DETROIT
AREA
STORES ARE
PREDICTING
CONTINUED
SALES
GROWTH.

Alan Bishop
is set
for good times
and bad.

LISA BARS ON
Special to the Jewish News

A

round the country, and
particularly in Detroit,
there's a murmur that hasn't
been heard in years. In
hushed tones, people whisper that
word: recession.
Is the economy about to take a
nosedive? Are years of prosperity
behind us? Local retailers don't seem
to think so. In fact, for some, business
has never been better.
Alan Bishop, founder and owner of
Mr. Alan's Shoes, hasn't seen sales in
any of his 11 stores decrease — he's
actually opening more stores to keep
up with demand.
"The year 2000 was a record year
for us," explains Bishop. "Our sales
were up 25 percent and we opened
two new stores in Cleveland."
Bishop opened his first store, Mr.
Alan's Men's Bootery, 26 years ago in
Southfield at Greenfield and 10 Mile
roads. At the time, the store occupied
just 700 square feet. That original
store is still open, but it has expanded
to 10,000 square feet, now the aver-
age size of all of Bishop's stores.
Mr. Alan's is a specialty clothing
store, catering to an urban audience
of males age 10-30. The store focuses
on athletic footwear, denim apparel,
coats, pants, shirts and sweaters. "It's
like a department store for the urban
market," explains Bishop.
As for the economy, he recalls that
"the recession of 1990-91 did hurt
our business, but ever since then, sales
have been skyrocketing."
And because Bishop buys for all 11
of his stores from the same manufac-
turers, he gets better pricing, which
he says translates to lower prices for
his customers. "When times are good,

I sell more expensive items, more
designer clothes," he says. "If there is
a downturn in the economy, people
will still need to buy clothes, they will
just take advantage of the `two-for'
pricing promotions."
Bishop feels fortunate that, regard-
less of the economic mood, he has a
great staff and minimal employee
turnover. "I pay commission for my
employees," he says, "and the people I
get to work for me usually start out as
customers."
The first week of January was not
his best sales week, so the stores took
bigger markdowns and restructured
their sale items. The following week,
sales were back up. Bishop is an
active manager, meeting with his
staff each Tuesday to discuss the past
week. If there are any issues, they are
addressed at the meetings and recti-
fied over the remainder of the week.
Bishop hopes to continue to
expand, and has plans to tap into the
Chicago market. "Regardless of the
state of the economy, I continue to
plan this expansion," he says. "It just
makes for more opportunities, espe-
cially in real estate. It's a great
growth time."
People may find they have less dis-
posable income this year than they
did in 1999, but they are apparently
still maintaining their spending
habits. The only indicator to Bishop
that the economy might be faltering is
that his customers, who typically pay
for their purchases with cash, have
been using more credit cards.

Furniture Wars

Jeff Selik, general manager of Hillside
Furniture in Bloomfield Hills, has an
equally optimistic view. Like Bishop,
Selik relies on advertising to bring in