Tender Store Owner Cheryl Daskas Dies at 71

Funeral services were held in Troy, Mich., on Friday for Cheryl Daskas, a former model who ran the directional fashion boutique Tender.

The cause of death for Daskas, who died on June 9, was not immediately known, according to the publicist Ellen Carey, who was a friend. Daskas had seemed “fine” while working in the store on Saturday, aside from complaining of a leg issue, Carey said. She was found “peacefully” at her home, following a wellness check by one of her employees, Carey said.

Born in Detroit, the 71-year-old spent her career in the fashion industry in different capacities. For the past 32 years, she owned and operated the store Tender in Birmingham, Mich., with her sister Karen. Tender is known for its European designer labels, which prior to the store’s opening were not in abundance in the Midwest. The pair owned the downtown building that houses Tender, and they shared a home as well.

Daskas earned a bachelor’s degree at Michigan State University before getting into fashion. During her high school and college years, she modeled for the Ford Motor Company, Hudson’s department store and other brands, before deciding “that’s not where she was going to make her money,” her sister said. “She said it was like looking for a job every day of your life. Our mother was a model too. She was British and Scandinavian. They were both so pretty.”

Tender once resided next door to a leading designer retailer Linda Dresner. After Dresner shuttered that store, Tender picked up Dries Van Noten. It also sells Erdem, Simone Rocha and Ashlyn, a 2025 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist, for its 3,000-square-foot shop. Lanvin was once a strong seller there, during the Alber Elbaz years, Carey said. With pale blue walls, architectural displays and top-shelf names, Tender looks more like the type of a polished retailer one finds in Manhattan or Los Angeles.

Ashlyn’s managing director Johanne Shepley Siff met the sisters 30 years ago in her former role as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Prada. Siff said, “We’ve lost one of the gems of the specialty store business. Cheryl was a force. I called her a ‘textile archeologist.’ She could immediately identify products of integrity.”

Sift added, “Tender is one of the opinion leaders, and one of the go-to retailers at the high-end specialty store. They not only take the risk to identify emerging talent, but they also have the structure and wherewithal to introduce that talent to a customer they have cultivated to appreciate new talent.”

Accustomed to working six days a week, Cheryl Daskas would arrive at 8:30 am, if a customer requested that. The co-owners called their store employees “Tender-ettes,” and they stayed connected with those past and present through the years, Karen Daskas said.

“Cheryl loved what she did. It was not about her or Tender. It was always about everybody else doing well,” Karen Daskas said. “She had this gift, where she could look at someone and immediately know what size they were and what types of clothes would look good on them. And you didn’t have to be a size four. You could be any size. She was just going to make you look great and feel the best that you can be.”

With a larger-than-life personality, she was recognizable for her auburn cropped hair, broad smile and designer outfits. “She was very tall and grand. When she came into a room, she stole the show,” Carey, who owns Seed Inc., said.

Even in the early 1990s, the sisters understood the importance of retailers working closely with manufacturers to create items that would appeal to their customers. They took a highly personal approach to helping shoppers in the store and were also loyal supporters of the arts community through events and philanthropy in Birmingham, Carey said.

Recalling how they collaborated on vintage jewelry shows at Tender on occasion, Carey said, “Cheryl could sell like no one else could. Her heart was 100 percent in everything she did. Why do you want to do something if you’re not going to do it well?”

They would typically sell 150 of 200 items during a two-day sale. Kenneth Jay Lane items were of particular interest to shoppers and to Daskas, who would set aside five pairs of earrings for herself, Carey said. “I would say, ‘Cheryl, these are for the customers,’ and she would say, ‘Well, I’m a customer.’”

But she wore them during the trunk show sales, and she was the showpiece, Carey said. “And you’re going to want them, if she’s wearing them. Karen would not have done that. Karen would have sold them.”

While Cheryl Daskas handled front-of-the house sales and the store’s social media, Karen Daskas managed the buying trips. Off the clock, Cheryl Daskas enjoyed gardening, relaxing poolside, grilling and sharing meals and binge-watching shows with her sister. “Every night we would tell eachother we loved eachother and give eachother a hug. We never fought except for a couple of sister squabbles,” Karen Daskas said. “It’s just a shock. We never got married and we didn’t have kids. We have two little Kerry Terriers ‘Whiskey’ and ‘Gogo.'”

Daskas is survived by her sister.