SAUGATUCK – When Terry Walker bought a century-old fruit market along the Blue Star Highway in Saugatuck, she wasn’t quite sure what would become of it.
“It needed a lot of love,” Walker said. “It was November or December 2019, and it had been ignored for a while because the previous owner had fallen ill. It required structural work, and my kids, two brothers and I did most of the work. that.”
Six months later, the building reopened as Lulu Cadieux, a luxury lifestyle boutique and kitchen at 3480 Blue Star Highway. The store has a wide variety of items including artwork, books, hand blown glass, yoga mats, tableware, picnic baskets, towels, handbags , jewelry and cutting boards.
“We are buyers ourselves,” Walker said of herself and her 21-year-old daughter. “We love beautiful, beautiful things. So we always wonder if we love it. And if we don’t like it, we don’t want it in the store.”
After mastering tabletop displays and shopping, Walker turned his attention to the building kitchen.
“It was created to have the feel of this country, European cuisine,” she said. “A lot of these small towns just add things over time, rather than tearing it all up and starting over. That’s the vibe we wanted.”
The intention was to offer cooking classes to visitors to Saugatuck – but the pandemic had other plans.
“We had to put this idea on hold,” Walker said. “Eventually I brought a chef on board. He’s a friend of mine and he’s an amazing chef, but he didn’t really want to teach. He wanted to cook. And those are two very different things for a chef. So, we decided to organize private dinners. “
Now the team is organizing events for 6 to 10 people. In summer, meals are served outside on a farm table under the trees. In cold or inclement weather, the party moves indoors, in front of a large fireplace.
“It’s this beautiful presentation,” Walker said. “We have small plates and big dinners – we are flexible. We would always love to offer cooking classes at some point, but it has been amazing.”
Lulu is the family’s first retail experience.
“We didn’t know anything about what we were doing,” Walker said. “We didn’t even really have a firm plan. But it’s about being creative. We felt such love. And my kids are both in college, studying in creative fields, so we hope. that it will be a good thing for them.
“The community has been kind and supportive and fun, and I just feel a real connection with them. The roots are hard to remove when you make changes in your life, and it has been a great way to create roots.”
– Contact journalist Cassandra Lybrink at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram @BizHolland.
