Susan’s Special Needs specializes in providing women with help through chemotherapy, radiation, menopause and hair loss, including making wigs.
Photo by Deb Jacques
Pleasant Ridge cancer specialty shop to close after 20 years
From left: Susan Thomas and her longtime employees Karen Ashmore and Verna Haak stand in front of Susan’s Special Needs, which will close Feb. 28 after 20 years in Pleasant Ridge.
Photo by Deb Jacques
PLEASANT RIDGE — A Pleasant Ridge retail shop that specializes in providing women with help through chemotherapy, radiation, menopause, hair loss and more recently announced that it is shutting down.
After 20 years of business, Susan’s Special Needs at 24052 Woodward Ave. will have its final day Feb. 28.
The founder and president of Susan’s Special Needs, Susan Thomas, said the reason for the store closing is because the retail landscape has changed.
“Our world has changed. The culture has changed. I think … the treatment of breast cancer is changing, which is a great thing, because women who are newly diagnosed don’t have the need all the time for a wig,” she said. “So for the treatment, that’s wonderful news. Online shopping has certainly influenced our business, but the shop has been a place for 20 years, and in the last 11 years, we’ve seen nearly 12,000 women. So we’ve had a really unique opportunity to be of service and help to people.”
Thomas, who previously worked as an oncology nurse, started the business in 1994 as a wholesale one at first, selling hats and wigs. It wasn’t until people in the local community asked her to open the shop in 2000 that she established the Woodward storefront.
“I’ve been in service of people my whole life, and this was just another part of that whole element,” she said.
Thomas never anticipated how her business was going to end. She’s very happy that cancer is
being treated differently, as she was a cancer patient herself who was diagnosed in 1992.
being treated differently, as she was a cancer patient herself who was diagnosed in 1992.
“The world is changing, and I think we have to change with the world,” she said.
Although the shop is closing down, Thomas will still be meeting with clients and patients for new wigs in Birmingham two days a week, by appointment. To reach Thomas for a private consultation and appointment, people can call (248) 544-4287.
“This has been my life’s work. My life’s passion,” she said. “We worked every day to make that happen. This is a sad time, but certainly a happy chapter moving on and being still able to work.”
City Commissioner Amanda Wahl said Thomas’ shop has been a “wonderful” business and provided a great service to people in need.
“We’re sad that she’s leaving, but happy for her that she’s on a different path where she’s doing something different now,” she said. “We certainly appreciated all her time here.”
“I have not heard anything but wonderful things about that woman and her business,” Wahl said. “She helped a lot of people who, I mean, obviously, it’s a very stressful, scary, horrible time in your life, and to have somebody help you with something like that … is good.”
As she prepares for the business’ final day, Thomas recounted how she’s made friends with people and their families because of Susan’s Special Needs.
And while many will say her business has helped them through difficult times, Thomas herself admitted that it also helped her when she went through her own difficult times.
“I truly have had a unique opportunity to be of service for many, many years, and that has helped me heal,” she said. “I lost a child two years after I was diagnosed with cancer, and working and keeping my focus on someone else’s needs really helped me heal as well.”
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