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Every week in Michigan, somebody is quietly building something worth celebrating. A barber who makes homemade Italian biscuits for his customers. A couple who turned an old gas station into the best pizza joint in the area. A music teacher who became a small business owner. This week we are featuring five of them, one from each corner of the state.

There is nothing accidental about Sidetrack Bookshop in Royal Oak. Every shelf, every section, every book placed in the front window was chosen with a specific intention: to curate for joy and compassion and to build a community around reading.

Sidetrack sits at 325 S Washington Avenue and has become one of the most beloved independent bookstores in Southeast Michigan. But what makes it worth talking about is not just the selection. It is the philosophy behind it. In a world where Amazon will ship you anything in two days, Sidetrack exists to give you something a warehouse cannot: a person who actually read the book recommending it to you because they think it will matter to your life.

They also have a separate kids bookstore called The Caboose right next door, which tells you everything you need to know about how seriously they take the next generation of readers.

Independent bookstores are not supposed to survive in 2025. Sidetrack did not get that memo.

When Diane and Eric Schindlbeck saw an old gas station for sale on Diamond Lake, most people would have kept driving. They stopped and saw something else entirely.

Today that old gas station is Schindy's at Diamond Lake, one of the most talked-about pizza spots in West Michigan and a Michigan Celebrates Small Business award winner. Thin-crust pizza, a laid-back atmosphere, and a building with a story behind it. Diane and Eric opened Schindy's in November 2021 after stepping away from a previous restaurant that did not survive the pandemic shutdowns. They came back anyway, took a risk on a converted gas station, and built something the community immediately claimed as their own.

That kind of resilience is not something you can fake. Schindy's earned every review and every award the hard way.

If you are in the Diamond Lake area of West Michigan, this is the kind of place you stumble onto once and then tell everyone you know about.

H2 Dermatology in Saginaw was recently recognized as one of Michigan's top small businesses by Michigan Celebrates Small Business, one of the most competitive recognition programs in the state that drew over 650 nominations in 2025.

In a city that has faced more than its share of economic headwinds, a locally owned dermatology practice earning statewide recognition is exactly the kind of story that deserves to be told out loud. H2 Dermatology is not a chain. It is not a national brand flying a Michigan flag. It is a local practice built by people who chose to invest in Saginaw when they could have gone elsewhere.

Healthcare businesses often fly under the radar when it comes to small business recognition. This one earned its spot.

If you are in the Saginaw area and looking for a dermatologist who is locally owned and community-rooted, H2 Dermatology is worth knowing about.

Fable and Fen in Traverse City is not easy to describe, and that is exactly the point.

The business takes its name and its spirit from a collection assembled in the late 1800s by an amateur naturalist and a spiritualist, two people who spent their lives gathering objects from the edges of natural history, science, and the unexplained. Fable and Fen carries that tradition forward, curating a collection of objects and curiosities that you will not find anywhere else in Northern Michigan.

They appear at art fairs and markets throughout the state, and their Traverse City presence has built a following of people who appreciate things that are made with intention and rooted in something real. In a gift economy dominated by mass-produced keepsakes and forgettable trinkets, Fable and Fen is genuinely different.

If you are heading up north and want to bring something home that will actually start a conversation, Fable and Fen is worth finding.

Jim's Music and Teaching Center in Escanaba has been recognized by Michigan Celebrates Small Business as one of the standout small businesses in the state, and it is easy to understand why.

In a small city in the Upper Peninsula, Jim built a music education business that has become part of the community's identity. Music teachers do not usually think of themselves as small business owners, but that is exactly what Jim is. He built something from scratch, kept it running through every seasonal shift and economic challenge that comes with living and working in the U.P., and earned statewide recognition for it.

There are fewer music education businesses in rural Michigan than there used to be. The ones that survive are usually run by someone who cares more about the craft than the profit margin. Jim's Music and Teaching Center feels like one of those places.

If you have a child in the Escanaba area who has ever expressed interest in learning an instrument, this is where you start.

An indie bookshop that refuses to quit. A gas station turned pizza joint. A Saginaw dermatologist. A Traverse City curiosity shop. A U.P. music teacher. None of these businesses have a marketing department. None of them ran a Super Bowl ad. They built their reputation the same way every small business does: by showing up, doing good work, and letting the community decide.

Michigan has thousands of businesses like these. We are here to make sure people know about them.

If you own or know a small business that belongs in the spotlight, reply to this email and tell us the story.

Dave Baca Michigan Small Business Spotlight topchoicediscover.com