GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A LGBTQ-owned retail spot in downtown Grand Rapids aims to create a safe space where people don’t feel the need to hide who they are.
The 12th House is celebrating its third anniversary, after opening at 8 Jefferson Ave. SE near Fulton Street in June 2021. The shop specializes in handmade local items, with work from around 75 artists, mostly from West Michigan or the rest of the state.
The shop, which will have a booth at the Grand Rapids Pride Festival on Saturday, has Pride items from local queer artists and metaphysical items — everything from jewelry and stickers to incense and crystals. It also offers tarot, astrology and palm readings and reiki sessions, which can all be booked online.
Owner Sarah Cash opened the store to sell her own items and to support other artists. She also stocks items that match her sense of humor, she said.
“I tell people (that) I get to buy all the things I’ve ever wanted, but I just hang on to them for a little while until they find their own home,” she said.
Becoming a small business owner was a full-circle moment that started when she moved to Grand Rapids in 1997 as a teenager. She said she would often hang out at Discussions, a coffee shop that served as a safe space for kids in the LGBTQ+ community.
“I spent quite a bit of time in there,” she said. “I always had loved that space.”
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In 2006, when she was pregnant with her oldest and was too sick to hold a typical job, her dad, a metalsmith, taught her to make jewelry. When both she and her husband lost their job in the recession in 2008, they relied on selling the jewelry at markets and pop-ups, along with unemployment benefits, to make ends meet.
Throughout that time, she dreamed about opening her own store.
“We (Cash and her dad) had always talked about opening our own store,” she said. “But it was always just a pipe dream, like, ‘Oh, yeah, when we have our own store, we’ll be able to do this, this and this.'”
Her dad died in September 2020.
A few months later, in January 2021, she lost her job as a the manager of a retail store.
“At that point I was like, OK, now’s the time to do this,” she said.
With the help of federal stimulus money, she was able to open up her shop — right next to where Discussions had been located.
“This space was open and had been empty for a few years,” she said. “It just pulled everything together for me. It was like, this is the space that I need to open the store in.”
Cash has worked to make The 12th House a safe space for others, as she recalls Discussions being all those years ago. When some customers come in, “You can visibly see the tension go out of their shoulders,” Cash said.
“They’re looking for crystals or metaphysical or good vibes or good energy,” she said. “I’ve tried really hard to make that happen and make this a safe space.”
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Since opening in 2021, three young people have come out to their parents while in the store, she said. The first time happened just a month after opening, when a mom was shopping there with her kid.
“I have a sticker area, and one of them said something about being bisexual,” Cash recalled. “The mom and I were just chit chatting and then the kid goes, ‘Oh yeah, I’m that.’ Just nonchalantly, like no big deal. And his mom was like, ‘Oh my God. OK.’ And then looked at me and we both started crying.”
The mom suggested having a party, Cash said.
“It was the most pure thing that I had seen in a long time … that he felt comfortable in this space that I’ve created, to tell his mom about his identity,” she said. “It was so amazing and pure.”
Cash hopes to build the store into something she can pass on to her kids. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and the parent of a queer kid, Cash said it’s important to offer a safe space for kids in the community.
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Owning a small business has come with challenges, and Cash said people aren’t as quick to buy nonconsumables as they were when it first opened.
“The first year and a half was amazing and then it slowed down. … We slowed down when the economy slowed down and inflation went up,” Cash said. “The last year has been a little bit rocky, but I think we’re going to make it through.”
Still, she said she loves being her own boss and hearing her customer’s stories. She encouraged people to follow The 12th House’s social media accounts and to stop in to say hi.
“They always say, ‘If you love your job, you won’t work a day in your life.’ I really love my job. Even on the hardest days, even on the days that I’m in here and something bad goes wrong and I end up crying,” she said. “It’s a safe space for everybody … including myself.”
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