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Metro Detroit’s largest upscale mid-century modern consignment store is now called LeShoppe Modern.
At the beginning of spring, Le Shoppe Too in Keego Harbor changed its name to Le Shoppe Modern. Deborah Slobin, co-owner of Le Shoppe Modern, said they decided to rebrand their business because some clients and customers were confused by the previous name. Was there another Le Shoppe and this was the second one? No, the “Too” signified the merging of two businesses — consignment and estate sales — into a one-stop shop for clients. Now, after adding one more business — the Le Shoppe Auction House — to their already extensive list of services, the owners decided it was time for a new name.
We thought, ‘What makes sense?’ And, since we specialize in curating mid-century modern and contemporary modern items, we came up with the name Le Shoppe Modern to reflect that,” said Slobin.
Twelve years ago, Slobin and Julie Sundberg founded this upscale consignment shop, which features a hand-picked collection of rare and iconic 20th-century furniture, art, home décor and lighting.
“Since I was in my 20s, I’ve been redoing furniture and revamping antiques as a hobby. So, when a 3,000-square-foot space became available near my house, I asked my friend Deborah — who was a pro at shopping resale — if she’d want to open a business with me. And, with only $7,500, that’s what we did,” Sundberg said.
“As we gained success, we were able to move to an 18,000-square-foot building, and then to a 25,000-square-foot building — the largest upscale mid-century modern store in Metro Detroit.”
Sundberg and Slobin said they were drawn to mid-century modern furniture because, unlike items sold at big-box furniture stores today, these pieces were built to last.
“They’re made really well — with heart, integrity and craftsmanship. Nowadays, brand-new furniture has a three- to five-year shelf life. But we have things in the showroom that are 60 years old, and they still stand the test of time,” Slobin said.
The Dream Team
Over the last decade, the women went from focusing solely on consignment to adding quarterly auctions with bidders from more than 30 countries and organizing estate sales nearly every weekend for their clients. The duo has also added three business-minded people to the Le Shoppe team — Terri Stearn (co-owner of Le Shoppe Auction House), Harry Nouhan and Trista Maltby.
Stearn is the founder and president of Detroit Fine Art Appraisals, the leading independent appraisal firm in the Greater Detroit area. She wanted to find a venue where she could sell her clients’ art collections and, as soon as she met Sundberg and Slobin, she knew this was the place for her.
“It was the perfect match,” Stearn said. “Now, every Wednesday, from noon to 4 p.m., we invite people to come into the showroom with their art pieces, and we’ll examine them, value them and let them know if we can sell the item. I knew Le Shoppe already featured beautiful artwork, but I helped them step up their game, bringing in pieces by Andy Warhol and other big names.”
Nouhan joined the Le Shoppe team in 2015 and is a pivotal component in their business operations. He brought imperative expertise to Le Shoppe’s e-commerce.
“From my experience of owning my own eBay store for 17 years, I took Le Shoppe from a few dozen online listings to 1,200+ online listings today. Le Shoppe is now on five online platforms, which includes their own online website where clients can shop our unique inventory 24/7,” he said.
Maltby began her career in art museums and transitioned to being an art consultant. She lived about three miles from the showroom and, when she walked in for the first time, she thought it looked more like a museum or a New York art gallery than a consignment shop. She immediately fell in love with the shop, and so she sent in her resume.
“I met the ladies, and it was an instant connection. It was almost a manifestation — I felt like I needed to be part of this. I was hired to help with the auction house and now I also manage their social media and day-to-day operations. It’s been almost three years, and it’s crazy how fast the time has gone by. It feels like we’re a family,” she said.
A Name to Remember
Today, the Le Shoppe Modern team gets 10 to 20 inquiries a day from possible clients, asking them to sell their belongings. “They know we do a good job with their items. We display them beautifully in our showroom, we photograph them professionally to sell online and clients make a lot of money for their pieces,” said Slobin.
“When you buy a car, it goes down in value as soon as you drive it off the lot — but these pieces actually increase in value. For instance, we had one couple who bought an Eames Storage Unit for $100 in the 1950s — and we auctioned it off for $48,000.”
Not only does the team help people sell their items, but they also help procure items that customers are looking for. “We work with a lot of interior designers, and we will tell them, ‘If we don’t have it in store, we will find it.’ I’ll ask them for their wish list — maybe it’s a rosewood credenza or a certain style of chair — and we’ll go out and hunt for it for them,” Slobin said.
Clients and customers also don’t have to live in Michigan to use Le Shoppe Modern’s services. In fact, they’re nationally and internationally known. They’ve even had celebrity customers, like film director Peter Jackson, Food Network chef Rachael Ray and interior designer Leanne Ford, co-host of Restored by the Fords on HGTV. Most notably, about seven years ago, set decorator Shane Vieau purchased furniture from Le Shoppe Modern to be featured in the Academy Award-winning film The Shape of Water.
“That’s our claim to fame. We like to joke that Le Shoppe ‘won an Oscar’ because Shane won an Oscar for production design for that film. He even mentioned us in an interview he had with Architectural Digest, which was unexpected and a very nice surprise. That’s how people hear about us; it’s all about word of mouth,” Slobin said.
Le Shoppe Modern can now be found online at leshoppemodern.com and on Instagram @LeShoppeModern. The showroom is located at 3325 Orchard Lake Road, Keego Harbor, and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11a.m. to 5 p.m.
