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It’s not difficult to get Marilyn Rodak to share her family’s story. She has a flair for storytelling that suits the friendly, family-oriented atmosphere of her children’s clothing store, Cecilia Melody’s, in downtown Wyandotte.
 The
story of the Melody family gives a picture of downtown retail that stretches
back 102 years and includes strong and talented women who carried on the
dream started by Marilyn’s great-grandmother, Catherine Melody.
Back in 1895, Catherine bought the flatiron block on Biddle Avenue in the heart of downtown Wyandotte. She built a large commercial building, the original site for Melody Bros., the business run by Catherine’s three sons—James, John and George Melody.
“Retail was quite different in those days,” said Rodak. “Melody Bros. sold yard goods, millinery (hats) and a variety of general merchandise.
“It carried some ready-to-wear, but at the time that was not common. The store really became known for hats.
“The spring and autumn ‘trunk shows’ were a big deal back then—all the women came down to see the latest hat fashions that the milliner displayed from a trunk, and then placed their hat orders, which would be custom made.”
Rodak’s grandmother, Jeanette, worked as a milliner for Melody Bros. She brought her trunk of model hats to the store, took orders and made the hats at her home.
At Melody Bros. she met James, whom she married. Their only child, Cecilia, would become the woman most dedicated to the family’s retail business.
“The three brothers lost a great deal in the 1929 stock market crash, and by 1933, in the grips of the Depression, they lost the business and the Melody Building,” explained Rodak.
 James
and Jeanette’s 19-year-old daughter, Cecilia, was in college at
the time. When she heard about what had happened, she left college and
returned to Wyandotte, managing to buy back the Melody Building at a sheriff’s
sale, which Rodak explains was “something like a municipal auction
would be today.”
Cecilia opened Cecilia Melody’s Hosiery Shop in a small part of the Melody Building, leasing the rest of it to other retailers, such as a Wurlitzer showroom.
Less than 10 years later, when the U.S. entered World War II, hosiery was “hot.”
“Suddenly, women all over the country couldn’t get their silk stockings anymore, because all the silk went into the production of parachutes for the troops,” said Rodak.
“My mother, however, had a steady supplier for these stockings. Her grandfather had maintained a good business relationship with a supplier, and he could keep a small supply of the hard-to-find stockings shipped to my mother’s store.”
Cecilia devised a system for getting her limited supply of silk stockings to her customers. The store mailed each of its regular customers a postcard entitling the bearer to buy one pair of silk stockings per month.
Women lined up around the block to buy their stockings when a shipment came in. These women became loyal customers for years.
 “My
grandmother, Jeanette, worked in the store with mother, and the story
goes that when my mother was about to give birth to me in mid-December,
my grandmother had to urge her: ‘You better get to the hospital
now, Cecilia, and have that baby!’ My mother didn’t want to
leave the store at the height of the Christmas season,” said Rodak.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, when retail began to shift away from downtowns to the new shopping centers and malls, downtown shops everywhere struggled. Cecilia Melody closed her store in 1959, but unlike many others, she came back just a few years later.
In 1962 Cecilia invited her daughter, Marilyn, to join her in business. Marilyn was 21 years old and recently married to Bob Rodak. The two opened Cecilia Melody’s in the building next door, with a focus on women’s accessories. After a few years they added children’s clothing.
Various changes in downtown real estate leases led to the decision, around 1980, to move across the street, to the store’s current location and to focus on babies’ and children’s apparel.
“When my daughter, Anne, was old enough to help, she came to work here as well, so again we had three generations working together.”
Today, for the third time in the store’s history, three generations of women work together when Marilyn and Anne, the store’s only full-time staff, call on Anne’s 17-year-old daughter Raychel to help when needed. Raychel’s middle name, Melody, maintains the connection to her family history.
Cecilia Melody’s maintains its loyal customer base through old-fashioned customer service.
“Forget about a store computer—we still use an old wooden cash drawer! Aside from a terminal for processing credit cards, we’re happy to be low tech,” she said.
“When other stores lose power, their computers get messed up and they can barely do business. Not us, we just keep working.”
Rodak is a long-time and loyal member of MRA, in part because of the customer service she has received over the years in connection with various services, and because her views are closely aligned with those of MRA’s leadership.
At a recent member appreciation breakfast, Rodak and Larry Meyer, MRA’s chairman and CEO, found themselves in agreement about the state’s predicaments and its leadership.
Like many Michigan business owners, Rodak is concerned about the economic climate in Michigan. She cannot understand why Gov. Granholm and others in Lansing seem to think more taxes are the answer.
“What will help Michigan right now? Not more taxes,” said Rodak. “The people of Michigan want hope.”
Rodak’s outlook on retail for this year is “cautiously optimistic,” despite a slow start this spring, with a miserably cold Easter, which meant very few sales of Easter outfits. Things picked up in June with better weather, and Rodak expects the rest of the summer and fall to be good.
Like the strong Melody businesswomen that preceded her, Rodak hopes her business will be around for many years. Given the strengths of the Melody women—from Catherine to Jeanette to Cecilia to Marilyn and on to Anne and Raychel—it has a good shot.
This article was written by Amy Buttery, Michigan Retailer staff writer. |
