After 50 years, Materials Unlimited in Ypsilanti is closing

It's a store that sells little pieces of history — from 18th-century stained glass to church altars dating to 1850.

Materials Unlimited, on Michigan Avenue in downtown Ypsilanti, is a place where, for the last 50 years, magical pieces of historic architecture found a second life. Now that's coming to an end.

Owner and founder Reynold Lowe took to Facebook on Friday to announce the closing of the popular antique store, known for selling diverse pieces such as gas and electric lamps from Paris, architectural remnants of historic train stations, and many other items that have a story to tell.

There was always something to catch a shopper's eye, whether it was a $1,150 large-scale vintage folk art dollar bill sculpture or vintage pokal goblets.

Customers say goodbye

On Thursday, as folks strolled along the nearby Huron River to enjoy the crisp fall day, Materials Unlimited's windows were covered with a poster announcing the store's fate: "Closing Sale, 25% off everything" along with the tagline, "After 50 years, it's time to say good-BUY!".

Susan Patton, 71, of Ann Arbor, has shopped at Materials Unlimited for more than 40 years. She began shopping there when she was in her early 30s, right after she had her first child.

After reading her daily newspaper and finding an ad about the store closing, she decided to come in and thank Lowe for the memories and to show her appreciation.

"They've really made a difference in my life, I really value beautiful things, and I really value old things that can find new life," Patton said. "Sometimes when I come here ... I'm kind of buoyant, and I'm in a shopping mood. Other times, I come here when I just like to be surrounded by beautiful things that he's curated. Everything has a story."

Patton and her husband have bought six pieces from the antique shop. Avid book lovers, the couple has a study room. For that room, the pair bought stained glass windows that change colors throughout the day as the sunlight changes.

"We found these five stained glass panels that were mostly clear but had shape, and then little bits of color," she said. "And then there was a set, the one in the center had a heart in it and it was stained glass, it changes colors throughout the day. In the mornings, it's bright red, in the evenings, that goes to pale pink. But it's absolutely perfect for the study, it makes you feel like you're in Hogwarts."

The biggest piece of history the couple attained through the shop was a marble fireplace that was a part of a building that burned down in the San Francisco fire of 1851.

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Before Patton would visit the store, which is only six or seven minutes away from her home, she typically would stop by her favorite now-closed Vietnamese restaurant, which was right across the street.

"That was a double treat, like getting two scoops of your favorite ice cream, I'd go to the Vietnamese restaurant, have my pho and then come here and poke around," she said.

It was a place that was a good stop-in for rainy and snowy days, Patton said. Also, she said, it helped that the owner was so invested in the pieces and knew the history behind them. It made a difference.

"It's just been way more than a shop, he knows so many of his customers," she said. "He's really personable and he knows the story behind all of his things."

Patton says she will miss the shop but is happy that Lowe decided to move on to the next chapter in his life.

"I'm just gonna miss it, it's like my grandmother dying or something," she said. "Just seemed like it's always there and (is) comforting and beautiful."

Making a difference

Lowe was born in Ohio and lived in Florida. In 1967, he traveled to Michigan in his early 30s to attain his graduate degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for studies in sculpture and photography.

He and his wife found a home in Ann Arbor. While his wife was working for the city of Ann Arbor, a fellow came in with a demolition permit regarding an old house on State Street. She asked the man if she could have the picket fence and bricks to use in her basement, Eventually, the couple asked whether they could salvage the home.

Salvaging is the act of rescuing homes or places that are about to get demolished. Lowe and the demolition contractor came to an agreement and hosted a salvage sale.

"We sold many items from this house over a period of three days and kept a number of things for ourselves," Lowe said. "The fellow said, 'You know, how would you like to get in the demolition business?' and the next thing I knew was that I was running a demolition company in Ann Arbor."

After years went on and the business got bigger, Lowe needed more room. In 1974, he found it.

"I rented a little space on Main Street in Ann Arbor, I put things that I was saving from demolition in there," he said. "I would have a sale once a month, on a Sunday. It was a pretty slow beginning, but then it started to take on steam. Then I bought some property in Pittsfield Township, and I built pole barns, I started filling those up."

Lowe partnered with a demolition contractor in Detroit on salvage while he supervised the business and handled bids.

"I realized that I was more interested in salvage and saving things from destruction than I was destroying the houses and hauling them off in little pieces to the landfill," he said. "So I sold my interest in the demolition company and I started Materials Unlimited."

Lowe and his former business partner split ways because the other individual wasn't interested in salvage. The property was kept by Lowe and he began driving around the Midwest to find antiques.

In 1979, a fire at a building next door to his shop destroyed everything Lowe had found and placed in the Ann Arbor location.

"It was a decision whether to start over again or just give it up and do something else," he said. "So I started over again and built half the building that I had and we started doing the same thing we were doing but doing it better. Then this building became available."

By 1981, Lowe had a new location. Materials Unlimited sits at 2 W. Michigan Ave. in Ypsilanti. It was formally Oakland-Pontiac Stabler Motors, a car dealership. Back around 1929, the only way to get from Chicago to Detroit was Michigan Avenue, and when drivers would pass through they got a chance to see the latest vehicles.

Lowe said the location was fantastic because it was just east of Ann Arbor where the majority of their former customers were. With the new space, new opportunities expanded. He began allowing customers to come in and get restoration work done.

Folk could bring in their old doors, or lamps, and make them new again.

"This building really provided a great venue for display," he said. "Looking at beautiful things in a pole barn is not enhancing the beauty. I've got all this natural light for the windows and I got high ceilings for light fixtures, it just really worked out well for us."

Lowe has antiques from all over the world, including Italy and France.

Over the course of the years, Lowe and his eight-member team began developing an online presence. He learned to clean the products and create photo sets for them to be sold online. During the pandemic, it became a big help for selling his items.

"We sent a dining room set to Qatar," he said.

Lowe and his team have also worked on projects with The Whitney restaurant on Woodward in Detroit, or the Hiram Walker house, now known as Willistead Manor, in Windsor. Those projects include the restoration of windows or doors in the buildings or providing tiles for floors.

"The work I enjoy the most is working with people in their residences where they live and what they can do to make it a more fun place to live," he said.

Lowe specializes in making the customer experience joyous.

"You go in antique stores, most of them are kind of just dusty places that don't display things, go set up vignettes, and don't tell you anything about the item that you're looking at," he said. "We'd like to educate them with all the information on the card, when we know some specific building it came from, or why is this piece important."

Pieces in the shop

The shop seems filled with the type of things you'd see in a movie, with decorative lamps or lights dating to the 1800s or the 1900s. You may find a set of pans that are made with long handles from the Middle East because they were using an open fire to cook.

Gossip walls from local restaurants hold secrets of what was being told on the other side. Victorian doors over 6 feet stand at the ready. Fireplace mantels carved by hand are priced nearly at $34,000 because of the intricate details plastered on them.

The shop had something for everyone, whether it's comfy theater seats from the Grosse Pointe War Memorial or a 1930 birdcage that featured two perches and two ceramic feeders.

With the store closing, everything will be sold. In January, there will be an auction to get rid of everything left.

Lowe says the thing he will miss the most is the "treasure hunt."

"Well, there's the treasure hunt, I'm always looking for things that I've never seen before," he said. "One of the parts of that is I'm always learning about things that (are) wonderful."

There is no set date at the moment for the closure but it will be gone by the end of December.

"We're having a sale right now to show our gratitude for our customers and people that have never been here before," he said.

Hannah Manning has been working at the store for almost 15 years. Now, at 44, she's looking for a new job and enjoying the rest of her time at Materials Unlimited.

She does a little bit of everything, sales, shipping, and photography, plus she has done restoration work.

"There's always something new and interesting coming in," she said. "I enjoy helping customers find that perfect thing for their house."

Manning is going to miss bringing her dog Boss to work, along with missing her coworkers, the customers, and taking walks along the river.

" I don't know what's next; I'm still in denial," she said. "I am hoping that whatever it's going to be, it'll be as rewarding and as long-term as this place has been."

Materials Unlimited is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Contact Chandra Fleming: cfleming@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Materials Unlimited is closing in Ypsilanti after 50 years in business