Ted Stewart, Metro Retro co-founder and LGBTQ+ advocate, remembered for being inspirational

LANSING — Old Town's Metro Retro is missing its co-founder Ted Stewart, and those who knew him are devastated by the death of the man known for being hip, honest and inspirational.

Stewart, co-founder of the Grand River Avenue thrift store, died over the weekend.

Stewart's husband, Dannie Stewart, posted Monday on his business' Facebook page that he was gone.

"It’s really hard for me to share this with you, but I am doing so for a reason," Dannie Stewart wrote on the Kelly's Pet Boutique East page. "This weekend, I lost my everything - my husband Ted. I’m also going to ask you to hold those you love tight and tell them you love them."

Metro Retro sells clothing, fashion items and an eclectic mix of antiques. The business announced in early March that it had survived eight years.

Mourners left memorials at Metro Retro, 304 E. Grand River Ave., on Monday.

Jynell Veverka said shoppers always knew there'd be something weird inside of Metro Retro and Stewart's death will be a blow to Lansing and its arts community. She knew Stewart when he opened his Old Town store.

She owns Volo Antique Malls in Illinois, which she said draws inspiration from Metro Retro's style and vibe,

Niki Good used to be afraid of Metro Retro, the Old Town store she considered much too loud and busy, until she met Stewart and the shop became her favorite spot.

The store was operated in Stewart's own way. Music was blasting. He would shout friendly obscenities at people he knew, all the while making everyone feel loved, said Good, a frequent shopper and occasional Metro Retro employee.

Good said Stewart would bring his thrift finds back to the store and ask her about items she thought should have $50 on the sticker.

"He'd say: 'But it's too cool, I want someone to be able to afford it,' and so he'd put $16 on it." Good said. "He put $16 on almost everything. He wanted people to come in that couldn’t afford to get this stuff and they'd love it like he loved it. He could have made a killing online but that's not what he did."

Good said Stewart made Old Town feel comfortable.

"You’re going to find a lot of people who will say 'Ted was my best friend,'" she said. "We know he can’t be everyone’s best friend, but he made everyone feel humanized. He was so transparent that you felt instantly endeared. It feels like a lot of people are missing their best friend. And that may be true."

Stewart encouraged others to follow in his steps, said Tiesha King, who opened Thrift Witch near Metro Retro.

They met when Stewart offered to buy some things she was selling online. She said he encouraged her instead to go into business near him even if that risked them both going after the same market of shoppers.

"I told him I didn't want to step on his toes," said King, whose store caters to a similar market where fashion meets off-kilter. "He would say, 'Girl! You should open your own store!' And he pushed me, really the first person to really believe in me."

King said Stewart had run a similar store in Los Angeles before coming to Lansing, and in the last year or so had made several concert trips to California and beyond. She said his travels included a tribute concert to Sinead O'Connor and Shane MacGowan, two Irish musicians who died in 2023.

Veverka said Stewart was "unapologetically gay and proud of it," taking a supportive and protective role in the city's LGBTQ+ community.

He brought his California hipness and the brash honesty of an "old gay who lived through all of that," said King, who leads Lansing Pride.

"He was a young soul, and he would push you to do things he knew you could do, outside of your comfort zone," she said.

He would interact with customers with kindness and, in rare cases, would verbally accost customers who were disrespectful to his other customers, she said.

Veverka once bought a chinchilla at Preuss Pets. She hadn't done her Metro Retro shopping stop yet so she asked Stewart to hang onto her chinchilla while she browsed.

It wasn't the most unusual thing he kept for someone behind the counter, she said.

"His number one thing was he wanted everyone in that community to feel safe and feel wanted," said Veverka, who moved to Illinois in 2016. "I don't know what I'm going to do when I come back."

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Ted Stewart, Metro Retro co-founder, remembered for being inspirational