Birchwood Mall gets salon, comic book store and has plans for bakery

The gate being down in front of Comic Book Zen LLC in Birchwood Mall didn’t stop a handful of people from walking up to inspect the new store Wednesday.

Jason Sawyer, the shop owner, said he moved to the Fort Gratiot Township mall from 1217 Griswold St., which felt out of the way and was on a road heading out of Port Huron.

“Being here in the mall, it’s going to be very interesting and exciting,” he said.

Comic Book Zen is one of five Birchwood Mall tenants that have opened or plan to open soon, mall general manager Lois Potts said.

The other tenants include:

• Headspace Salon, owned by Alayna Horan, which opened June 19.
• Sbarro, which plans to open in the food court in early July.
• Peace of Cake, a local baker, which plans to open in the former Burger King Aug. 1.
• Mostly Michigan, which sells mostly Michigan-made products, and plans to open in September.

The Gaming Lab, a virtual reality arcade, also opened in Birchwood Mall’s former Campus Den on June 18.

Potts said her goal was to have a new tenant in 90 days. She's already landed five.

“We have definitely exceeded that,” she said.

She said she’s been focusing on bringing local businesses to the mall and local people are “really the foundation for our community.”

Potts said she would love to see some type of boutique or apparel shop come to the mall for women, kids or men, as there’s a need for more clothing stores in the mall. Although a clothing boutique is her next goal, she said she’s open to working with different businesses.

Sawyer said Comic Book Zen is right next to Auntie Anne’s pretzels, two doors down from the salon and a straight shot from the AMC theater. He’s excited for potential superhero fans to visit his store with the premier of “Black Widow” in July.

The comic book store has movie posters, vintage toys from the 1990s and “great conversation pieces."

Sawyer said he's excited about the change of venue. When he was on Griswold Street, he knew when people walked in the door they were there to see him. In the mall, there’s an inherent curious culture with all the different shops that cater to different interests.

“There’ll definitely be a lot more choices and a lot more drive to come up here,” he said.

Contact Bryce Airgood at (810) 989-6202 or bairgood@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @bairgood123.