The ongoing resiliency in downtown St. Joseph continues with another rapid-fire filling of a retail vacancy. Just days after the retirement of Doug Landis and his Landis Clothing Company in the city’s central business district, his space has been leased by a well known resort-wear shop that has a presence in multiple West Michigan communities with ports on or near Lake Michigan. Momentum Outfitters has set up shop at 321 State Street offering resort-wear and home accessories at deeply discounted prices of 40-to-70-percent off every day.
Momentum Outfitters was founded 18 years ago in 2000 when David and Audrie Michael both needed work during the summer months while attending college. As true entrepreneurs, they started their own retail store, Momentum, and attended college during the school year. Since they were so successful, they expanded with several locations in resort towns in northwest Michigan. They sought to finance the real estate for one of their Charlevoix stores and wanted to utilize the SBA 504 Loan Program. They were able to take advantage of the long-term, fixed-rate financing for their store by working with the MCDC, and the assistance of the Charlevoix State Bank.
While there are Momentum Outfitters shops in Charlevoix, Petoskey, Traverse City, Mackinaw City, Frankfort, Glen Arbor, Grand Haven, Saugatuck, South Haven and now St. Joseph, David & Audrie Michael reportedly only own the Charlevoix, Petoskey and Traverse City contingent. Their corporate name is Michael Enterprises of Ellsworth, and David is the President & CEO. They have grown the business into a multi-million dollar enterprise.
Attempts to reach the owner of the St. Joseph store have been unsuccessful, but all Momentum stores appear to be carrying the same product lines at the deeply discounted prices as the corporate philosophy as stated online is to “try to cut out the middleman wherever possible.” Each store also appears to share in the exclusive relationship they have with a family-owned factory for wood carved nautical charts they offer for sale.
By building long-lasting relationships with brand-name companies over the past 18 years, Momentum Outfitters has the advantage of buying out the majority of each of those vendor’s seasonal lines at the end of each season, saving customers even more on the goods they sell.
The corporate business model is identified as one that features “high volume resort ‘brick & mortar’ stores” allowing them to “offer the same incredible deals” on their website.
It’s the second clothing store to establish a presence in downtown St. Joseph in the past week, with Glik’s announcing their impending arrival on the opposite side of State Street one block south at 414 State Street in downtown St. Joseph as reported here on Moody on the Market over the past weekend. Stay tuned.
