Dee’s Hallmark Building in Dearborn up for Sale
Card Shop Business Doing Well and Will Remain in Building
The Dee’s Hallmark building, home of the best card shop in Dearborn, is now on the sales block for $640,000. But the card shop itself will be staying for the foreseeable future, according to the shop’s owner, Don Belcher.
“Blessings to all my loyal friends who have shopped Dee’s for the past 25 years. I am saddened by the recent confusion concerning the future of Dee’s Hallmark. The last thing I need is for people to think I’m willingly going out of business. Hopefully I can help clarify some of the misconceptions. I opened for business in November of 1985 and shortly after the first holiday season I knew this would be my home for years to come. I loved the community and it’s residents who soon became my friends. I expressed my sentiments to the owners of the building, who are great people, and asked if they would like to sell. They told me they were not interested at the time but if and when they were I would have first opportunity. True to their word they did just that which was October of last year. Unfortunately after the many years of struggle I was painfully not in a position financially to buy the building I always dreamed of owning. My commitment to survival has always been strong but after closing (3) other stores and using the money to keep Dee’s going there was not enough left to take them up on their offer, which brings us to the present. It is common knowledge that this is not the best time to sell commercial property as evidenced by the many vacancies in our area. However should it sell I will make every effort to negotiate a favorable lease agreement with the new owner. If that is not possible I will look to relocate as close to my current location as I can. A smarter man would have given up long ago I think I’m just to dumb to know when it’s time to quit!!!! With that said I hope this clears up any notion that after all I’ve been through that I would leave a community that I feel as close to as family I have worked with mothers/children /and grandchildren and I cherish those memories. Trust me I will not leave easy as long as you want me here. Peace and God Bless.”
With so little retail in west Dearborn, we are hopeful Mr. Belecher will be able to keep his card shop at 22283 Michigan Ave., for many years to come.
The building, built in 1967, went on the sales block at the end of October for $640,000. The 4,261 square-foot building also can be leased for $15 a sq.-ft for a lease payment of $5,326 a month.
A few interesting documents worth looking at from Signature Associates, who is listing the property. One document takes a look at the demographics of our region and household income within a one, three and five mile radius. As you can image it goes down the father you go out of the circle. For a look at that document, click HERE.
A second document lists the full demographic profile, looking at a one, three and five mile radius. Click HERE for that document.
Finally, a third document from the real estate company says this in the comments section of the listing: “Outstanding retail opportunity in downtown west Dearborn. Long established retail business vacating this building located in the hub of Dearborn’s retail district directly across the street from two new parking decks. Total taxes for 2008 were $10,969.58. Special assessment for 2008 ($616.90) is year 6 of 10.” To view this, click HERE.
November 15th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Big Dog, good thought – I also considered the lot between the parking decks to be the best place for the new train station until I realized that the designated location by the power plant is ideal for tourists to stop and walk to The Henry Ford, not to mention a station might require double tracks so that a stopped train would not impede the flow of freight trains or other non-stop trains to/from Detroit/Chicago. Not sure if that area has double tracks, but it would be easier to put there than in the middle of downtown.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Respectfully Dave:
What other common thread ran through ALL of these closed businesses?
Effective ADVERTISING.
Not one word. There were people around town that never even knew that these businesses existed in the first place.
All the businesses you mentioned are national franchises. I have not researched, but someone owns(ed) the franchises to make the decision to locate in West Dearborn. The same person(s) also decided to move and/or relocate said businesses. I will surmise that these are businesses that rely on national name recognition and co-op advertising. None of which was taken advantage of by the franchise owners.
Hallmark is a national franchise. It baffled me why there were two Hallmark franchised stores (Dee’s and Sally’s) within such close proximity of each other. Dee’s will now be the exclusive Hallmark store in a now larger service area.
In terms of the ‘paid parking issue’ and the ‘West Village Commons’ issue, I will reserve my comments for another topic thread, when Mr Deep posts an article specifically with those topics.
Continued success to the owners and employees of Dee’s Hallmark: for prospering over the past 25 years, for a prosperous holiday season and future.
November 16th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Anthony,
I don’t disagree with you on advertising. But I’m not a Dearborn resident, so I cannot write about the issue of local advertising (like with those Val Paks or anything else). I do imagine they may help the independents (the ones still around; the ones gone).
I do stand by my assertions that there is a lousy combination of stores on Michigan Ave., on the south side where Jacobsons had occupied (and where there is now a stream of vacancies). There have/had been a number of redundancies (some of which — yes, the national chains like Au Bon Pain and Caribou Coffee — were, to put it kindly, curbed).
I brought up West Village Commons and paid parking because they are a big part of this whole issue. It is not inviting or attractive in getting consumers to want to show up. And that situation isn’t any better today than when they had some noteworthy occupants (when West Village Commons opened in 2006).
SIDE NOTE: I thought Sally’s is a gift shop store; Dee’s is, technically, a Hallmark Crown Rewards store with the line of Hallmark products (branding must be noted).
By the way: I’m from Allen Park, and we had three Hallmark stores — which aren’t franchises so much as dealerships — within a two- or three-mile radius: Betty’s Hallmark, in Lincoln Park Shopping Center; The Browsery, in or around the center of the city (just a block or so from the movie theater on Allen Rd. near Southfield Rd.); Jan’s Hallmark, in the south end of the city. And, today, only Jan’s remains while The Browsery — in business since c. 1980 — was retired earlier this year by its owner. Betty’s — around the same age — was dying for at least a couple years before the end became official in early-2008. (That’s another issue.) This news about Dee’s Hallmark doesn’t surprise me. I hope for the best with that situation.