By: K. Michelle Moran | Grosse Pointe Times | Published December 9, 2025
GROSSE POINTE WOODS — Grosse Pointe Woods is going to be getting a Tapper’s — but not the kind that sells fine jewelry.
A Tapper’s Gold Rush is slated to be coming to 21115 Mack Ave., south of Brys Drive and east of Helen Avenue. The business evaluates and purchases coins, bullion and other precious metal items. The business won’t be selling anything at the Woods location.
The Grosse Pointe Woods City Council — sitting as the Zoning Board of Appeals — was tasked during a meeting Nov. 17 with evaluating whether to grant the business a use variance for the building, as the city’s planners at McKenna felt that the business would fall under the category of a pawnshop, which would not be permissible. City Planner Laura Haw said the property is zoned for commercial use.
“The operation will primarily serve clients on an appointment basis,” Haw said.
By definition, she said, the proposed use is retail, but it would function more like an office use.
“We do not find that this use will be more intrusive than other (commercial uses). … We do not see this creating a burdensome impact on the surrounding neighborhood,” Haw said.
Mark Tapper, president of the Tapper’s family of businesses, clarified the nature of Tapper’s Gold Rush for the council.
“It is not a pawnshop,” Tapper said. “It is not a resale shop. … This is a professional, one-directional transaction.”
He added that they won’t have displays in the window and likened Tapper’s Gold Rush to a “small, professional office.”
“We aim to be a quiet, secure (business),” Tapper said.
He said they typically would have six to eight clients at the business per day; during a busy time, that could be 14 to 15 people per day. Tapper’s Jewelry was founded nearly 50 years ago, in 1977.
The building’s owners, Anthony Miserendino and Jeff Rinke, of Commercial Properties Development of Michigan, said they put a new roof, windows, and heating and cooling system in the building after they acquired it about five years ago from a previous owner. It’s been vacant for about two years, they said; it was formerly home to a Verizon store.
“We have had a hard time leasing the building. … Mark Tapper’s business would be a great addition to the community and would be well received, I think, by the community,” Miserendino said. “It in no ways resembles a pawnshop.”
Miserendino and Rinke both grew up in the Woods.
“It was run down,” Miserendino said of the property when they acquired it. “Water was leaking into the roof.”
He said they both put a considerable amount of money into the building.
City Councilman Todd McConaghy moved that they approve the site plan without a use variance, because the business didn’t need one based on what Tapper said would be happening there.
“I don’t think it needs a variance,” McConaghy said. “It is a commercial use for that building.”
The council agreed, voting unanimously in favor of it.
After the meeting, Tapper said they hope to open in January. He said this will be their eighth location in metro Detroit.
“It’s a really great opportunity,” Tapper said.
He said people can also bring in broken jewelry, which can be melted down to make new jewelry.