SUNDANCE

SUNDANCE SHOES cordially invites you to the

grand opening of our beautiful new store.

Thursday - Saturday
April 12th - 14th

20% Off*

in appreciation of your patronage

during the past 25 years.

Steven Fischer, center, and David Kersh, right, go. over blueprints for customers Larry
and Jeanette Murphy.

from $2,000 to more than S100,000.
Home theater systems are priced from
$2,000 to $25,000.
And for those wannabe Steven
Spielbergs seeking to recreate a direct
replica of a director's private screening
room, Ensemble will put together the
whole thing, including leather stadium
seating, acoustics, bean bags, projec-
tion system, screen, surround-sound
system, and everything else you need
for S150,000 and up, popcorn not
included. Clearly, those who appreci-
ate quality comprise Ensemble's target
market.

Big Market

The boom in home entertainment sys-
tems helped push consumer electron-
ics sales in the U.S. well over the S70
billion mark in 1999. The S4 billion
in sales racked up in metropolitan
Detroit made it the sixth largest con-
sumer electronics market in the
nation.
What has been behind the growth?
Retail analyst Frederick Marx, a part-
ner in Marx Layne marketing and
public relations in Farmington Hills,
attributes it to several factors. "Theres
the cocooning effect that began long
before [home decor expert] Martha
Stewart discovered it; and the fact that
people are working longer and more
often in their homes, which accounts
for a good part of the explosion in
kitchens, bathroom and closet renova-

tions. -
"More people own a second home,
so that means not just leather couches
that have to be duplicated, but
microwaves, VCRs, all the toys for big
boys, consumer electronics on all lev-
els," explained Marx.
He pointed to affordable housing in
areas like Oakland County that means
increased in discretionary income. A
store that's home-grown like
Ensemble, he said, often strikes the
right chord with buyers because the
big players in the field have been slow
to flock to this area for reasons like
cyclical employment fears and the his-
tory of failed ventures like Highland
Appliance and Fretters.
The 49-year-old Fischer explains
that he's had "a fascination with stereo
equipment since I was small. I found
myself in a situation with a lot of free
time as I was building my practice so I
wanted to take my hobby and turn it
into a business. My wife was support-
ive and said try it."
Starting with just a couple lines of
equipment, he began to advertise.
Next, he was accepting credit cards.
Although his home was in an area
zoned residential, none of his neigh-
bors complained.

The Right Partner

Soon, Fischer was thinking seriously
about switching careers. But he need-
ed help. "Looking for a business part-

Thank You

On The Boardwalk

6915 Orchard Lake Road

W. Bloomfield, Ml 48322

248-737-9059

* not to be combined with any other offer

Take on spring
with a whole
new look you'll
only find at
Robert Mann
Furs & More.