TECUMSEH — Back in November 2004, when John and Erika Aylward opened the Boulevard Market at 102 E. Chicago Blvd. in Tecumseh, they had no idea what the future would hold for their business.
“We had a young family, and we always looked at it as, if we failed we were young enough to recover,” Erika said.
But the Aylwards quickly turned their love of all things food-related into a thriving business that marks its 20th anniversary this month.
Along the way, they became international travelers, seeking out small businesses around the world that make interesting products and being invited by many of those suppliers to see their operations up close.
The couple also became culinary craftspeople themselves, learning to make their own cheeses, chocolate, and dry-cured salame. Just this past June, they were inducted into La Guilde des Fromagers, an international cheese guild based in France. Erika also recently released a cookbook, “Taste the World,” featuring her own recipes with photography by Sarah Chinavare and graphic design by Nanci Bridget, both of Tecumseh.
“It has been a trip,” Erika said. “We’ve had a blast. We’ve had so many opportunities and met so many really, really fantastic people.”
Erika grew up on a farm in Macon, while John comes from Ridgeway. All three of their children attended Tecumseh schools. The couple lives in Macon, where from 2000 until earlier this year they also owned the Macon Grocery.
The Aylwards also operate The Inn on Evans, an Airbnb consisting of three studio apartments, each with a different international theme, above the market. “It’s been a great use of our building,” Erika said, and the people who rent the rooms “just love Tecumseh.”
The Boulevard Market sells a wide range of beverage items, many of them from producers in Spain, Italy, France, and England. Other product lines come from countries such as Greece and Poland. There are also a number of Michigan-made products.
Most of their suppliers “are pretty small companies and they’re doing some amazing stuff,” Erika said, and the results give the market’s products “a curated appeal.”
The Aylwards always prefer using small producers. “It makes a big difference to us to be involved in small businesses around the world,” Erika said.
“One of the most attractive things about what we sell is that it’s all old traditional foods,” she added, “and the people creating these products today are reflective of those traditions and values. … We need things that taste great and are beautiful and come from some guy in the south of France.”
In the market’s back room one recent afternoon, she opened some of the boxes that had arrived containing products the shop will sell for the holidays.
Out of one box came cans of choucroute, a French sauerkraut. “It’s all the sauerkraut you know, but sophisticated,” Erika said, laughing.
Another box held packages of honey gingerbread, while others contained everything from violet-infused candies, to a custard in orange cognac, to duck leg confit, to chocolates. One type of chocolate is covered in crystallized roses. Another is shaped like oysters and comes packaged in an oyster box.
Such items are typical of the variety customers will find on the Boulevard Market’s shelves, and represent the Aylwards’ passion for finding great items from around the world and bringing them home to Tecumseh.
“We’ve been able to bring all the things we love into Boulevard and share them with people,” Erika said, and owning the shop for 20 years and counting has given the couple “that opportunity to do what you love, every day. … We feel really fortunate to have such a great community, both locally and globally.”
The Boulevard Market is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. It can be reached by phone at 517-423-6000 or on Facebook. Its website is www.boulevardmarket.com.
