Three new businesses open on Avenue of Fashion with end of road construction in sight

In the midst of trying road construction, a handful of owners along the Avenue of Fashion cut the ribbons on their new businesses and are set to have grand opening celebrations on Small Business Saturday this November 30.

The three new black-owned businesses are Skin Bar VII, a luxury facial spa; Good Times on the Ave., a casual fine-dining restaurant; and Krispy Addicts, a men’s streetwear clothing store.

“Occupancy will continue to grow as new businesses continue to open in once vacant storefronts,” Drew Lucco, MCM program manager, said in a release. “Livernois shows the depth and breadth of Detroit commerce at its finest—from restaurants and coffee shops to clothiers and spas.

But the businesses will be entering a difficult environment. The $17-million streetscaping project on Livernois Avenue between Eight Mile Road and Margareta Street that began in May has been tough on local businesses. At various points during construction, parts of the sidewalk were unusable, there was no street parking, and traffic was reduced to two lanes.

Though that’s changing. Crain’s Detroit Business notes that “most of the major work is complete, with the widened sidewalks and parking on the east side of the street open.”

Once construction is done, however, Livernois could be one of the nicest commercial corridors in the city, featuring ample space for pedestrians with sidewalk-level bike lanes. It’s now expected to be completed in spring 2020.

In the meantime, the city has been helping. There’s been several Livernois Soup grant events, a free shuttle program, and loan program for small businesses on the strip.

The three businesses set to open also received a total of $110,000 from the Motor City Match. That program has dispersed an additional $250,000 to eight other businesses in the area.