Flint, MI— Tucked into cove off Beecher Road bordering Flint Township is a boutique with a bold specialization. It’s all in the name. If it’s not Flint-made, you’re not going to find it here.
“That’s the key,” said store owner Devante Powell, 32. “You have to be from Flint. … I’ve had people from Lansing and I’ve people from Detroit (try to sell here). I turned them down.”
Powell graduated from Flint Southwestern and took his passion for all things math to Baker College where he earned a degree in business management. With Everything Flint, he wanted to create a platform to make an in-store experience more accessible to entrepreneurs.
The walls and shelves are decked with hoodies, snap back caps, all manner of T-shirts, and body care products representing over 20 vendors including Alex Dav’s T-shirts, Elle Jae Essentials natural body care, the Everything Flint store brand T-shirts and hoodies. One of the walls is also filled with paintings and other creations by local artists on display and for sale.
Since October 2017, the Everything Flint store has taken the concept of a self-made operation and turned it into a local platform and opportunity. Everything Flint even gives clothing makers an opportunity to make their goods onsite.
“Probably 80 percent of the stuff in here, we make here.” said Powell. “We have our own embroidery machine, our own press machine … so its like you could come in here with nothing. We can give you (a) logo, merchandising samples. You can grow your whole business within here.”
Entrepreneurs pay just a $40 flat fee to display their goods.
“I think the Everything Flint Store is a perfect location for young Flint businesses to grow and to kind of cut their teeth,” said Jason Trice, owner of Bedrock Apparel. “It’s like, if you have a brand and you think it can take off — but you don’t want to go sign a two–, three-year lease because you don’t know if it will take off — what’s better than … a place you can go month-to-month, pay for your location, and sell."
Trice began selling his Bedrock Apparel at Everything Flint in February and went on to open his own storefront in the Capitol Theatre in August.
Related story: Bedrock Apparel gaining national attention while staying firmly rooted in Flint
That’s what it’s all about, Powell says. Supporting entrepreneurs and growing hometown business.
“Try to keep the money back in our economy. Make it real popular to wear your own brand instead of going to buy Gucci, Prada, and all that. Come by a Bedrock shirt. Come by a Flint shirt,” Powell says. “That’s how we keep the money in our own community.”
Everything Flint, located at 4526 Beecher Road, is open noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m on Saturday. For more information, check out the
Everything Flint Facebook page.
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