32 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 

W

hen Sally Serwer was 6, her 
mother, Adeline Steinman, 
would take her to antique 
shows at Temple Israel. “It was in my 
blood very early on,” the interior designer 
and antique dealer says.
For more than 40 years, Serwer, 67, of 
Bloomfield Hills, has worked in interi-
or design as the owner of Sally Serwer 
Designs. She’s also sold items at Berkley’s 
Odd Fellows Antiques for 15 years as an 
antique dealer, serving clients throughout 
Metro Detroit and beyond.
At the forefront of Serwer’s unique style 
and taste is an aptitude for classic and vin-
tage pieces, which she aims to incorporate 
into any space she decorates. 
“I have been known to be a person to use 

antiques with all of my designs,” she says. 
“Even if it’s a very modern house, I feel like 
you need to have new and old to make it 
different from everyone else’s.”
Catching what she calls the “retail bug” 
from her father, Alvin Steinman, who 
owned women’s boutique Alvin’s Bride 
with several locations throughout the state, 
Serwer combined that passion with her 
mother’s love for antiques (another trait she 
says was passed down) into her business.
Throughout her career, Serwer began 
to collect antiques that she could later sell 
to her clients. She assembled a vast collec-
tion that she stored in her garage, turning 
antique dealing into a side business that 
she could add to her main interior design 
business. 

“I sold on my own,” Serwer recalls, “and 
then I went to the best store in town, Odd 
Fellows Antiques.”

INSIDE THE BUSINESS
OF ANTIQUE DEALING
Odd Fellows Antiques is home to some 
50 antique dealers. Once a week, Serwer 
brings in her latest goods to sell at her 
booth, which includes a wide range of 
everything from beautiful fine antiques to 
flea market finds.
“I’ve got great artwork and furniture, 
mid-century chairs, old French chairs,” 
she describes. “
A lot of antique dealers 
who are there, they specialize in one area, 
and I don’t really have a specialty because 
I love too many different genres. I have a 
gamut for everything.”
While Serwer has perfected the art of 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SALLY SERWER

Interior designer and antique expert Sally Serwer 
Interior designer and antique expert Sally Serwer 

lifts the curtain behind the trade.
lifts the curtain behind the trade.

Inside the
Antique Business

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Sally 
Serwer

business

1960s rare collection 
of Abraham Palatnik 
lucite animals

Murray Eisner-
signed Woody 
Allen print

