Latest / Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals / How Hot Sam’s Became Detroit’s Oldest Black-Owned Clothier - Ep. 150 w/ Lauren Stovall (Hot Sam’s)

Transcript

How Hot Sam’s Became Detroit’s Oldest Black-Owned Clothier - Ep. 150 w/ Lauren Stovall (Hot Sam’s) · Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals

0:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Pat Sam's, again, it's 104.
0:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is a store, a business that was built long before I was here.
0:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know what that's another thing.
0:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I think our generation, right?
0:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm 43, but I think our generation has a responsibility to also preserve the legacy, preserve what was built before we got here.
0:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I just felt that call strongly like preserve the legacy of this story.
0:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So what does that look like?
0:28
[SPEAKER_01]: That looks like, you know, just keeping the integrity of the store, what the store was founded on, what it has always meant to the community, what it means to the people that I'm just, I'm just enhancing that.
1:00
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1:18
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1:35
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1:36
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2:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I look forward to seeing you at the Bambu locations
2:04
[SPEAKER_00]: With that being said, let's get into that episode.
2:07
[SPEAKER_00]: What up, though, Black Friday family, welcome back to another installment of the Black Friday podcast.
2:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we kick off today's episode, I need you to hit that like button, subscribe, drop a comment, and then also share some videos with family friends.
2:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Love one so that we can keep this thing going.
2:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that I got that out of the way.
2:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I got somebody in the building today that is building and preserving legacies right here in the city of Detroit.
2:28
[SPEAKER_00]: There's more in Stovah.
2:29
[SPEAKER_00]: How are you doing today?
2:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing well.
2:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for having me.
2:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
2:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for pulling up on this.
2:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And you are a part of the historic hot sense Detroit legacy and would love to be able to talk to you about what first I would love to know in terms of you building legacies and preserving legacies.
2:50
[SPEAKER_00]: What does it mean for you to build?
2:51
[SPEAKER_00]: What does it mean for you to preserve legacy?
2:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, it's such a crazy thing.
2:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Would you believe, like my title at Hot Sams, which is my family business, by the way.
3:01
[SPEAKER_01]: So Hot Sams is my family business.
3:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It is the old-disman's clothing store in downtown Detroit.
3:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So we sit in strong at 104 years old.
3:10
[SPEAKER_01]: But actually, it's the old-disman's clothing store in the state.
3:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know what, I created this title.
3:22
[SPEAKER_01]: it, it just kind of organically came, but it's called the legacy preserve.
3:25
[SPEAKER_01]: When someone asks, what do I do at Hot Sams?
3:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm the legacy preserve.
3:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It didn't start out with that title, but over the years, that title just came to me.
3:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you think like, what is a legacy, you know, preserve or in?
3:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, what I started noticing about hot sands that I'm going to answer that question, but what I started noticing about hot sands working in that as my family business is that it was a legacy business right and that's I think that's a term now legacy we hear that a lot now I believe like when I started saying it I don't know.
3:56
[SPEAKER_01]: that it was a word that we used often, not that I invented it, but I think it just, I started noticing what hot Sam's meant to the city of Detroit.
4:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is something I didn't know.
4:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's my own family business, but I didn't recognize,
4:11
[SPEAKER_01]: what this store, this business meant to the city.
4:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I started hearing about that from people telling me what the store meant to them.
4:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I came to the understanding that, oh, what I'm doing here is not just the marketing director.
4:24
[SPEAKER_01]: That was my initial title.
4:25
[SPEAKER_01]: You coming in, you do marketing, you you young.
4:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You know this is what the older people say you can you do that technology.
4:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you do that marketing for me and I did go to school for marketing.
4:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's kind of where I came into the store at was doing marketing.
4:39
[SPEAKER_01]: But over even and even preserving the legacy it still is marketing, right?
4:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really about just sustaining what has already been built.
4:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Hot Sam's, again, it's 104.
4:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is a store, a business that was built long before I was here.
4:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know what, that's another thing.
4:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I think our generation, right, I'm 43.
5:01
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think our generation has a responsibility to also preserve the legacy, preserve what was built before we got here.
5:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I just felt that call strongly like preserve the legacy of this story.
5:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So what does that look like?
5:18
[SPEAKER_01]: That looks like, you know, just keeping the integrity of the store, what the store was founded on, what it has always meant to the community, what it means to the people that I'm just, I'm just enhancing that.
5:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm bringing, you know, some of my ideas to that.
5:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I am bringing creativity, but to what was already built.
5:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So the foundation is there.
5:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a cornerstone business.
5:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Any legacy businesses?
5:41
[SPEAKER_01]: There are cornerstone.
5:42
[SPEAKER_01]: That means we're building on top of something that was already there, and so that's what I came into them just enhancing and elevating, adding some, you know, some creativity and some maybe new age you can say to what was already built.
5:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that is what, you know, preserving legacy is to me.
6:02
[SPEAKER_01]: It is maintaining and sustaining what was already there, which has already existed.
6:08
[SPEAKER_00]: to that point.
6:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to know so your father and business partner had acquired the business years ago.
6:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And so you say to start it's 100 year old business and that predates them as well.
6:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So once they acquired the business in terms of legacy preserving it build in it, do you know or have your heard stories about what it was like for them in terms of what hot sims was previously and then what they were able to turn it into?
6:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, yeah.
6:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And I can remember even just being a child.
6:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was around the corner from where we are now.
6:39
[SPEAKER_01]: So we moved into what was called the campus marshes building.
6:44
[SPEAKER_01]: In 2004, that was the new shiny building.
6:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And we moved in there in 2004, but prior to that, we were right around the corner on breast street.
6:52
[SPEAKER_01]: 1317 breast street, I believe.
6:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That building has actually had been tore down.
6:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And there is some high-rise condos apartments, apartments, that are now built on top of that.
7:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But the store was started by a Jewish family, Sam Friedman, the Friedman family, and it was always a family owned and operated business, even when it was under their ownership, they had their family.
7:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, yeah, the Jews, they, okay, they don't bring their family into it.
7:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
7:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it was even that is still preserving the legacy of it still being family owned and operated.
7:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Hatsams has always been family owned and operated even when it was owned by the Jewish family, the Friedman family, and now unto being owned by my father, Tony Stowball and his partner, Cliff Green, who both worked at Hatsams.
7:37
[SPEAKER_01]: They were salesmen at Hatsams.
7:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, right, worked their way all the way up to ownership of that store and they bought it in 1994.
7:48
[SPEAKER_01]: There was hot sands.
7:50
[SPEAKER_01]: There was broadway.
7:51
[SPEAKER_01]: There was sermons.
7:52
[SPEAKER_01]: There was jail stone and all of these, these are all men's clothing stores.
7:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
7:56
[SPEAKER_00]: What's that?
7:56
[SPEAKER_00]: What's that?
7:57
[SPEAKER_00]: You suckers down there too.
7:57
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a flicker and they still there.
7:59
[SPEAKER_01]: They're shoe store.
7:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
8:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, they selling clothes now though too.
8:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But back then, they were strictly shoes.
8:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But now they are selling clothes a little bit.
8:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And um, but none of them are there.
8:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It's only hot sands and city slicker that remain today right over in that area.
8:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, right, and so we've always been in that area, we just literally moved around the corner.
8:18
[SPEAKER_01]: But back then, you know, the customer was the, was the, the mayor's was the, the business man was the drug dealers was the, the who do's was the, the musicians.
8:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, the, the workers, you know, it was that who was coming into hot sams into brought into all of those stores.
8:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know what I remember from stories is that they used to just work together.
8:44
[SPEAKER_01]: If hot sams didn't have something, they would call over to the Broadway.
8:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I got a customer to need something.
8:48
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have it.
8:49
[SPEAKER_01]: You got it and it would even walk the customer over there.
8:51
[SPEAKER_01]: City's liquor and hot sams.
8:52
[SPEAKER_01]: We still do that today.
8:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love that.
8:54
[SPEAKER_01]: It just kind of puts me in that era when they are used to do that.
9:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know many stories that will literally like walk the customer over there You know what I'm saying like we walk a customer over with a suit I don't know what we walk them I mean they're right there cross the tree right and we walk in with the suit to go match it up with some shoes a city slicker in my hair Um, and city slicker does the same come over with a shoe like you got a suit to match this I just love like kind of that nostalgia and just that working together
9:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I think we need more of that, you know, today because there's not a competition per say, but you would think right, because those are all men's clothing store.
9:31
[SPEAKER_01]: They also similar things, but they all worked together.
9:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but there was something that I remember my father telling me kind of what he didn't like.
9:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, under the ownership of the freedmen.
9:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, was how they come.
9:48
[SPEAKER_01]: kind of started treating or treated some of their black customers.
9:54
[SPEAKER_01]: My father as a salesman kind of told me he didn't appreciate how they treated some of their customers, which were their black customers, which was the base.
10:04
[SPEAKER_01]: That was their clientele, was that black customer.
10:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And right Detroit is a black city.
10:11
[SPEAKER_01]: It is majority black and that's still true today.
10:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And so my father said he just didn't kind of like how they treated some of the customers.
10:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that was one thing when they bought the store that they wanted to, I mean, obviously, of course, change, right?
10:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know.
10:28
[SPEAKER_01]: So some of those things kind of stood out, you know, also one of the things when my father and Mr. Green, who is my father's business partner, went to buy the store from the
10:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, what they really wanted to do was purchase the building, and while the Freeman family, you know, allowed them to buy the business, and that was a great feat, but they did not make it easy for them quite challenging for them to buy the building.
10:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I think,
11:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's like one of the biggest things that we kind of wish that the store did was was able to purchase the building right ownership of property and they just kind of they they tried and they went to court and they just you know kind of put their hands up with it.
11:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but it's like those type of things I think about sometimes when I look at my father and Mr. Green and the store today, I think about all of the things that they endured, um, you know, just from working there to purchasing and still unto today.
11:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I kind of could even bring tears to my eyes because I just see them.
11:33
[SPEAKER_01]: They're still working in the store today.
11:36
[SPEAKER_01]: My father and Mr. Green, they work every day.
11:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I mean, they have all day here and there, but they work.
11:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they're still staples in the store.
11:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I have thoughts around that too.
11:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I want them to pull back a little bit.
11:48
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, I think they love it though.
11:50
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not, you know, it's not hard work for them.
11:52
[SPEAKER_01]: This is something that they love.
11:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, so those type of things, I'm interested and I love those things about businesses and that is why I wanted to preserve what they have built.
12:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Love that.
12:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And so not, we gonna have a little bit of fun on like Fridays, which is my favorite part, it's Freestyle Fridays.
12:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, listen, thank you all so much for listening to this episode and any episode of the Black Friday's podcast.
12:19
[SPEAKER_00]: But I got to be honest with you, I really think it's something missing.
12:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hate to draw that and notice it.
12:24
[SPEAKER_00]: The thing that's missing is your podcast.
12:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Why am I not listening to your podcast?
12:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You talked about making one with your friends years ago.
12:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You know that you need one to better market and promote your business.
12:35
[SPEAKER_00]: But yet, you still don't have one.
12:37
[SPEAKER_00]: This is why I created the pocket podcast and course to teach you how to be able to
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: and tools that you have right interference in order to create and I create it two different ways in order for you to do that.
12:51
[SPEAKER_00]: You could join my digital, do it yourself, on-demand video recorded pocket podcast and course where I go literally step by step from idea on how you upload your very first podcast episode.
13:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And for my people who would like to have something a little bit more tangible, I have created a digital ebook that walks you through my podcast and journey, the things I've learned along the way, the tools and equipment that I use in order to create and elevate my show.
13:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Now look, I don't want to keep you too long, but I'm going to make this as simple as possible.
13:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead and head over to www.blackfrightax.com to learn more about the digital podcast course and also the podcast and ebook or you can hit the links in the show notes to take you directly to
13:31
[SPEAKER_00]: each of those resources.
13:32
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, enough for that time to get back into that episode.
13:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know if you wrap you do poetry saying, Dan, uh, we, no, so I don't know what we're going to do.
13:43
[SPEAKER_01]: That, you know, I don't always want to freestyle, but I do not know how.
13:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so I hope I'm not.
13:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
13:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I sent that.
13:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we can do wrap it for our questions then, if that weren't for you.
13:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
13:52
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so first I want to know if you could describe your style to someone who you never met before, how would you describe your style?
14:00
[SPEAKER_01]: unique was the first word that came to my just unique.
14:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like I've always just been a unique person in in style.
14:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I love vintage clothing.
14:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I used to always wear vintage.
14:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I now mix a little old with the new.
14:12
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of my style.
14:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Nice.
14:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Who would you say has the most style in your family?
14:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, hey, we don't say my dad.
14:20
[SPEAKER_01]: We all kind of, you know, I have two sisters and just three girls and my mom and my dad.
14:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And but I give it to my dad.
14:25
[SPEAKER_01]: We all have a unique style though.
14:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like a set of parts style, but my dad.
14:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I like that.
14:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
14:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that you are a woman of faith.
14:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So do you have a verse or Bible verse or a go-to gospel song that you will share with us?
14:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I will have a Bible verse because I just read it in Psalms 27, one thing I desire of the Lord that which I will seek that I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
14:57
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one of my favorite verses.
14:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
14:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
15:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you a favorite place to travel?
15:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm, I do love traveling.
15:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I have not traveled lately.
15:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we just came back from Kabul for my younger sister's birthday.
15:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll say Kabul, but even locally, well, this is kinda local, but I'm not there as only lately.
15:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, I'm like a little AZ, just a little drag-heat and hiking over there.
15:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't know, that's coming to mind.
15:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
15:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Very dope.
15:24
[SPEAKER_00]: If you could go back in time and you could spend time with your dad and Mr. Green in the store or one day, what would you do with them back in the day if you went back to whenever your age, let's say.
15:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And your current age and you go back to hang out with them for a day.
15:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I go to work day, but I'm back in the day.
15:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not probably just sit under them and just kind of watch
15:54
[SPEAKER_01]: learn and listen from them.
15:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they got some wisdom and they do they do they have some wisdom that I would I would see their wisdom now today.
16:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder when they were my age you know I want to see some of the foolishness made.
16:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I have something you probably had to mature into wisdom right?
16:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'll be curious to see somebody foolish ways too.
16:16
[SPEAKER_00]: For sure.
16:18
[SPEAKER_00]: What thank you for part
16:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
16:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
16:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to bad.
16:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So I wanted to go back into, I wanted to go back and ask you about, so I know that you say you have a marketing background.
16:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's what when you came into working at the store, that's the expertise that you brought with you.
16:34
[SPEAKER_00]: But even though this is the family business, you didn't always work for the family business.
16:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You obviously had your own life and carved your own path and experience.
16:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So I wanted to know what got you into the family business and being able to create this title of the legacy preserve of what brought you into the
16:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:51
[SPEAKER_01]: It was not something I had a desire to do to be honest.
16:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was gone for nine years.
16:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I went to FAMU, Tallahassee, Florida, the best HBCU.
17:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And so from 2000 to 2009,
17:06
[SPEAKER_01]: uh, I was gone.
17:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And even prior to then as a young girl, I would work in the store, you know, maybe summertime kind of work in the store and just be in the store.
17:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but being a way and gone for nine years and when I came back in 2009 Detroit was so different to me.
17:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, may think back to 2009 to me, that was at the beginning, kind of the beginning stage of what we see now.
17:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, literally.
17:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
17:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And, um, but I just kind of saw the change that was happening in the ship that was happening.
17:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember having to really figure out my place in Detroit.
17:45
[SPEAKER_01]: like, just being gone for that time.
17:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I had to really, and I think about that when I hear people moving back, and they'll tell me kind of, they don't know what to do, and I can remember being that like, where do I fit in here?
17:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you know what, what am I gonna do here and so I did?
18:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew I needed to work, and it was not the hot sands that I was, you know, drawn to to work.
18:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't just say, oh, no, I can always, you know, work at the family business.
18:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't interesting to me because,
18:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't have the legacy mind of hot sands and I didn't, I'm like, I don't, so men's clothing do them sitting out and I mean, so I don't know what I'm gonna do with the family, so I does that.
18:25
[SPEAKER_01]: So I worked in corporate America at there was an AT&T headquarters down here on Michigan Avenue.
18:32
[SPEAKER_01]: They had just opened that call center.
18:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I worked at that call center
18:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me just say that drove me crazy, yep, so I gave it one good year and I realized, okay, so this is not how I can work.
18:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, so that's for somebody that is not for me, right?
18:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So I can't be tethered to what I was tethered into the cubicle to the head set, right?
18:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that little literally kind of drove me a little crazy.
19:01
[SPEAKER_01]: into a therapist.
19:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Because for a, I was going in through a depression and a bit of stress.
19:07
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a high stress high level stress job.
19:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And I, I didn't even know that that was a thing.
19:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And daily.
19:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, daily stress.
19:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about to the point that I would go in there and they had these doors that closed like boom, it was like you felt like you were going into prison.
19:23
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how it took me.
19:25
[SPEAKER_01]: It took me there.
19:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I felt like I was literally walking into prison
19:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I left, that gave it a year and I left.
19:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And there was no, at that time, there was no growth.
19:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I felt like I had reached the pinnacle of what I could attain from the call center.
19:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And there was not a lot of opportunity for growth at that time within the company.
19:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm like, I've reached the ceiling here in one year.
19:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I got to start working with a nonprofit, which I still currently work with, and also started working again with the family business.
20:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me try this again.
20:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me go in here and let me go in here and clean some things up.
20:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So what I started noticing, again, I'm looking at Detroit and I'm looking at hot sands.
20:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have a different lens now because now I've been here and I'm watching Detroit and I'm looking at hot sands and I said, okay, look.
20:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to change some things up in here because the city is changing, right?
20:21
[SPEAKER_01]: The city is is looking a little fresh and we were looking a little outdated.
20:27
[SPEAKER_01]: The store physically was looking outdated.
20:29
[SPEAKER_01]: We had just had this carpet, it was kind of dark.
20:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I said, we have got to keep up with what is happening right around us.
20:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm like, we're the oldest men's clothing store where we can't look like.
20:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm talking about, you know, ripped up the carpet, painted and that, you know, started getting us online and just kind of bringing in, again, some of those marketing and creative ideas to the store and, and it was working.
21:00
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, people were, were liking what they, they see, started engaging more.
21:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, and these are things that,
21:06
[SPEAKER_01]: In terms of relationships, like my father and Mr. Green, they're very involved in the city.
21:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Have sat on different boards and been a part of different committees in the city.
21:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that was there as well, but you know, they're getting older, right?
21:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I felt like a call to step in and do more.
21:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that was kind of where it started.
21:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Did I answer your question?
21:33
[SPEAKER_00]: You did.
21:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
21:34
[SPEAKER_00]: How did what brought you back into the phone?
21:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Or what brought you into the phone at a family business?
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: That was my original question.
21:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Looking at the city and looking at how Sam's and saying, we need to elevate.
21:45
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to change some things.
21:47
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to.
21:48
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying, we had to get with the rhythm of what was happening, right, and not not lose who we are though, right, because there's this now not lose who we are we still are who we are that think like all of this is what I love all of our Google reviews and things speak to the experience that people have in the store it's unmatched it it can't even really be taught.
22:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Can we just walk over there and that's just kind of the atmosphere of the stores like a cheer, this like a barbershop, and I kind of remember saying like can we tweak some of that, can y'all, but you know what, and first of all, you got to choose your battles, right?
22:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm like, all right, we can't keep the, if this is how y'all, because it's that type of store, and I just kind of thought it was a little,
22:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like can we just just dial it back a little bit but you know what people love it and people are they feel like they're at home in the store right and so some of those things right that we have to keep those the integrity of the store the community aspect of the store but some things needed to change right and so um and we're still changing yeah um but that's kind of where I got in it.
23:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can attest to some of those testimonials that you had mentioned, because I was able to, when I first moved back, I needed some pants that I needed some pants that took me tapered for a wedding or something like that.
23:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And I went in the hot sand for a quick, I was working like right down the street.
23:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm like, let me stop in here and see if they might be able to help me out.
23:18
[SPEAKER_00]: They took care of me, no issues, maybe still like out of their home.
23:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And,
23:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Help me understand like different, you know, things about like how I should wear my pants and stuff like that.
23:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's definitely that type of vibe when you go into the story You get that type of service, which we don't see a lot of places nowadays, and so I just wanted to ask you how would you describe the hot sounds brand to folks who may have not had that experience or opportunity to interact with hot sounds just yet
23:43
[SPEAKER_01]: mm-hmm.
23:43
[SPEAKER_01]: We're very engaging your entire process from entry into the store.
23:48
[SPEAKER_01]: We walk you through the store and you're right.
23:50
[SPEAKER_01]: What you're speaking about is what people say that they do not see, like it's very self-serve.
23:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when you go into stores, it is, you know, they may acknowledge you to may not, right?
24:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But you, you, you help, you'll say, hey, and we, we'll see you at the checkout counter.
24:05
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
24:06
[SPEAKER_01]: But no, I had Sam's, no, it's, hey, how are you?
24:08
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, we know your name.
24:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We know your key is name.
24:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So we ask you how your wife, how your grandkids, do you know I'm saying we know the family, because we also serve generations, right?
24:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's people right there just a gentleman that came in today.
24:23
[SPEAKER_01]: you know going to homecoming at his first suit.
24:25
[SPEAKER_01]: So we got homecomings, we got problems, but we also have funerals, we have weddings.
24:29
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're like very that that that store where all of these different occasions, all of the we resurfacing you there.
24:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's just an experience, it's just a cheers, it's a barbershop, it's a tailor shop, it's a men shop, so it's all that in one,
24:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a good time and so yeah, people are they love the experience in the store because I can't say that we have the best clothing, right?
24:54
[SPEAKER_01]: We probably would say we do, but it's just it's not just that, right?
24:58
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not and you can't just be that because there's somebody else who got better suits.
25:04
[SPEAKER_01]: There's someone else who has better clothing, right?
25:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's like, well, what else you got because I can get clothing from someone but what about your service?
25:13
[SPEAKER_01]: right?
25:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so quick to leave a play.
25:15
[SPEAKER_01]: If I don't have good customer service, I'm out of there.
25:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm out of there.
25:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
25:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So even, I think of me as a consumer and then I see how we engage and interact and so involved in the customer experience in the store.
25:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, I review speak to that.
25:32
[SPEAKER_01]: That is what is keeping people coming.
25:34
[SPEAKER_01]: That is why we have repeat
25:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're seeing a new, you know, we're seeing a new man come through these doors.
25:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I remember people just be like, it's how Sam's a black store.
25:50
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, what is that?
25:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if I don't know how I feel about that.
25:54
[SPEAKER_01]: What is a black.
25:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, yes, it's black owners.
25:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it's black owned and operated.
25:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it is that it's like, what does that mean?
26:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's just for black people.
26:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I get that, you know, and but I feel like we used to, I don't know, kind of here that, but so I love seeing, you know, all different people, all different races from from in town and out of town come in and just, and also feel at home, right?
26:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So hot sounds is home for many people, for many men.
26:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
26:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it like being able to?
26:29
[SPEAKER_00]: work with a hundred-year-old brand and being able to find different ways to be able to innovate.
26:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm sure it's an ongoing process because if you think about anybody who's had longevity with anything, you have to be able to reinvent over the years, like, you know, Henry Ford, the GM, they don't get to where they are present day without reinventing over time.
26:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So wondering, like, what is it like for you all being in the space now and trying to figure out,
26:57
[SPEAKER_00]: interacting gauge market, those type of things.
27:01
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so we celebrated a hundred years in 2021, and so that was, you know, very much a monumental moment.
27:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we had a lot of excitement in that year, and we were actually coming on the brink of the pandemic, out of the pandemic, you know, coming out of the pandemic in that year.
27:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And that was the year we celebrated our Centennial.
27:22
[SPEAKER_01]: ironic and interesting, um, but and we were closed right for, uh, many months, uh, during the pandemic, first time hot sands had ever been closed, ever and ever, had ever closed as door was this pandemic.
27:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And, um, but when we opened, it was like, I don't know where people were going, but they were coming in this store ever since the pandemic.
27:52
[SPEAKER_01]: business has been ever since the pandemic, um, you know, there's just something, this is always what makes me think there's just something special about hot sams and other legacy businesses.
28:05
[SPEAKER_01]: There's just, there's something that they have.
28:09
[SPEAKER_01]: There's, you know, I don't, I don't, and sometimes it's unexplainable.
28:14
[SPEAKER_01]: There's something because it just don't make no sense because we've seen businesses open and closed and open it, you know, we're so here.
28:21
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
28:22
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes me wonder, right?
28:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And I do wonder, but I know what it is, right?
28:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And so,
28:29
[SPEAKER_01]: it's just a special place.
28:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And so now it's 104.
28:35
[SPEAKER_01]: We were talking recently in the store like okay, what?
28:37
[SPEAKER_01]: What are we doing next, right?
28:39
[SPEAKER_01]: We feel like we need to, you know, just kind of shake it up a bit.
28:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been getting inspired even looking at other businesses open around us.
28:47
[SPEAKER_01]: That gets inspiring to me.
28:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I even encourage my father, Mr. and I get a walk around,
28:55
[SPEAKER_01]: because you can get so stuck in just being in your store doing things one way and so sometimes challenging working with a hundred-year-old business and having these fresh ideas and your father and as partner have been doing this for so much longer than you right they've been doing it for so much longer to be so here there is wisdom there are things that they know but that I come in like
29:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I know a little bit too, right?
29:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got some fresh ideas, but, and so sometimes I have to work through that with them.
29:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think I built up some trust because they've seen some success from the things that I've implemented.
29:35
[SPEAKER_01]: So it gets it's easier now.
29:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And so one of the things I am recently inspired about is bringing back this idea of HS.
29:51
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, those just those two letters, right?
29:53
[SPEAKER_01]: It's more modern, but it's still gonna be classic.
29:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So it is gonna be a new brand.
29:59
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what's next.
30:00
[SPEAKER_01]: It is gonna be a new brand that is implemented from hot sams.
30:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just gonna be for that modern man, just classic, timeless pieces, small capsule collections.
30:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's what I'm kind of brewing now.
30:15
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of what's next.
30:16
[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
30:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Is a more modern and this HS I believe will be a great way for us to really engage online.
30:25
[SPEAKER_01]: We started doing online during the pandemic first time we ever sold items online.
30:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
30:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Doing the pandemic at 100 years old first time.
30:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And but that's that is not as easy and it's not as easy as that's like opening up a home of the store pretty much Yeah, so it takes time right so there's been some ebbs and flows with that But I think HS Being the exclusive online will be I think I think that's going to be where it's at so we're going to try that right so a lot of times it's just trying things Seeing what works, but doesn't make sense and seeing seeing how will it work.
30:59
[SPEAKER_00]: very dope.
31:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And you had mentioned other legacy businesses around the city and I would love for you to talk about the work that you've done with the city of Detroit in order to get those legacy businesses not only acknowledged but also bring awareness and resources for those businesses similar to a hot sound that have been around for I believe the threshold is 30 plus years.
31:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So, right, that was an idea birth through the work that I had been doing at HotSams and I started noticing, okay, so legacy businesses need a unique, they need some special attention.
31:38
[SPEAKER_01]: They are a set-apart sector of small business.
31:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I started looking at how we have a lot of resources and a lot of, there's a lot of hype around new businesses coming into the city, which is great.
31:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe in the growth and we need that.
31:56
[SPEAKER_01]: But I started thinking, well, what are we doing to serve these businesses that have been here?
32:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it just felt like a burden for me.
32:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And so then I started saying, oh, so this work of preserving the legacy was not just for hot sand.
32:11
[SPEAKER_01]: But now you got your feet wet, right?
32:14
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's not just for hot stamps.
32:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, preserving the legacy of other legacy businesses as well.
32:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I started kind of speaking with potential partners and things around a legacy business program.
32:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Like first of all, what is that?
32:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Turns out it's a theme.
32:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I started googling, right?
32:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Because this is how we find out stuff.
32:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I started googling like, how to preserve legacy.
32:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know something like that.
32:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Like how to preserve legacy businesses comes, come to find out there are legacy business programs and other in other states.
32:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And so now Detroit,
32:54
[SPEAKER_01]: is in step and in line with other cities and states that have implemented a legacy business program.
33:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And so this program, I got a lot of nobles, by the way, too.
33:07
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
33:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I had this idea maybe about three or four years.
33:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, probably around 2021 when we turned 100 is when I started thinking about this idea of a legacy business project, but I went to city council president Mary chef field and shared with her, you know, this idea of a legacy business program told her about other cities and states that are already doing it and, you know, she had a very similar mindset like yes, you know, we do need to preserve these legacy businesses and so her and I were in agreement.
33:41
[SPEAKER_01]: that this is something that needed to come to the city.
33:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, she ended that conversation with me and said, you know, I'm gonna see what I can do.
33:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm gonna see what resources I can find.
33:51
[SPEAKER_01]: She came back with $500,000 to pilot the program in collaboration with the DEC and I consult with this program.
34:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is to do just what it was set out to do.
34:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's to serve legacy businesses, to honor legacy businesses, to recognize legacy businesses.
34:10
[SPEAKER_01]: and have tangible resources, right?
34:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So money to support these legacy businesses.
34:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we're now in our second round.
34:21
[SPEAKER_01]: We now have 1.5 million that are going to go to legacy businesses.
34:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we're in that second round right now of grand applications.
34:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's not only that, we're going to have a map registry, a first-ever, first-of-is-kind map registry, with just legacy businesses, so that
34:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Visitors people who are you know tourism coming to the city people love supporting historical legacy bit they love
34:48
[SPEAKER_01]: the story behind it.
34:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
34:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So this, you know, so I'm very excited.
34:53
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to have this.
34:54
[SPEAKER_01]: We're we're kind of creating a second version of it right now.
34:57
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a pilot version of the map registry now, but we're creating a version 2.0.
35:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And so really excited that people will be able to shop, support, and find out where these legacy businesses are throughout the city.
35:11
[SPEAKER_00]: What are some that you can name off the top of your head?
35:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, hot sounds for me is the number one on the list, but what other ones would you recognize as legacy businesses?
35:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, right?
35:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Something in Henry the Hatter, Burt's Marketplace, Simmons in Clark, jewelry store, they're actually about to turn 100.
35:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hm.
35:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Floods?
35:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh wow.
35:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Floods.
35:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
35:38
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
35:38
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
35:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you say a lot for you?
35:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just making some of their.
35:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, floods.
35:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, um, I'm think I'm all downtown.
35:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, Lafayette American Coney Island.
35:48
[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
35:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
35:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, a little one called ham shop.
35:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I mean, right?
35:54
[SPEAKER_01]: What else?
35:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Help me my memory.
35:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I have one, but I forgot it.
35:58
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a name of my, you know what I love.
36:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Chapman's jewelry.
36:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So, so this is what actually is so fun.
36:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's some, I'm like, oh, I did not know, I did not know.
36:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is actually what I don't even know some of these legacy businesses, you know.
36:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's great.
36:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And then again, to hear their story in, um, so it's been really excited.
36:18
[SPEAKER_01]: But all of the districts were hitting all of the, I mean, this is for it's not just for downtown, right?
36:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I see businesses.
36:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So.
36:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's been, it's been nice to see it, so we'll have a full listing, a full directory of where people can shop and support these legacy businesses.
36:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And in your research of these legacy businesses, our majority of them, family owned, would you say, or it's kind of, it's a toss-up.
36:40
[SPEAKER_01]: No, a lot of them are family owned.
36:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh wow, okay.
36:42
[SPEAKER_01]: It would probably be majority.
36:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
36:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, from what I'm, yeah, like even the ones that I just name right now, yeah.
36:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
36:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it would be what's the, what's the secret sauce to having a successful family business in your opinion?
36:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I think people, I'm hearing like it seems like serving the people.
37:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I think these legacy businesses have a love for the people, a love for the community, not just that I love getting money from you, not that right, it's not it's beyond that.
37:13
[SPEAKER_01]: It's above that, if you and business just for that,
37:18
[SPEAKER_01]: That is not, that is not legacy, that is not going to be the long Jevity.
37:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
37:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you have to have to have to have a love for the people.
37:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Not even just a love for what you do, that is, that is needed as well.
37:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But a love for people and to serve people, I think, is the secret sauce.
37:35
[SPEAKER_01]: They actually love people, they actually love their community and they actually love what they do.
37:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Mm.
37:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
37:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the secret sauce.
37:43
[SPEAKER_00]: love that could you talk more about the cultural and community relevance of hot sounds to Detroit because we we talked about the the story is beginning in the legacy but we love for you to talk about the cultural and community relevance because like you said the there have been folks famous people infamous people that have came through the doors and been in shopping and got great service but just like what what does hot sounds mean to the city of Detroit.
38:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It's funny we say like you never know who's going to walk through the doors of the store and be loud.
38:16
[SPEAKER_01]: They just laugh from arrived.
38:18
[SPEAKER_01]: You won't get that in the store.
38:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, cultural.
38:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean,
38:24
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just hot sounds like I was even listening today.
38:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Just three men in the store just just chopping it up and talking about, you know, what do we need to do as a people?
38:37
[SPEAKER_01]: They just sitting here talking about, you know, just, and then they're talking about past and how they were raised in, I mean, as those type of conversations to me that happen in the streets, it's a place where you can have conversation.
38:53
[SPEAKER_01]: it is a place where good dialogue that is needed, right?
38:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Dialogue that can impact change is had.
39:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, anything from politics to sports to religion is both the city, right?
39:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It's spoken about in the store.
39:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I think people come in the store to find out what the owners think about what's happening in the city, right?
39:16
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to, let me, let me get the pulse here, which I think about this.
39:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a place that that has impact, right?
39:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It has, it just has impact.
39:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it means so much.
39:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a rights-a-passage store.
39:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I talked about the generations that we serve and continue to serve.
39:36
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what made me start realizing the significance of hot sands again.
39:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It was what other people were saying that the storm meant to them.
39:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, like, there are stories where we just, I mean, and this is, it might not be so big, but it's like, where does this happen at?
39:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you, you, you need a suit between
40:06
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the only straw, no, you could kind of wheel in deal.
40:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'll be telling them like, because I mean, and this is why we just continue to be successful because it's not necessary.
40:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we're smart business people, right?
40:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we still have that, but it's not just about the money.
40:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It can't just be about the money.
40:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we just have a story of you and me, help we want to hear you out, we want to help you,
40:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I just don't know where you can go to a store.
40:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I have no money and leave out what's not there.
40:39
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
40:41
[SPEAKER_01]: But we do to, and not, and do it, like, happily.
40:44
[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
40:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not, like, that, no, and not, and not boastful.
40:49
[SPEAKER_01]: These are things, you don't say you wouldn't.
40:51
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't boast.
40:52
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't talk about that, but this is what we do, because we, again, it just goes back to serving people, loving people.
41:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So if I come to y'all tomorrow, I can get a suit off.
41:03
[SPEAKER_03]: Right, we got to write.
41:05
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know how much I should have been there.
41:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying it happened.
41:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure.
41:09
[SPEAKER_00]: It just happens.
41:10
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all about the people.
41:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it goes back to like you said, serving your community and being able to look off of those folks and knowing that it'll come back in one way shape or form.
41:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And it does.
41:19
[SPEAKER_00]: It always does.
41:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
41:20
[SPEAKER_00]: What are some challenges that you see legacy businesses have?
41:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I talk to people all the time about startups or maybe you're looking to hit that second level or interior business, but never on the podcast in terms of legacy businesses that have standard to test the time.
41:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm curious what are some of those challenges that legacy business would have versus someone who's just getting started or trying to scale up?
41:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I do think succession planning, succession, what is next, right?
41:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this business just going to die with you?
41:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I think those are conversations we're having with a lot of legacy businesses.
41:57
[SPEAKER_01]: What is next?
41:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have proper things in place for what is next?
42:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Like legally?
42:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but should help.
42:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, we need, we need to help right now, I'd have Sam's.
42:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So, good people who want to work is hard to find good help right now.
42:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's probably across the board, but legacy businesses are feeling that as well.
42:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Information, what's happening in the city, resources, like, what we're noticing is
42:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Like a lot of legacy businesses are not compliant within the city.
42:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So that means you can't, you can't technically do business with the city.
42:43
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
42:43
[SPEAKER_01]: So what this program, the legacy business project is helping is helping a lot of legacy businesses get compliant.
42:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it was like, again, we're talking about 30 plus year old businesses.
42:54
[SPEAKER_01]: They probably didn't have to do some of the things to get compliant back then.
42:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But now, you have to be compliant to do business, get checks, get money, do business with the city.
43:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we're helping a lot of businesses now get compliant through this program.
43:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And so working within city departments are some challenges for legacy businesses and keeping up with technology, proof, which, you know,
43:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, a lot of legacy businesses are still very in person, very person, which is great.
43:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a secret sauce as well, you know, that face-to-face dialogue, that, but the legacy businesses also need to be flexible in terms of how to, what does technology look like?
43:42
[SPEAKER_01]: How can technology help your business enhance your business?
43:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think those are some
43:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like it's okay to take debit and credit cards in 20 to 5.
43:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
43:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That's one of the things that have samples in ad doing.
43:58
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in old cash register.
43:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
44:00
[SPEAKER_01]: The big box.
44:07
[SPEAKER_00]: for how long is that it's the actual cash register stone in the store.
44:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
44:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
44:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Good.
44:15
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, I'm talking about that whole ancient type of cash register.
44:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
44:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
44:22
[SPEAKER_00]: What would you say are some challenges to running a family business because I know I've heard different schools of thoughts where some people are like excuse my language hell no I never I never never working my family in a million years and other people are like I know no other way so I was wondering like what are some of those challenges to operating a family on business it is challenging
44:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It is challenging, right?
44:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And particularly again, because again, they've been doing things for you know, such a way in such a way in it and they've had success doing it.
44:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And then here I come in with some new ideas and what you're going to tell me about business, right?
44:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So there has been some some tug and pool and some
45:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It's challenging, it's not for the faint of heart, but it's also rewarding.
45:13
[SPEAKER_01]: It's rewarding to be able to help your family business.
45:17
[SPEAKER_01]: The business that has provided for you, that business help pay me to go to college with no student loans.
45:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I got out of college and now we hear people talk about student loans.
45:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew it, not such a thing.
45:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about this and like, as I got all of these things started to be I think I just took, I don't know how I thought I was going to college.
45:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I have like a little scholarship here in the end of my day.
45:46
[SPEAKER_01]: They paid for me to go to Tokyo to go to college with no student.
45:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know that that was like student loans was the big name.
45:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when you're done with college and so like my family business helped to put me through through college, you know, and it's helping me and providing for me today as I'm serving it as well and providing for it as well.
46:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's rewarding, but it also is is very challenging.
46:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't have, but I didn't call this to myself, right?
46:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I told you, I didn't even choose this for myself.
46:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, this was something that was divinely orchestrated for me.
46:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just got in line with this was not anything that I sought after.
46:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I had not an interest in being a part of the family business.
46:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Not an interest.
46:33
[SPEAKER_01]: This was this is a call.
46:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It's still unto today.
46:35
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why that's why it is, it is sustaining for me.
46:39
[SPEAKER_01]: That is why now the legacy business project is here is because this is, this is beyond me.
46:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't seek this.
46:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
46:47
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a divine calling.
46:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe that anything we try to build on our own, that we haven't been called to will have to sustain that thing on our own.
46:58
[SPEAKER_01]: That's hard.
46:58
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why we have people who work really hard.
47:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with hard work.
47:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I work hard as well.
47:06
[SPEAKER_01]: But we work really hard to the detriment of ourselves.
47:10
[SPEAKER_01]: But anything that God builds, that God ordains you, and God calls you to, he will be the one that will keep you in it.
47:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And when he does it, there is rest in it.
47:23
[SPEAKER_01]: There is peace in it.
47:24
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not so hard.
47:26
[SPEAKER_01]: So, there's a lot of things that I do.
47:30
[SPEAKER_01]: It is challenging to work with my family business, but God, I've been called to this, so he's keeping me in it.
47:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
47:37
[SPEAKER_00]: That's amazing.
47:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
47:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So, what's next to Lauren?
47:40
[SPEAKER_00]: What's next for Hot Sims?
47:41
[SPEAKER_00]: You talked about the branding and working on some new things with that, but overall, what are you seeing your crystal ball for the business and for yourself?
47:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm really focused right now and excited about HS and excited about the relationships and partnerships that I can work with with HS.
48:01
[SPEAKER_01]: My vision is to work with designers, young student designers coming up with HS.
48:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I'm excited about collaboration, I'm excited about partnership.
48:15
[SPEAKER_01]: and building more relationships.
48:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's that's so paramount.
48:19
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to work with one another with new businesses with old businesses.
48:24
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to work together.
48:25
[SPEAKER_01]: We actually need one another.
48:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm excited for just more relationship building more partnerships and uh,
48:31
[SPEAKER_01]: HS is at the forefront of my my right now and then just continue to be just divinely lit in whatever's next.
48:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a person that when it's up, right?
48:42
[SPEAKER_01]: When the season is up, when I feel like it's up, I'm okay with walking away.
48:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not trying to force anything.
48:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I did this thing called Detroit's Black Wall Street where I had black business vendors right on our block of Monroe and downtown Detroit did that for three years in a row and then we ended with a big thing in campus marshes, hot sands at a fashion show again, three years in a room we brought we brought a lot of black businesses downtown and on our block and
49:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Three years.
49:10
[SPEAKER_01]: That was only supposed to be one year.
49:11
[SPEAKER_01]: That was our Centennial Celebration.
49:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Was to, was to reimagine black Wall Street that happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
49:19
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I've found out is that in 1921, when Tulsa, when that community burnt up, for, you know, got raided or, you know,
49:28
[SPEAKER_01]: what happened with those black businesses there.
49:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw just I just thought it was interesting that happened in 1921 because that was the same year that Hatsams was opening his door by a Jewish family but would later be black owned and operated.
49:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I was like let us for our Centennial let's do a Detroit's Black Wall Street anyway turned out to be three years in a row and
49:47
[SPEAKER_01]: People still ask me, one's the next one you're gonna do that again and I don't feel like it is after three years I felt it one is supposed to be no more than one year But that third year I felt like it was final and so and then after that
50:02
[SPEAKER_01]: then the Detroit Legacy Business Project came to be shortly after that.
50:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So I just felt, you know what I'm saying like that was for that moment.
50:09
[SPEAKER_01]: That was for that season.
50:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It was great and it was powerful.
50:12
[SPEAKER_01]: It was impactful, but sometimes we continue to drag things on.
50:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Way to maybe and I also said, oh, there's other people doing, you know, black business vendors.
50:20
[SPEAKER_01]: But I don't need to do that.
50:21
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?
50:21
[SPEAKER_01]: We ain't got to all do the same thing or just come together and do one big thing.
50:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to do this.
50:25
[SPEAKER_01]: You doing it over here.
50:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I did it.
50:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm down with that.
50:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And then now I'm into Detroit's Detroit.
50:31
[SPEAKER_01]: What is it?
50:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Legacy Business.
50:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
50:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:35
[SPEAKER_01]: right and so that door closed or that season was up.
50:38
[SPEAKER_01]: It was time and I'm okay with letting things go and so we'll see you know how long I hope that the legacy business project continues for years to come and so we'll see see what's next for that and I'm excited for HS for hot sins.
50:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Nice.
50:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So working to people tapping with you, they want to partner with hot sins, they want to connect with you, follow your journey, show love to hot sins, how can they get connected with you?
51:01
[SPEAKER_01]: come down to the store.
51:02
[SPEAKER_01]: We at 127 Monroe, right in downtown Detroit, hot sands is on all the platforms, mainly Facebook and Instagram at hot sands Detroit.
51:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's how you can connect with us.
51:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, or even our website, hotsamsdetroit.com.
51:19
[SPEAKER_00]: perfect.
51:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Lauren, thank you for stopping by the podcast today.
51:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Very enlightening, conversation, a bit of a trip down memory land and being able to be exposed to more of these legacy businesses and the work that you're doing with hot sounds.
51:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It's definitely appreciated and needed.
51:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So we happy to have you on the show today.
51:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I just add like what you're doing?
51:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
51:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you to continue to do what you're doing.
51:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I think is great.
51:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you're sewing seeds into black businesses, black entrepreneurs, black creatives, and I just expect, you know, for you to have a harvest from what you're sewing the seeds that you've sewn from black Friday podcasts, I wish you the best.
51:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much.
51:56
[SPEAKER_00]: From your mouth to guys here, so I appreciate it.
51:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
51:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody watching, listen, we're gonna tap in with our sewn piece.