Sports Memorabilia Store Scores Second Downtown Detroit Location, Honors Olympia
By Edward Cardenas
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - Olympia Stadium may been have razed decades ago, but its facade lives on through the efforts of a local sporting apparel retailer which honored the former home of the Detroit Red Wings when designing their new downtown location.
Gameday Detroit recently opened its second location in downtown Detroit, and influences of the Olympia can be found both inside and outside of the store on Brush, near Ford Field.
The two-story building stands on the location of the former Courthouse Brasserie, which Gameday Detroit owner Curtis Ciaravino purchased with hopes to remodel, but instead took down the building a built the new structure.
"The building wasn't anything to write home about, but the traffic which comes down the street is unbelievable," said Ciaravino, of the location at 1436 Brush St., which sees traffic from both Ford Field and Comerica Park. "Once I saw how the traffic flows by here, it was a no-brainer."
His new building, near Harmonie Park, features a similar red brick exterior to the Olympia. It also has the long, narrow windows with arched tops just like the "Old Red Barn" along with circular patterns on the molding near the roof of the building.
Inside the store, signage from the Olympia along with the metal grid from the exterior ticket booth adorns the walls and adds a bit of historic character amid the racks of hats, jerseys, shirts and other Detroit-sports memorabilia. The signage outside the store is modern, with LED lights.
"Our downtown locations are a cross museum and retail store," Ciaravino stated.
The Brush street location is Gameday's sixth location and second downtown. Nearly three years ago Gameday moved into a location on Adams Street, on the edge of Grand Circus Park near Comerica Park.
"Real estate here is hard to find," said Ciaravino, who found land owners with large pieces of property such as parking lots hold onto the pieces because they are profitable. "I would love to find a bigger store."
Similar to other business owners, Ciaravino is seeing a renaissance in the city.
"(During) the last six months, things are starting to move forward," he said. "You can see it progressing."
