ECONOMY

HERE AND NOW

A Candy Store Poised to Make Dental Visits Hell;
Local Mom Corners Cutesy Market

Boutiques, businesses and brands you may not know — b ut should.

By Lynne Konstantin

THE CZARINA

CANDYLAND, FOR REAL

When the local economy took a nosedive,
Stacy Stone decided to get creative.
An interior designer for 20 years, the West
Bloomfield resident had started making
candy cakes — mounds of candy decora-
tively piled high —just for fun gifts to give
out among family and friends.
While bringing one of her cakes to a res-
taurant as a gift for her dad, she said she was
overwhelmed with questions by other pa-
trons wanting to know where she got such a
unique item. That response, and the degree
of difficulty she experienced trying to get
from one end of the restaurant to the other,
told her she might have hit on something.
So this past December, along with her
husband, Walter (who owns Snack Attack
in Detroit), she opened Sweet Thing in Bir-
mingham. The shop is a candy cornucopia —
bursting with retro favorites like Mary Janes,
Squirrels and Banana Splits; novelty treats,
like fizzy drinks and Hershey bars in nostalgic
wrappers; and contemporary staples, like M&Ms in every color, and more.
But Stone's store also is a showcase for the fanciful custom orders she creates for
birthdays, weddings, b'nai mitzvah — and, of course, Valentine's Day.
215 N Old Woodward, Birmingham. (248) 792-2410.

OF CUTESY

Darcee Matlen is
well on her way to
becoming an empire.
The West Bloom-
field mom and former
fashion-design stu-
dent began looking
for a creative outlet
after her first son was
born in 2007; and she hit pay dirt quickly with the introduction of her Bestie Buds friend-
ship necklace sets through her website, Violetgumdrop.com .
Taylor Swift, Dakota Fanning and Gwyneth's daughter, Apple, reportedly share the ice
cream and cake, Pop Tart and milk, and peanut butter and jelly trinkets with their besties.
Since then, Matlen's added finds created by other artists to her line Cutesyandcool.
corn (check it out for whimsical bags, tees, bibs and jewelry, like these owl earrings,
shown).
And just this January, Matlen said, she
introduced her own line, Karmagrams.
corn. Send good karma, lunch grams (stick
a sweet note in your kids' lunchbox), love
grams, wish grams and more with the
postcard packs of six to eight, replete with
karma confetti to sprinkle inside the enve-
lope. Namaste.
Items available at violetgumdrop.com .

PROFESSIONALS

HOME BREW

"We Heard Your Ovary Has Cancer!"
That'll-Be $2.99 — Plus Tax ...

West Bloomfield attorney uses humor to neutralize sister's battle
with cancer, founding a greeting card company along the way.

By Jackie Headapohl

t takes a snarky sense of humor to be Karen Kogan
Rosenzweig. Lucky for her, wit seems to have been
inherited."We make fun of everything, even when
it's inappropriate," she said of her family's propensity
to mock adversity. "That's how we get through hard
times. We say it like it is."
That knack came in handy when, in October 2008,
Rosenzweig's sister, Debbie Lyda, was diagnosed with
ovarian cancer.Throughout that ordeal, Rosenzweig
would spend nights in her sister's hospital room,
where the two would construct funny verses, taunting
the cancer, and always ending them with the phrase,
"That's all!'
"My sister and I
started using 'That's all'
after everything we
said," Rosenzweig re-
called on her website,
thatsallgreetings.
com .
"For some reason,
under the stress
of her situation,
we found this to
be really funny.
An odd thing to
laugh about, but
funny."
Rosenzweig
told her sister
she might just
start a greeting card company
someday. When she lost her job as an attorney
three months later, that's just what Rosenzweig did.
Greeting cards from That's All LLC, were available in
stores two months later.
"When I learned that I had been laid off, I thought,
'This is a blessing. Now I get to do what I want to do,"
she said.
Rosenzweig, who has an undergraduate degree
from the University of Arizona and her law degree
from the University of Detroit, had been practicing
criminal and insurance law for 18 years. She said she
never really considered working in anything other
than the law until the idea for a home-based business
took hold.
She says she knew that a passion for writing
wouldn't be enough to successfully launch a com-
pany, however, given her lack of business acumen.
She began to educate herself and turned to others for

I

14 February 2011 I

IUD

mum

guidance."' was lucky
to have friends and
family who wanted
me to succeed," she
said.
Rosenzweig got
advice from a friend
who owned a statio-
nery company in Los
Angeles. A cousin, an
attorney in Florida, ad-
vised her on copyright
and trademark law.
She also hired a busi-
ness adviser from Cali-
fornia who had been
in the greeting card
Karen Kogan Rosenzweig; sweet smile,
business for 35 years.
snarky sense of humor.
Her husband helped
her with the books.
Armed with new knowledge, a cadre of experts and
an investment from her father, she was able to launch
her greeting card business, which she runs out of
the West Bloomfield home she shares with husband,
Marc, and sons, Jacob, 17, and Sammy, 14.
The sardonic greeting cards, consisting of phrases
most people might think of but would be hesitant to
say, have seemingly made sarcasm socially sweet. A
portion of each sale goes to help fight ovarian cancer.
Word of mouth quickly helped land the cards in
stores. Andrea Graef, owner of This &That, on East
Liberty in Ann Arbor, said she started with one rack of
Rosenzweig's cards and quickly added more.
"I can hear people laughing when they read them.
They are a lot of fun," she said. "I also like that they are
made in Michigan, printed locally and give back to
the community!'
Mark Klar, owner of Warren Drugs at 14 Mile Road
and Middlebelt in Farmington Hills, is another fan.
"Hallmark isn't for everybody," he says. "Her cards
are funny and creative, and they sell. She's always
coming up with new different designs,"said Klar, who
puts in a weekly order.
Rosenzweig's sister is now in remission, and —
unlike the cancer — the idea she helped to spark
continues to grow. Currently, Rosenzweig is working
on revamping the company website and other"new,
fun and cool things." She said she's thrilled with her
success."' love it every single day. I wouldn't call it
work." .11

-

"D.I.Y." Wedding Videos:
Wave of the Future?

Entrepreneur dreams up idea and finds
success loaning flip video cameras for
wedding-day festivities.

By Bill Carroll

n of since the advent of the "disposable camera;' those
single-use, pocket-sized devices that have become a
wedding-reception-staple, have guests better been able
to capture posterity for that beloved couple's special day —
until now.
A puckish young entrepreneur from West Bloomfield has
moved the candid camera concept into 2.0-mode through his
Detroit-based venture, Wedit, by providing high-definition
flip cameras for creating guest-generated digital video foot-
age.
"Couples often splurge to create a day that's absolutely per-
fect, but when it comes to capturing the memories on video,
they sometimes take a pass — scared away by decades of old
formula videos;' said Brett DeMarrais, the 22-year-old CEO of
Wedit. "We give newlyweds the unique opportunity to relive
their special day through the lens of family and friends, seeing
those candid moments that made their wedding special to
them and their guests!'
It's a fairly uncomplicated concept that DeMarrais, a West
Bloomfield native, conceived and executed. His company
loans five HD flip video cameras to the wedding couple, who
in turn provide them to their guests to record the wedding
and reception.
"Guests can capture candid and fun-filled moments that a
professional photographer probably wouldn't have time to
obtain — and at a fraction of the cost;' DeMarrais explained.
After the wedding, the couple returns the cameras to Wedit
in a postage-paid box, after which the videos are uploaded
to a proprietary video-sharing website.The drag and drop
editing tools give newlyweds the option of editing their own

DIY WEDDING VIDEOS SEE PAGE 16

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