ADAM FINKEL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jews in the D

26 | JUNE 18 • 2020 

COURTESY OF RACHEL LUTZ

O

n a typical day before 
the coronavirus epi-
demic hit, you could 
easily find entrepreneur Rachel 
Lutz at one of her three Detroit-
based women’
s boutiques. These 
days, with her locations oper-
ating by appointment only, we 
caught up with her about how 
she’
s been impacted and her 
plans for the future.

In May, you were featured 
alongside Gov. Whitmer at her 
press conference to discuss the 
“MI Safe Start” Plan. How did 
that engagement come to be?
I had written the governor a 
letter, expressing support for her 
stay-at-home order. But know-
ing that she also deeply cares 
about Michigan small busi-
nesses, I gave feedback on what 
might help us safely serve our 
customers as we reemerge back 
into an open economy. 

What is the current state of the 
Peacock Room and where do 
you see the business going as 
Michigan reopens?
The Peacock Room, Frida and 
Yama are currently closed to the 
public, but I’
ve been doing some 
appointments. We’
ve had some 
wildly successful Facebook Live 

events, which have taken us 
into online sales, something we 
hadn’
t really touched before. It’
s 
a completely different business 
model, so it’
s taken some adjust-
ing to. I will reopen my shops to 
the public when I reach a point 
of more confidence in the envi-
ronment around us. The safety 
of my staff and customers is 
my top priority, so any decision 
I make will be based on what 
I’
m hearing from the scientific 
community.

What would be your message 
to friends and family on the 
best way to help others that 
have businesses impacted?
Every small business out there 
is in a true fight for survival. 
Some of us won’
t make it, some 
of us will hang on, and I’
m con-
fident some of us will actually 
thrive — it all depends on how 
much our community supports 
us and how willing each owner 
is to adapt to the new world 
around us.

One of your earliest mentions 
in the Jewish News was in 
1996. At Berkley High School, 
during studies to remember 
the Holocaust, you and other 
students educated students 
on modern-day atrocities in 
Rwanda, the persecution of 
Armenians and American 
Indians, and the forced relo-
cation of Japanese Americans. 
A quarter-century later, if you 
were to think about the chal-
lenges in our society today, 
what is at the top of your mind 
today?
The most urgent and import-
ant matter in my mind in the 
continued fight for justice is 
for the black community. As a 
Detroit resident and business 
owner, it’
s impossible to ignore 
the pain and injustice experi-
enced here on a regular basis, 
from the school system to the 
corrections system. Even the 
topography of Detroit exposes 
the pockmarks of institutional-
ized racism that we’
ve failed to 
address for generations — just 
look at our sharply segregat-
ed regional census map from 
as recently as 2010. It doesn’
t 
resemble a metro area that’
s 
learned the lessons of the past 

Every small business out there is 
in a true fi
 ght for survival. Some 
of us won’t make it, some of us 
will hang on, and I’m confi
 dent 
some of us will actually thrive — 
it all depends on how much our 
community supports us and how 
willing each owner is to adapt
to the new world around us.

— RACHEL LUTZ

Rachel 
Lutz

Detroit boutique owner talks about small business sur-
vival in the pandemic and her passion for social justice.

withRachel

One on One Lutz

continued on page 27

