business SPOTlight

brought to you in partnership with 
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