Observer Eccentric Article 10.10.10

Berkley artist, entrepreneur keeps expanding

by Steve Kowalski

Owner April McCrumb (left) and manager Cheryl Jones are busy preparing the Yellow Door Market in Berkey for its Oct. 28 opening. (John Stormzand | Staff Photographer)

BERKLEY — Shortly after graduating from college, April McCrumb started experiencing success on the art fair circuit, selling handmade paper frames as far away as New York City

McCrumb had a degree in special education from Eastern Michigan University. The teaching career remains on hold 14 years later, and she credits her mother, Karen, for sparking an interest in art.

“My mom always encouraged me, ‘Instead of buying gifts for your aunts and uncles, what can you make? Be creative, make things,' and that was a big part of it,” said McCrumb, 36. “I've always been a creative person. That's one of the talents I've been given and I use that to the best of my ability to be a light in this world.”

After dabbling in making and selling art in college, McCrumb took the talent more seriously once she graduated. Within a couple of years she chose to sell art wholesale, which required a change in business operations.

“Doing a wholesale show meant we needed to hire people,” McCrumb said. “We couldn't have five people working in our Oak Park bungalow basement. We couldn't fit them in there.”

She and her husband, Steve, rented a 500-square foot building at 3117 12 Mile Road in Berkley, and named their business, Catching Fireflies, where people could purchase baby gifts, wedding gifts, unique home decor, personalized gifts, jewelry and handbags.

The front part was for sales, the rear for production, a business model that remains a decade later.

“Initially when we first started (looking) any spot we looked at was double the house mortgage,” McCrumb said. “It was definitely a leap of faith.

“We found that if we sell enough in the front part to pay part of our rent that was cool, that was our ‘business plan.' That was sort of our goal, and we did that and more.”

The McCrumbs picked Catching Fireflies as a name because it was also the title of the first art piece they purchased for more than $500, she said. It's also a nostalgic phrase for her, remembering the fun she had trying to catch fireflies as a child, she said.

Four years ago the McCrumbs opened another Catching Fireflies location in downtown Rochester and now is time for another, more ambitious, expansion.

On Oct. 28, the McCrumbs are opening the Yellow Door Market, um, doors away, on 12 Mile Road, inside a 3,600-square-foot building where dozens of artists will sell their creations at different stations.

Within five weeks, McCrumb said, 70 spaces were rented to local artists looking for a place to sell their wares, especially in the colder months. There is a waiting list of eight, McCrumb said.

“It's like (the artists') own little shop,” McCrumb said. “They don't have to worry about staffing, payroll, marketing. We take care of that for them.

“We use alternative displays, doors, cabinets, an old bathtub, kitchen sink. One of the spaces an artist rents is a physical door and we put shelves on it, jewelry on it. In a sense they are renting a door. Doors represent the possibility and a fun journey for the customer to go through.”

McCrumb said Berkley, and the surrounding communities, have been the perfect fit for her art pursuits to thrive and expand.

“The community right around us is real supportive of people doing unique things,” she said. “There are not a ton of big box stores in the Woodward area and that helps us grow. Berkley has been good to Catching Fireflies.”