Moosejaw uses mime to market store

By SHAUN BYRON Of The Oakland Press

Julie Hansen and her son, T.J. Hansen, were walking by Moosejaw on Saturday when a mime managed to coax them into the store to
buy some T-shirts.

  “I think it’s cool,” Julie Hansen said, a Rochester Hills resident. “We saw the mime and it got us in the store. It worked.”

  But it wasn’t just the mime that couldn’t talk as employees had to use dry erase boards hanging from their necks to communicate with
customers.

  It was just one of the clothing and outdoor sporting goods store’s whacky methods to entice customers to walk through their doors at
the Meadowbrook Village Mall on Adams Road, north of Walton Boulevard.

  “We like to do silly marketing stuff,” joked shop manager Allen Gough. “The fact that it makes no sense is the best part about it.

  “A lot of people walk in just to see the mime or see what is going on here and generate more sales and create more customers.”

  The promotion is going to be held at other locations in Michigan before going to stores in the Chicago area, he said.

  And its targeting of customers seemed to work as people slowed or stopped to laugh at the mime’s antics.

  The mime, whose name is Mat Emerick, was hired through Patchwork Pear Performers out of the Grand Rapids area. Emerick never
broke from character and greeted people with a smile as he juggled rubber balls and made comedic attempts to sell them clothes. “We
have a fun atmosphere and do a lot of silly things,” Gough said.

  Karen Mitchell said she had just planned a normal day of shopping with her son, Lucas, in preparation in preparation a trip he was
taking with his Boy Scout troop.

  “I didn’t expect to see a mime here,” the Rochester resident said. “But this store always provides a bit of fun.”

  Contact Shaun Byron at (248) 745-4685 or shaun.byron@oakpress.com

Mat Emerick, a mime with Patchwork Pear Performers, juggles at Moosejaw at the Village of Rochester Hills on Saturday. During his visit, no one was
allowed to speak, including the staff; all communication had to be visual. Below: Carla Mosse, assistant manager of Moosejaw, uses a dry erase board to
communicate with shoppers. Photos special to The Oakland Press/ DAVID KILKENNEY