{SS} How did you get started in the Fashion/Retail Business?
{H} I started working in retail when I was 15 years old. I worked at a store called Jonathan’s menswear, on Twelve Mile and Evergreen. From there, I worked for R. Grumet Men’s Clothing. At 18, I briefly went on the road as a wholesale sales rep for four different women’s collections. I learned being on the road was definitely not for me, I missed being around friends and family. Next, at the age of 19 I worked for a Women’s Shoe Store called Nicks Kicks, which was a finer women’s shoe store in Southfield, inside the Fancy This Boutique. Just Marilyn’s, women’s boutique in Southfield, that opened up in the mid 70s was my mothers clothing store. So, as a young boy, I was always surrounded by fashion. In 81, at the age of 21, I went to work at my mothers store to learn more about the women’s business, working along side my mother Marilyn Rothenberg and her business partner Marilyn Borson. Working the sales floor and traveling along side them while they taught me the ropes of buying for a women’s boutique.
In those few years of working at Just Marilyn’s, my parents felt I was ready to begin my own journey and at 24 I was ready for my own boutique.The summer of July 84, I opened my doors on the Boardwalk in West Bloomfield, a store called Hersh’s. I was nicknamed Hersh by my friends from Binai Birth, thinking Harold was a heavy 50 year old mans name. So when it came time to name my store, it had to be Hersh’s. Today, as I have surpassed the age of 50, I have now started to introduce myself as Harold but Hersh is what I am known by to most of my friends. As of today, come this July, I will be in business 30 years, in the same location I opened in.
{SS} How have you seen your customer change throughout the years? Any major trends that you have seen come back around?
{H} The customers have certainly changed and grown with me over the years. From when started as a unisex business, in the 80s, mens but predominately women’s, changed several years into business to become an all women’s boutique. As fashion has changed and lifestyles have changed so have the clothing at Hersh’s.Trends are always coming back around like the skinny leg jean. Besides just traveling to NY to keep up with the trends and buy whats fresh and new for the store, I worked as a consultant. Working directly with the designer of a New York sports wear collection for several years in the early 2000s. I wanted to help make sure the retailors knew what the customers really wanted, because trends come and go but its all about find and creating the right pieces that work in the trends but will never go out of style.
{SS} Hersh’s philosophy and mission?
{H} Hersh’s philosophy is to make sure his customers receive quality personal attention. At the store, we want to make sure we know our customers names and that they feel like a part of the family. My mission is to make the customer walk away feeling they’ve come somewhere where they
can trust our taste, our honestly, and they walk away with something that they cant wait to wear. We want our customers to understand the importance of supporting independent retailers. We hope that they receive the kind of attention from us that makes them value the personal qualities that make shopping at an independent business special. It is so important to support one another and to support the mom and pop stores that have been around for years and as well as those just popping up in the neighborhood today.
{SS} You've been in the retail business for quite some time, any lessons learned you would like to share?
{H} The line you’ve heard a million times, “the customer is always right,” is one that I run my business on. I have learned that as long as we treat our customers well and give them the respect that they deserve, they support us and go the distance with us, just as we do with them. It’s a family here, they are a part of ours and we hope that we are a part of theirs.
{SS} Who or What inspires your PERSONAL style?
{H} My personal style has everything to do with comfort. Depending on where the day takes me I could go from Lulu Lemon to Armani. I believe style is whatever you feel best in. I believe fashion for men or women can be about any piece mixed together. Its not necessarily about the price or the label but what you can create to make something great.
{SS} Favorite local Restaurant?
{H} My dress is like my food, I like a variety from the best greasy Greens Hamburger to Bacco. I think Bacco is by far the finest restaurant in the city from the personal service to the quality of food. My second favorite restaurant is Luxe in Birmingham. They have the best salads in the city and my daughter and wife rave about their veggie burger.
{SS} Favorite Fashion App / Social Media Site?
{H} Styleshack of course! I'm really not a social media person, I'm not the most tech savvy.
{SS} Words to live by?
H} Be honest, be giving, be loving, and be forgiving.
