January 31 • 2019 29
jn

retail
arts&life

Proud as
a Peacock

Rachel Lutz helps return
retail elegance
to the city of Detroit.

LAUREN HOFFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T

he story of the Peacock Room is the story of
drop ceilings. Or rather, the story of finding
what’
s underneath them. “You don’
t get the
real richness of Detroit without really peeling back
the layers,
” says Rachel Lutz, founder and proprietor.
The first drop ceiling was in 2010 in the Park
Shelton, where the then-building manager (com-
munity member Jay Bassin) showed Lutz the last
available retail space in a sign-less, lobby-entry-only
room. After losing her luxury retail job in the reces-
sion, Lutz had been re-selling vintage and estate sale
finds at pop-ups around town but knew she was in it
for a brick-and-mortar.
She was driven by two realizations: First, that
there was a gap in the market. She and other Detroit
residents had to leave city limits to shop for apparel,
an experience familiar in a city long underserved by
national and local retailers that disinvested during
decades of the city’
s decline. Second, the kind of sus-
taining human connection shared while shopping in
boutiques is not replicable online.
The ability to thoughtfully buy for customers of all
body types and to show genuine warmth, openness
for conversation and styling prowess is a unique
experience only a brick-and-mortar business offers.
That day in the Park Shelton, Lutz figured she
would find a way to offer that experience in the
cramped shop space. And then, hidden under the
low drop ceiling for so long no one could remember,
they found high ceilings with original plasterwork
from the building’
s historic dining room.
Lutz reworked the brand entirely, shaping it to
match the remnants of gilded age history dotted
across Detroit’
s cityscape like a treasure map — so
rarely appreciated for how precious a local treasure
our architectural legacy is.
“These spaces give us a sense of place … The
space inspired the next direction for the business.
Out of respect for the architecture,
” Lutz says.
It was then that she embraced the brand’
s current
identity as a vintage and vintage-inspired dress shop,
paying homage to an era of women’
s shopping we

“These spaces give us

a sense of place. They inspired

the next direction for the

business. Out of respect for the

architecture,” Rachel Lutz says.

It was then that she embraced

the brand’
s current identity as

a vintage and vintage-inspired

dress shop, recalling the

scenes of B. Altman in

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

continued on page 30

LAUREN HOFFMAN