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Unused space gives birth to two Upper Thumb businesses
9 Unused space gives birth to two Upper Thumb businesses
BY MARY DRIER
For the Tribune
SEBEWAING — Having extra space and listening to the needs of the community gave inspiration for the Cutest Button Boutique in Sebewaing.
“I heard people talking that the community needed this kind of a store in town because they were tired of driving an hour or more to the cities to shop,” said Amanda Langmaid. “I saw there was a need for this kind of a store.”
Although Langmaid bought the building at 8855 Unionville Rd., to operate her insurance company in, there was a lot of extra unused space.
“My insurance businesses and the boutique are in the same building,” she said. “The insurance is in back and the boutique is in the front.”
Langmaid has been selling insurance for 15 years. She worked for AAA and Farm Bureau before opening her own Farmers Insurance company in Sebewaing three years ago. She sells every aspect of insurance from personal, to commercial insurance, to life, medicare insurance, and more, along with operating two boutiques.
The boutique has women’s clothes size zero to 3X, kids clothes from infant to size 12, jewelry, candles, home decor, pillows, holiday items, locally made earrings, hats and gloves, toys like Crazy Aaron’s Putty, and ol’ fashion candy. Some of the ol’ fashion candy includes candy cigarettes and cigars, Maga Dotts, and Astro pops.
The cutest Button Boutique, LLC opened Jan. 18 in Sebewaing, and branched out with a second Cutest Button Boutique, LLC in Marlette that opened in July.
“I met with the chamber of commerce in Marlette,” she said. “They wanted to get more businesses in town. They did a survey. It showed 39% of the people who did the survey wanted a woman’s clothing and kids store. That was a perfect fit for my type After Amanda Langmaid opened her Cutest Button Boutique, LLC in Sebewaing in January, she opened a second Cutest Button Boutique in Marlette in July.
(Mary Drier/For the Tribune)
of business.”
Langmaid had the building in Marlette gutted and remodeled.
“Each store has the same categories of items,” Langmaid said. “All items are new. It is not a resale shop. Both stores do a good business, but the Marlette store has done very well. With some of the big stores shutting down, there are not a lot of places any more to shop, and there isn’t a lot of time to always drive into the cities to shop.”
Prices in both stores are affordable ranging between $12.99 to $18.99 with Kan Can adult jeans selling for $39.99.
“Prices are kept reasonable to sell in volume,” she said. “We are a hometown boutique that offers fashion and flare in the latest styles without big city prices.”
The Sebewaing boutique has four employees: Langmaid’s daughters, and Nicole Prime who oversees operations, and Langmaid who helps, but her main focus is on her insurance business.
Cutest Button Boutique at 3045 Main St., Marlette, is across the street from the farmers market. It has two employees and Langmaid, who splits her time there as well.
The Cutest Button Boutique in Sebewaing is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday noon to 3 p.m. The phone number for the store is 989- 704-3409.
The Cutest Button Boutique in Marlette is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 3 p.m. The phone number for that store is 989- 635-1124.
More information about the two boutiques can be found on the website www. cutestbuttonboutique.com.
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D&W Salvage getting back to normal
PAIGE WITHEY
paige.withey@hearstnp.com
UPPER THUMB — When Bryan Deering started picking up scrap metal and driving it to processing plants in Detroit, he was still in high school using a trailer he had fabricated himself.
Now, 46 years later, D&W Salvage is known across the Thumb as the go-to place for scrap.
According to the company’s website, it was 1974 when Deering and Steven Wolschlager saw a need within the community to salvage scrap automobiles and metal.
“The need for recycling was long overdue for the community, back when we started,” Deering said. “The war effort throughout the 1940s repurposed scrap metal for war materials, after the war people were left with a mess of discarded material that they could no longer get rid of.”
Deering went on to explain how many people, due to a lack of regulations on the material, were left to bury scrap metal and material they couldn’t burn or repurpose. Major highways across the US were dotted with junkyards, and when the government allocated funds to move those junkyards away from major highways, the recycling movement gained momentum.
In October 1976, D&W Salvage became an official business, and in November of that same year the business outgrew Deering’s father’s electrical shop. Deering, now fresh out of high school, negotiated the purchase of Les Hazard’s farm, which was a treasure trove of old cars and farm equipment.
In February of 1978, Wolschlager sold his equity in the business to Deering, who made the decision to maintain the business name. The business has grown at their Minnick Road location ever since.
Recently, the business officially became family owned and operated with the addition ofDeering’s daughter, Angie terSteeg. Although terSteeg worked at the salvage yard throughout high school and sporadically in college, she went on to work in the blood bank at the University of Michigan Hospital.
“I have the ability to bring in fresh ideas and attention-to-detail, while Bryan has the experience and get-it-done attitude that has made this business great,” terSteeg said.
As the business has expanded within the community, they have been able to assist with many large projects across the Thumb. Much of the metal that made up the Harbor Beach Power Plant that was demolished earlier this year now sits at D&W Salvage, waiting to be repurposed.
Much of D&W Salvage’s business comes from their industrial clients, including local factories in need of someone to take care of their scrap metal coming off the production lines. Over the years, Deering has also seen many aspects of the auto industry, including scrapped production lines and seat belts before their mandated installation.
“Seat belts were in production long before the government decided to mandate their installation in cars,” Deering said. “We scrapped a lot of seat belts and metal dies that were being manufactured locally before the government decided to hold off on their installation.”
With D&W Salvage’s reopening after the pandemic closure, they were able to unveil their new office building and make changes to their salvage yard, including paving many of the public drop off locations.
“This building has been in the works for about five years,” terSteeg said. “It’s nice to be able to provide our clients with this new space, it’s a big change from the old office.”
Since reopening, Deering said old lawnmowers have been a trending item coming into the salvage yard.
“A lot of people worked on home renovations and dedicated time to their yards during quarantine,” Bryan said. “We see a lot of old appliances and aluminum siding coming across the scale.”
“One of the most interesting aspects of the job is seeing how people get their scrap here,” he added. “We’ve seen everything from lawnmowers strapped to the tops of cars to a combine where the roof of a Ford van should be.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, D&W Salvage was forced to stop accepting scrap on April 1. When it was finally able to reopen, it faced the challenge of being able to take in scrap but not being able to ship it out due to the big processing mills remaining closed. The business was able to open to industrial, businesses, and farm clients on June 1 and open to the public on June 8.
“We’re slowly seeing things get back to normal on our end, we’re able to start shipping out our scrap like we should be,” terSteeg said. “A lot of people were waiting as patiently as possible for us to reopen.”
Bryan Deering’s salvage empire will continue on with his daughter, Angie terSteeg. (Paige Withey/Huron Daily Tribune)
Since reopening after mandated state closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, D&W Salvage has moved their office into its new building and made many upgrades to their salvage yard. (Paige
Withey/Huron Daily Tribune)
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