ADRIAN — Back in 2015, Les and Mary Sieler were thinking about moving their business, Sieler’s Water Systems, out of what was then called the Home Design Gallery at 136 W. Maumee St. in downtown Adrian.

The gallery was up for sale and in poor shape structurally, and more than half of the businesses located there had left. And then, one day, Les learned that the asking price for the building had dropped. He went home and suggested to Mary that, rather than moving out, they buy it.

“I said, ‘Are you crazy?’” Mary said. That was when he told her he’d already stopped at the bank to see what it would take, and said, “I think we can do something with it.”

“So we decided to take the plunge,” Mary said.

Now known as the Gallery of Shops, the building has a storied history dating back to the early 20th century when it was a Chevrolet dealership, Day Motor Sales. It later became Kline’s Department Store, a downtown fixture for many years.

After Kline’s closed, members of the Day family and Larry Condon opened the Home Design Gallery in the space in the early 1990s. At the time, Les was traveling back and forth between Adrian and Ann Arbor, where Sieler’s Water Systems was located, and Condon encouraged the Sielers to move their business to the Home Design Gallery in 1994.

The Home Design Gallery was a one-stop shop for a wide range of home-improvement needs, from kitchens to carpets to Sieler’s Water Systems, and “it was very successful,” Les said.

But then the economic downturn of 2008 happened, Condon sold the building, and over time things got to where they were in 2015 before the Sielers bought the place and turned it into the Gallery of Shops.

Getting things in shape took a lot of work. “We were up at Mackinac Island when the bathroom roof fell in,” Les said. And a new roof was only one of the building’s needs; new bathrooms and new lighting also went in pretty quickly.

Over the years since then, the Sielers have continued to reinvest the rent from their tenants in order to keep improving the property. “It’s like a home ownership. You’re never done,” Les said.

The Gallery of Shops has 14 suites, 13 of which are currently occupied. A variety of enterprises call the building home. In addition to Sieler’s Water Systems, there are boutique shops, salons, a barber shop, a Farmer’s Insurance office, the local office of United Way of Monroe/Lenawee Counties, Goodwill’s ArtWorks gallery, and Downtown Dempsey’s restaurant, which is owned by the Sielers’ daughter Tiffany.

The businesses get some marketing support by being included on the gallery’s website and having their specials promoted. When they first open, their grand opening is promoted, and although they pay to have their signage created, the installation is done for them. 

The gallery also promotes its businesses by participating in downtown Adrian’s First Friday events.

This time of year also sees a holiday tradition at the gallery: lining the hallway with decorative Christmas trees which local organizations, residents, and businesses can pay to decorate. All the money raised goes to Civitan of Lenawee.

The 59 trees plus the many ball ornaments hanging from the ceiling all down the hall give the gallery a festive look for Christmas.

Mary said the gallery’s business owners are “a nice team” — for example, always being willing to offer advice and help to each other.

“It’s kind of like a little family in here. … We just have the best tenants,” she said. “People work together and we have fun together.”