YPSILANTI, MI - Finding themselves unemployed at the end of 2016, Ypsilanti residents Zachary and Sherri Schultz started dreaming up possibilities for their lives.

After celebrating their wedding in October, they soon had a choice to make: take a risk and open their own business or search for conventional jobs. They took the path less traveled and are close to opening Brick and Mortar Modern General Store in Ypsilanti's Depot Town.

"It took us a few months of fleshing out ideas and finding spaces," said Zachary Schultz, who was working in beer sales and management at a brewery before it closed.

In January, they toured the space at 21 E. Cross St. and signed a lease starting April 1. The local economy seemed to be on the upswing, with redevelopment activity happening at the Thompson Block building and new businesses popping up in the district.

"We knew right then, it was the right spot," said Zachary Schultz, adding it was the last available location available for lease in Ypsilanti's Depot Town.

In the past three months, the couple has spent each day side-by-side making their dream a reality. Along the way, they discovered there was a former general store just up the road in what is now an alleyway.

Zachary currently sports several stiches on one hand due to what he described as a "paint brush attack."

"It hasn't been easy every day," said Sherri, but said she couldn't turn down the chance to run the shop with her husband.

Inside the store you'll find a unique mixture of rural and urban touches, from prints of industrial scenes around southeastern Michigan and birch branches used during the couple's wedding ceremony now reused to hang light fixtures.

The store is slowly getting stocked with paper goods like notebooks and greeting cards, gift items, old-fashioned candy, basic necessities like toilet paper and aspirin along with antique furniture and unique finds the Schultzes are willing to part with.

Zachary is working to refurbish old-fashioned tools and furniture pieces to sell at the general store, and has used his wood-working skills to build apothecary-like cabinets and a front counter featuring an old-fashioned cash register.

The Schultzes plan to curate items specific to Ypsilanti events like the Depot Town Cruise Nights, and local entrepreneurs.

Brick and Mortar is not limited to Michigan products, Sherri said, although that was the idea at first. Sherri was at eve the restaurant before it shut down indefinitely due to flood damage and also creates her own line of planters called Library Lab.

She was inspired by the work seen at the DIYpsi Art Fair she has helped organize over the years.

"I just started thinking of items I wanted in the store and started the search," Sherri said.

She looked at products carried by other general stores around the country, and the couple also sought inspirations from passersby who left comments on what they would like to see at Brick and Mortar.

"We really want to inspire the DIY spirit," Sherri said. "There's literally us in this space, things that are important to us."

Paint and hardware supplies are on the order list along with seasonal items like gardening tools and seeds that will pop up at the general store in the springtime.

"It'll definitely be evolving more," Zachary said.

The goal is to create a storefront that will stop people in their tracks. Twenty years from now, Zachary said he wants Brick and Mortar to still be open on Cross Street and giving the community what it needs.

The Schultzes had a soft opening for Brick and Mortar on Friday, July 7.

We feel so grateful and excited to have taken this leap of faith into the abyss of entrepreneurship! Friday's soft... Posted by Brick and Mortar Modern General Store on Sunday, July 9, 2017

They plan to open the general store within the next two weeks.

"It does feel like a dream come true," Sherri said. "It has literally been our blood, sweat and tears."