Removals are underway and underground work is happening on Fifth Street. This is the start of a project that will develop a world-class public space that will be complete by August.

Melt N Dip recently opened a new location at 505 S. Main Street, and Tricho moved down the street to a new location at 501 S. Washington Avenue. New boutique Badd Kitty is bringing its elevated retail concept to Royal Oak, in the space formerly occupied by Noir Leather (124 W. Fourth Street), which is moving to another location outside of downtown. We have many more business openings to announce shortly.

Other businesses are renovating or expanding, including Creative Art Studio and Icon Pix Studios Karaoke – both on Fourth Street.

What can you expect from the Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority in the coming months? A $100,000 business recruitment and retention fund from the DDA will soon launch and accept applications from existing and new downtown businesses. In April, a special invitation-only event at Bamboo with the Small Business Administration will help to connect businesses with funders.

We are hard at work to make Royal Oak the best place to open and operate a business in southeast Michigan. And soon enough, live music will return to Centennial Commons and the Farmers Market through programs that the DDA helps to fund.

A team from Royal Oak will attend the Main Street Now conference in Tulsa from April 12-16. This is the largest gathering of downtown professionals nationally each year. The host organization, Main Street America, recently announced Royal Oak is the ninth most visited Main Street program in the country and the top visited in Michigan, with 2.73 million visitors in 2025.

See You Downtown!