Special education junior Kayla Osworth takes a break from painting the wall at what used to be Steve and Barry’s on Tuesday. Campus Street Sportswear, a similar store run by three former employees of Steve and Barry’s, will open there in early February.
Not many people would open a campus-related clothing store in the same location where a national chain couldn’t survive.
But most people aren’t Daniel Switzer. Switzer and his business partners own Campus Street Sportswear and picked up the lease of the Steve & Barry’s former building at 515 E. Grand River Ave. They plan to open the new store in February.
Switzer and his colleagues, all former Steve & Barry’s store managers, are opening shops in East Lansing and Madison, Wis., to start their own chain.
The Madison location opened last weekend. The goal is to continue to sell a full line of collegiate merchandise in campus towns across the country, Switzer said.
“We looked at several locations and East Lansing and Madison made the most sense,” he said. “These schools hold more school spirit and are larger college town communities than most cities.”
The company hopes to be successful where Steve & Barry’s failed, but will follow much of the same path, Switzer said.
“Our core concepts are the same, but we are going to take them and expand,” he said. “We want better quality and our prices will go up a little because of that.”
Switzer is confident the company can avoid the downfall that came with Steve & Barry’s rapid expansion, followed by a recession.
“Their concepts were strong — they had a good selection with great prices,” Switzer said. “I think they lost touch with their student base and stores, which truly was unfortunate. We’ll have a better store. I think we’ll have a better sense of what students want.”
A spokeswoman for Phipps Company, the realty company that owns the space, said she expects the new store to flourish.
“The Steve & Barry’s that was there was one of their most successful stores,” the spokeswoman said. “It’s right there in downtown East Lansing. Campus Street Sportswear should be able to thrive.”
Switzer said a focus on customers will be the driving force behind the company’s hopeful success.
“It’s a very difficult time in retail right now, and you need more than price and selection to survive,” he said. “You need to develop a great relationship with your customers.”
To strengthen its relationship with customers, Switzer said Campus Street Sportswear will play a role in the community.
“We want a big campus connection, we’ll try and have lots of sponsorships for community events and student activities,” he said. “Both (East Lansing and Madison) are extremely loyal to their local business population.”
Switzer has already retained most of the employees from the East Lansing Steve & Barry’s store to work at the soon-to-be-opened Campus Street Sportswear.
Despite several indications the store can succeed, sociology junior Fatmata Fofanah doubts the location was the best choice.
“I don’t really know how smart it is to move the same type of business into the same store after it already didn’t work before,” she said.
Other students are pleased that an empty store front won’t be vacant for long.
“Sure, I’m happy a new store is coming in,” advertising sophomore Melissa Burns said. “Hopefully it will succeed. There’s already so many empty storefronts on Grand River.”
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—Staff writer Mallory McKnight contributed to this article.
