The city of Hamtramck is on the fast track to becoming a destination for vintage clothes and accessories. One store leading the way is Tekla Vintage where you can find all kinds of hidden and historic gems.
Tekla Vintage offers a wide variety of cool things for men, women and children. Located in Hamtramck's downtown area, the store itself has a bit of history. It was a vacant store front for several years and used to be a well-known hat store, Cody Hats. The new owner, Karen Majewski, renovated the building and opened Tekla in 2013.
Majewski, who is also the city's mayor, has a long history with vintage clothes. She used to collect and wear vintage clothing from the 1940s and 1950s when she was a teenager. She said she remembers the first time she went into a vintage store and was mesmerized by all of the history in the clothing. Majewski said she still has the first item she bought.
The store has clothing that ranges from the early 1980s to petticoats from the turn of the 20th century. Majewski said the big part of her mission with Tekla Vintage is to provide buyers with great finds and also give new life to things that may have been forgotten.
One question that Majewski always gets is what does "Tekla" mean, she said it is a Polish, Scandinavian and Greek name that stands for "God's Glory" and for being a strong woman.