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B I R M I N G H A M
40 | DECEMBER 14 • 2023
J
N
J
ust over a decade ago,
Jewish businesswoman
Rachel Lutz faced
the last $1,500 credit card
limit left to her name. After
being unemployed for a
year-and-a-half and taking
a food application from Yad
Ezra that she didn’t have the
courage to turn back in, Lutz
decided enough was enough.
Lutz, whose grandparents
operated a china shop on
McNichols, and whose father
held a Sony store in the
Fisher Building in the 1960s,
knew she didn’t want to work
for anyone else. In fact, with
retail “in her DNA,” Lutz
decided to pursue a dream
to follow in her family’s
footsteps.
Using her remaining
credit limit, she opened her
first retail store in 2011 at
the historic Park Shelton
in Midtown Detroit. Lutz
knew she wanted to cater
to women of all sizes and
needs and had grown tired
of limited size availability for
women in traditional retail
and department stores.
Opening The Peacock
Room was a gamble, but
Lutz’s dream — and hard
work — paid off.
Now, in its 12 years of
operation, The Peacock
Room has grown into a
multi-million-dollar retail
success. In addition to
the original Park Shelton
location, Lutz opened a
second store in 2017 at the
Fisher Building, where her
father planted his own retail
roots some 60 years earlier.
She also launched
Yama and Frida, adjacent
boutiques for women found
at the Fisher Building
and the Park Shelton,
respectively.
Yet as demand for women’s
clothing in all sizes continues
to grow, particularly for both
casual and formal dresses —
which The Peacock Room
is arguably best known for
— Lutz knew it was time to
revisit her dream and once
again expand the brand.
“We’ve become Detroit’s
destination for dresses,”
explains Lutz, who hand-
picks every item sold in her
stores. Still, discussions with
the landlord didn’t go in the
direction she had hoped for,
and the idea stalled. Instead,
Lutz considered how to use
her existing real estate.
Naturally, Yama and Frida
became viable options for
gaining more square footage
for The Peacock Room.
While both boutiques will
The Peacock Room will expand in both the
Fisher Building and Park Shelton locations.
Popular Detroit
Glamour Shop Set to
Expand Next Spring
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Rachel Lutz is
expanding The
Peacock Room
this spring.
A view of the
Peacock Room