-
ly business success.
Roz believes in good design, like the clean, minimal look of her
current favorite, Hino and Malec, which works for a multitude of
women. "I am the customer that I shop for. I buy for what I know."

—Linda Benson