Hannah Jacobsen, co-owner of Silky Grooves Vintage and Vinyl, arrives with a smile at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library, unlocking the door to open up the first of AADL’s three new Lobby Shops, an affordable space for startup entrepreneurs to market their products. The shop, located to the left of the main entrance in one of three suite rooms, sells clothing, books, vinyls and more hand-selected from thrift stores across the country. Monthly rent for the suites ranges from $100 to $250, depending on the size of the space. The other two suites are expected to host JFSMade and Gardens Within in the near future.
Jodene Poirier, executive assistant to the AADL director Eli Neilburger, spearheads the lobby shop initiative. Neiburger came up with the idea to transform what was formerly the shop Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library into a space for new businesses. In an email with The Michigan Daily, Poirier wrote how she and Neiburger made the Lobby Shops a reality.
“Director Neiburger ran the idea by the library board and they loved it,” Poirier wrote. “He asked if I would like to oversee the Lobby Shops project and I enthusiastically accepted. From there, our facilities director got to work getting the single former FAADL space built out into three separate spaces.”…