business >>

Blending Traditions

Star Trax acquires Joe Cornell in a perfect business marriage.

Barbara Lewis I Contributing Writer

5

tar Trax owners Geoff Kretchmer
and Brian Siegel felt so strongly
about their brand of b'nai mitzvah-
related entertainment and event services
that they wanted everyone in the market-
place to experience it. With its acquisition
of Joe Cornell Entertainment, their com-
pany, Star Trax Event Productions, may
accomplish that goal.
Star Trax, which started in 1987, has
earned a reputation for providing high-
energy MCs (Master of Ceremonies), DJs,
valet parking and other party services.
In 2014, they expanded their repertoire
by acquiring Entertainment by Design,
which enlivened parties with services like
photo booths, arcade games, crafts and
screen printing. Joe Cornell brings the
well-known pre-teen dance classes and a
semi-annual event-planning expo to the
expanded company.
The words "Joe Cornell" are syn-
onymous with b'nai mitzvah preparation,
which is somewhat amusing because the
company's founder, Joseph Coronella, was
not Jewish.
In the 1950s, Coronella's job as a dance
instructor with the Arthur Murray Studio
took him to Michigan resorts, where he
met many Jewish vacationers.
Back in Detroit, he opened his own
studio and, in 1957, began offering what
came to be known as the Joe Cornell
Experience, a series of classes where
youngsters looking forward to their bar or
bat mitzvah year could learn not only how
to dance, but also how to interact with the
opposite sex.
In the 1970s, Joe Cornell branched out
into working as a mobile DJ at b'nai mitz-
vah parties.

Steve Jasgur, 46, and his sister, Rebecca
Schlussel, 44, purchased Joe Cornell
Entertainment in 1991. In 2002, they
started an event-planning expo. Earlier
this year, they agreed to become part of
the Star Trax empire.

A PERFECT MARRIAGE
"We're bringing the best of both worlds
together; said Kretchmer, 48. "Together,
our two businesses controlled 95 percent
of the bar and bat mitzvah business in
Southeast Michigan.
"For years, Brian and I have respected
what Steve and Becca have done. Their
customer service philosophy is similar to
ours. We all grew up in this community
and we all have deep roots here
Kretchmer said although he and Jasgur
both worked at Tamarack Camps in the
1980s, they didn't really know each other.
"I was at Star Trax parties and they [Jasgur
and Schlussel] were at Joe Cornell parties:'
he said.
They all see that as a good thing because
their partnership enables them to reach so
many new people.
"It seemed like a very natural thing:'
Schlussel said. "From our first conversa-
tion, it was like a marriage. All of us have
unique strengths, and we're now working
as a team:'
Kretchmer said Star Trax offered a
successful but more casual version of a
pre-teen dance class but couldn't crack
Cornell's long-standing hold on the more
traditional program that many parents
wanted. "They were the best:' he said.
"They had the history, the system and a
fabulous staff"
Generations of Detroiters have prepared
for the bar and bat mitzvah social sea-
son by taking dance classes through Joe
Cornell.
Kretchmer said
the classes, aimed
at sixth-grade stu-
dents, will continue,
but they may get
some "Star Trax
tweaks:' Schlussel
said this year's class
will include instruc-
tion in break danc-
ing, and the dress
code may be relaxed
a bit.
This year's fall
session of 12 classes
Steve Jasgur has fun in one of his sixth-grade Joe Cornell
started Sept. 21;
classes.

30

Geoff Kretchmer and Brian Siegel, Star Trax Event Production partners, flank Rebecca

Schlussel and Steve Jasgur, who owned Joe Cornell, which was acquired by Star Trax.

registration starts later this month for the
spring session. The program costs $330.
The company offers six classes a week,
mostly at synagogues and temples. They
also offer classes at private middle schools,
including Cranbrook and a number of
Catholic schools.
In the spring of 2015, Star Trax put on
its first event planning expo at Knollwood
Country Club. The event was successful,
attracting more than 50 vendors and 500
attendees. This program was in direct
competition with Cornell's fall expo. Their
first event-planning show together — the
Sept. 20 Event Planning Expo at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield
— was the largest ever, with 66 vendors
and thousands of visitors. Another expo is
planned for the spring.
Schlussel and Jasgur, who oversee the
expo, recently started a spin-off, Plan It
magazine, published twice a year. The
magazine, which offers tips, timelines,
checklists and other event-planning
advice, is available free at the Jewish
Community Center, area retailers and
online at www.planitmagazine.com .
Schlussel noted that the expo and maga-
zine were other examples of how together
the company will be even more successful.
With the addition of the dance

classes, the expo and the magazine, said
Kretchmer, Star Trax Entertainment can
handle a family's needs at almost every
life-cycle touchpoint.
"We do a lot of valet parking for brises,"
he said. "Then the children grow up and
take our dance classes, and we provide
entertainment and other services for their
bar or bat mitzvah and later for their wed-
dings. We also provide parking services for
other large parties and for shivahs."
He said Star Trax parkers handle more
than 50,000 cars every year.
The expanded company has 12 full-time
staff and 350 part-timers.
The partners agree that they love and
value their close connections to the Jewish
community. Siegel is the current president
of the Jewish Community Center and
Kretchmer is a vice president at Tamarack
Camps. Star Trax annually donates $75,000
worth of services to local charities, as well
as $25,000 in cash.
It was important for both Joe Cornell
and Star Trax to be recognized as commu-
nity leaders, said Kretchmer, even more so
now that they are one company.
Ultimately, said Kretchmer, customer
service is the name of the game.
"We live and breathe trying to make
people happy:' he said. *

