Lee’s reopens with new face

Last fall, after over 40 years in business providing specialty invitations for life’s celebrations, Solange Messelian, owner of Lee’s Specialty, 4076 W. Maple Road in Bloomfield Township, closed its doors and retired. Then, along came Carlyn Roth, owner of Bash Events – and voila! Lee’s Paperie will open in its place, along with assistance from Messelian and her loyal staff, at least for a while, following a “refreshening” of the store. Roth said the new Lee’s should open in January, offering specialty invitations once again for weddings, b’nai mitzvahs and other life cycle events, personalized and corporate stationary and whole new lines of giftware at varying price points. She said she and Messelian will be traveling to gift shows in January to scout out new and unique items for the new iteration of the store in order to offer items not necessarily found at lots of other local stores. “I want to offer a wide variety of gifts, from special occasion pieces to affordable hostess gifts,” Roth said. She also plans to highlight a creative store website and social media presence, noting that many brides she works with – who often are in other cities while their mothers are local – want to see and explore the store’s offerings, as well as seeing proofs of the invitations. And for those planning parties, fear not. Roth is still intending to simultaneously run her dynamic event planning business. In fact, she said she’s completely booked for weddings for 2023, and working on events for 2024.

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Business Matters for the Birmingham - Bloomfield area are reported by Lisa Brody. Send items for consideration to LisaBrody@downtownpublications.com. Items should be received three weeks prior to publication.