For decades, the Gibraltar Trade Center was equal parts flea market, shopping center and weekend adventure.
Now, a Detroit couple with no connection to the original venue is betting big on Michiganders wanting it back.
Robert and Catrina Hensley are preparing to launch Gibraltar Trade Center 2, a modern-day version of the sprawling weekend marketplace that operated for decades in both Taylor and Mount Clemens.
The couple say they are in talks to lease a 56,000-square-foot space at the Mall of Monroe, located just north of Monroe, about halfway between Detroit and Toledo.
“Gibraltar Trade Center was a Michigan tradition,” Catrina Hensley said. “Now it's a Michigan tradition re-imagined.”
Joe Bell, corporate communications director for Cafaro Co.,
the mall’s parent company, confirmed a deal is in the works, although the lease has not yet been signed.
“They're heavily interested in the space,” Bell said. “We are happy to talk with them, we think that discussions are moving along nicely, and we're optimistic that this is going to be a new business at the mall.”
‘Michigan’s Disneyland’
Founded by Jim Koester, the original Gibraltar Trade Center opened in 1980 in a 153,000-square-foot warehouse off Eureka Road in Taylor.
In a 1988 story, the Canton Observer said the venue hosted 700 vendors in a “carnival-like atmosphere.”
“Anything you can imagine has been sold at Gibraltar since it opened,” Koester told the Observer at the time. “Nothing surprises me anymore.”
For a 50-cent admission charge, the newspaper reported, shoppers could find everything from Jordache jeans – a must-have for 1980s-era teen girls – to jewelry, T-shirts, wallpaper, snowblowers, kitchen gadgets, mattresses, auto parts and burglar alarms.
Visitors could also get a tattoo, a haircut, a live bird, a slice of pizza, or something called an iridology reading. The list goes on and on.
Gibraltar expanded to a second location in Mount Clemens in 1990, where it operated for 27 years. But as competition from online sales mounted, the Taylor location closed in 2014, followed by Mount Clemens in 2017.
“Gibraltar was always like Michigan's Disneyland,” Catrina said. “There was always something new. After it closed, we heard stories of ‘Gibraltar is coming back,’ but then nothing happened.”
So, after years of talking about memories of the center, the conversation became an idea: Why not bring it back themselves?
“We’re just a husband and wife with a dream,” Catrina said. “Nobody else has done it, and we want this. Why not us?”
Robert, a truck driver, and Catrina, a stay-at-home mom, have experience with online sales and operating vendor booths, but running a trade center with hundreds of vendors will be an entirely new venture for the couple. And one they are excited to embrace.
The couple have been teasing plans on a Gibraltar Trade Center 2 Facebook page.
More than 1,000 vendor applications
After plans to establish Gibraltar Trade Center 2 at a Taylor location fell through, the couple found the Mall of Monroe.
The mall’s website says intensive redevelopment has turned the complex into “a true mixed-use center,” with businesses catering to everything from performing arts and fitness centers to vehicle customization plus popular retail and service offerings.
Larger tenants include Phoenix Theatres, Planet Fitness, Ragnarok Motorworks, Cubesmart and Dirty Birdie, an entertainment venue with golf simulators and axe-throwing.
The Hensleys believe their new venture will fit right into the setting and say interest from vendors has exceeded their expectations, with more than 1,000 applications from people interested in the space.
Ultimately, they hope to accommodate about 300, possibly more, with the mix as eclectic as people remember.
Although selections are not final, enlisted vendors include tattoo artists, phone repair, beauty services, custom T-shirts and tumblers, engraved wood products, tools, shoes, clothing and more.
“We’ll have high quality,” Robert said, noting he plans to take special care to ensure the space is kept clean and well maintained. “We want things that people are going to be excited to come in and see.”
A small convenience store and food trucks are also in the plan.
Recreating the Gibraltar experience
The Hensleys know they can’t reproduce the original Gibraltar exactly, but – with memories of a wooden Harley and a giant gumball machine – they want to recreate its spirit and are working to track down pieces from the old market.
A sailboat is planned for the middle of the new space, and Catrina said they are working with some original Gibraltar vendors, including an airbrush artist.
They also envision live music on weekends, activities for kids and families and, eventually, outdoor events like car shows and carnivals.
“We have a lot of things for kids planned because we want the next generation of people to grow up loving Gibraltar as well,” she said.
The Hensleys declined to put a dollar figure on the investment they're making, but said it was significant.
“I’m betting the farm on this,” Robert said. “That’s how much I believe in it.”
Contact reporter Laura Colvin: lcolvin@hometownlife.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gibraltar 2? Comeback planned for Michigan's iconic trade center
