Eastern Market Shops

Signal Return Press specializes in gorgeous letterpress, doing their part to preserve the increasingly obscure art by offering workshops and open studio programs, and hosting visiting artists. If you're not in town during one of their events, it's still fun to stop by their shop, which has great cards, posters, and prints. It's a great place for picking up souvenirs.

Next door to Trinosophes café is People's Records, one of the most notable record stores in the country. Run by longtime bassist and soul DJ, Brad Hales, Peoples specializes in soul (the collection of random, second-hand soul 45s here is extraordinary), but also carries rare jazz, R&B, and rock. Peoples has been around for more than a dozen years, surviving a fire, moving locations multiple times (they have a shop closer to Ferndale, too), meaning that Hales has amassed more than records in his time. The store is home to posters and old photographs, but he also opened a music archive museum attached to the other side of Trinosophes that draws from his deeper collection of artifacts and highlights musicians from Detroit's/Michigan's history. MAHS (Michigan Audio Heritage Society) can be thought of in juxtaposition to the Motown Museum—the exhibitions at MAHS bring to light less well known music contemporary to Motown, whereas at the Motown Museum you'll of course see some of the most commercially successful artists.