COURTESY OF RACHEL LUTZ
Jews in the D
One on One with
Rachel Lutz
Detroit boutique owner talks about small business survival in the pandemic and her passion for social justice.
Rachel Lutz
ADAM FINKEL CONTRIBUTING WRITER
O
n a typical day before the coronavirus epidemic hit, you could easily find entrepreneur Rachel Lutz at one of her three Detroitbased women’s boutiques. These days, with her locations operating by appointment only, we caught up with her about how she’s been impacted and her plans for the future. In May, you were featured alongside Gov. Whitmer at her press conference to discuss the “MI Safe Start” Plan. How did that engagement come to be? I had written the governor a letter, expressing support for her stay-at-home order. But knowing that she also deeply cares about Michigan small businesses, I gave feedback on what might help us safely serve our customers as we reemerge back into an open economy. What is the current state of the Peacock Room and where do you see the business going as Michigan reopens? The Peacock Room, Frida and Yama are currently closed to the public, but I’ve been doing some appointments. We’ve had some wildly successful Facebook Live
Every small business out there is in a true fight for survival. Some of us won’t make it, some of us will hang on, and I’m confident some of us will actually thrive — it all depends on how much our community supports us and how willing each owner is to adapt to the new world around us. — RACHEL LUTZ
events, which have taken us into online sales, something we hadn’t really touched before. It’s a completely different business model, so it’s taken some adjusting to. I will reopen my shops to the public when I reach a point of more confidence in the environment around us. The safety of my staff and customers is my top priority, so any decision I make will be based on what I’m hearing from the scientific community.
What would be your message to friends and family on the best way to help others that have businesses impacted? Every small business out there is in a true fight for survival. Some of us won’t make it, some of us will hang on, and I’m confident some of us will actually thrive — it all depends on how much our community supports us and how willing each owner is to adapt to the new world around us.
One of your earliest mentions in the Jewish News was in 1996. At Berkley High School, during studies to remember the Holocaust, you and other students educated students on modern-day atrocities in Rwanda, the persecution of Armenians and American Indians, and the forced relocation of Japanese Americans. A quarter-century later, if you were to think about the challenges in our society today, what is at the top of your mind today? The most urgent and important matter in my mind in the continued fight for justice is for the black community. As a Detroit resident and business owner, it’s impossible to ignore the pain and injustice experienced here on a regular basis, from the school system to the corrections system. Even the topography of Detroit exposes the pockmarks of institutionalized racism that we’ve failed to address for generations — just look at our sharply segregated regional census map from as recently as 2010. It doesn’t resemble a metro area that’s learned the lessons of the past continued on page 27
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JUNE 18 • 2020
