Fifteen months ago, the owners of Harbor Town Interiors in downtown St. Joseph told MoodyOnTheMarket.com they wanted to retire—but they didn’t want to close the store. Co-owner Mary Kay Hylton put it this way in February of 2022: “We want to pass the torch, not put it out! We’re in our 60s, It’s time. Maybe not next week or next month, but it’s time. We’re ready to phase out, but not just quit and go out of business!”
This week, Thursday morning, Erin Bennett, owner of Final Design Kitchen & Bath in St. Joseph will take up that ‘torch’ from Hylton and her business partner Stephanie Grill. Harbor Town Interiors will NOT close. Instead it will open a new chapter as the second phase of Erin Bennett’s entrepreneurial journey.
“It’s time!” said Bennett. “Time to step up and do it, rather than see this outstanding store be closed and turned into another tee shirt shop!” Bennett was bubbling with enthusiasm in a weekend interview. “It’s a treasure. It’s my favorite go to place when design clients want something special. Harbor Town Interiors is going to be a ‘perfect marriage’ with Final Design!”
“At Final Design, we do everything that’s permanent: floors, cabinets, counters, bathrooms, kitchens… Harbor Town does everything that’s moveable: furniture and décor, draperies, wall coverings, accessories. It’s the perfect combination that will allow us to make our clients happy.”
Bennett will operate the two businesses separately. Final Design and its kitchen/bath showroom and design space will continue to operate at 1601 Lakeshore Drive, St. Joseph (across from Dairy Korner). Harbor Town Interiors will stay at 613 Broad Street, across from Broad Street Café (the old Fire Station). Departing HTI partner Stephanie Grill owns the building and will lease it to Bennett.
Bennett said each of her enterprises will hire a couple of new employees to focus solely on their different missions. Besides the owner, she will be the “Lead Designer” at both, calling on years of experience in the kitchen and bath field, as well as earlier experience in general interior design. Bennett has a degree in Interior Architecture and Design.
For the next several months, retiring HTI owners Hylton and Grill will assist in the transition as they complete projects that are underway. And Bennett says they’ll be around to offer guidance and assistance as needed until later in the year.
Bennett said her interest in acquiring Harbor Town has been growing over several months, because the two firms’ missions fit together so well. “We are a Design Studio in both stores,” she explained. “Final Design is not a cabinet shop. We design entire kitchen and bath concepts. Harbor Town Interiors is not just a furniture store. Now, we can design whole-home remodels if that’s what the customer wants. We cater to people who want things done right, and usually don’t want to do it themselves. They want us to handle it, and that’s what we do!”
Bennett believes the transition will be smooth for existing Harbor Town Interiors clients. “Our taste in decorating matches up. Of course there’ll be subtle differences, but I’m confident past customers will be pleased when they return.” She will be adding draperies and blinds to the Harbor Town product line. She said HTI has a unique position in the marketplace and is not directly competitive with leading local furniture stores, often referring customers both ways to fulfill their needs.
Mary Kay Hylton, as she contemplates being “more retired,” is overjoyed that she will pass the torch, rather than lock the door at Harbor Town Interiors. “This is great,” she told us, “It took awhile, but we found the perfect buyer.”
Hylton, Grill and their former partner Kerry Cressler opened HTI thirteen years ago, after working together down the street a Great Lakes Interiors, a large furniture store that briefly operated in what’s known as the Troost Brothers building.
Bennett and her husband have been Southwest Michigan residents since 2008. She opened Final Design Kitchen & Bath in 2018 after doing free-lance design work in the area for several years.
Headline photo: New Owner Erin Bennett (seated), Retiring Owners Stephanie Grill & Mary Kay Hylton, with mascot ‘Jack the Dog’
