Meet Mister Everything.
What’s this!? A blog from Mister Style!?
Welcome to Mister Everything!
We are thrilled to introduce a new space where we pull back the curtain on our favourite projects, reveal the dirty details of how they came to be, and share just some of the incredible stories that fuel our passion for thoughtful design, style and innovation.
If this is your first-ever introduction to Mister Style, then welcome! I’m David Burman -- Founder and President of Mister HQ Group, home of Mister Style and Mister Maid. I’ve been providing Windsor-Essex and surrounding areas with high-quality living solutions since I purchased and reinvigorated Mister Maid over 13 years ago.
It was summer 2011. After completing an internship at Walt Disney World and finishing studies at St. Clair College, I took a leap of faith. I was working in a supervisor position at Costco, and like every young person, searching for what I was meant to do with my life.
I often thought about the many inspiring stories of my Grandmother Jeanine told to me throughout my life by both her and my father. Jeanine wasn’t what you picture when you think of your average “Grandma.”
Jeanine was a Holocaust survivor born in Warsaw, Poland whose resilience and determination to overcome hardships unfathomable to most of us today, transformed her into a thriving businesswoman in the beauty industry. She was a pinnacle of Burman’s Beauty Supplies which served products to salons across Ontario for 30 years alongside her husband, and my namesake, David Burman.
It was summer when I received word that a local cleaning company was for sale. For the time I spent considering taking this terrifying, massive risk and diving in headfirst, I thought about all the things that could go wrong.
Then, I thought about Jeanine.
I thought about all of the challenges she endured and how she still managed to overcome them time and time again. Despite it all, she ultimately found success and continued to seize any opportunity she could.
In this moment, being inspired by the stories of my family lit a raging spark inside of me. That spark caused me to jump at the opportunity to reignite the flame of that local cleaning business that had been serving the community since 1997.
Here I was in my early twenties balancing my supervisor position at Costco and starting a new journey as the new owner (and let’s be honest, lead cleaner) of Mister Maid. I think it’s safe to reveal that I was using the Costco first aid room as the original Mister Maid office. Sorry, not sorry...
Within one year, I was out of that first aid room and going full-time! I was able to double our clients and revenue and expand the team with incredible staff members.
Our team grew and improved every day, but not without our obstacles, which I was able to navigate with the help of the inspiring leaders who led me at Disney and Costco, though none quite as personal and inspiring as my Grandmother.
During my rare moments of downtime in those early days, whenever I was able to take a step back, I thought just how grateful I was to have family stories like hers that inspire me to continuously seize opportunities, and thankful for the memories, and foundation they laid before me.
Mister Maid had grown, and before I knew it, years had gone by. One day I received a phone call from Paul Germanese inquiring about a deep clean for his new listing. Like Jeanine, I saw another opportunity.
I took another leap of faith and offered to stage the listing for free. Interiors have interested me my entire life, going all the way back to rearranging furniture and decorating family members' homes as a child. With my growing clientele of local real estate agents, I saw my in and took it, always thinking about my own personal meaning of WWJD…
What would Jeanine do?
I put my all into cleaning and staging that house, and I’m so glad I did. That house sold, and so did another, and another, and another. Soon after, Mister Maid’s baby brother Mister Style was regularly popping up in every neighborhood in Windsor-Essex. I no longer had room in our original headquarters on Wyandotte for staging furniture on top of the mountain of cleaning supplies and whatever space was left for our “admin office” (made up of me, my best friend, and a Macbook).
If you’ve ever hunted for the perfect space and settled for nothing less, then you know how difficult it can be. I needed space, space, and more space. As you probably know, I just had a hunch that the style would follow.
Spoiler — it did.
1055 Ottawa Street, Summer 2024
After a long and painstaking process, and putting up a fight I knew Jeanine would be proud of, I did it. I found our home at 1055 Ottawa Street in Windsor, Ontario. It was a place that had long heard the echos of toppling bowling pins and laughter known as Parkview Lanes, one of many popular local five-pin bowling spots in the '80s and '90s.
Since 2019, its (ever-changing) wallpapered walls have heard the hustle and bustle of building the spaces of people's dreams, housing premium American-made furniture and decor, and the vigorous planning of our staging team from the warehouse. This space has undergone numerous upgrades, including our recent cosmetic renovations allowing us to offer a unique and personalized shopping experience for our clients, which you MUST come and see for yourself!
1055 Ottawa Street is home, and without the amazing and inspiring stories of Jeanine Rosen-Burman, I truly don’t know that I’d be here today.
In the next installment of Mister Everything we will be unveiling a first look at our biggest passion project to date, the long-awaited…
WILLISTEAD PROJECT.
This top-to-bottom design has been in the making for over a year now, and THIS is the exclusive place where we’ll dish all the details about what went into turning an outdated revival-style home from the 1930s in historic Walkerville into a modern masterpiece.
Since this is our inaugural entry, I’ll leave you with a BONUS BLOG written by my father Steven, son of Jeanine, highlighting her life’s journey.
We’ll see you next month for the hotly anticipated story chronicling the tale of
THE WILLISTEAD PROJECT - CHAPTER I!
Until then, come hang out with us at our showroom and design studio at 1055 Ottawa Street to shop our vast selection of interior offerings and start planning your dream space.
Signing off in style,
David Burman, August 2024
THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF JEANINE BURMAN
It is said that she was born in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Jeanine Fanny Furst whose married name Jeanine Burman lived a full and remarkably successful life and has left a legacy worthy of note.
Born in Warsaw, Poland in February of 1922, Jeanine grew to be an accomplished student learning 7 languages and became a model to her baby sister Franca and the pride of her Jewish parents. Unfortunately, this small and accomplished family’s world would soon turn for the worst as storm clouds grew over Europe in the 1930s.
By the summer of 1939 the German war machine had invaded Poland and the lives of the Furst family, German soldiers entered their home through the back patio doors while Jeanine slept on the couch by the door one night. Soon the world for the Jewish community was on life support and to ensure the safety of Jeanine, her aunt from Brussels, Belgium came to the rescue.
Jeanine’s aunt was a wealthy furrier from Brussels who was either gentile or a rarity since she had blond hair, a European flair, status and the freedom to continue her business during the war years. That was not the case for her husband who as we say had a Jewish Coup (looked the Jewish part) and Jeanine. Auty is a resourceful woman finding a place that would harbor her husband for the entire war and a Roman Catholic convent that would do the same for Jeanine. Auty and her husband were childless so Jeanine became her favourite nice over the years and after encouraging her parents to let her leave Poland to stay in Brussels because of the Germans, she was able to acquire false papers, hair colour for Jeanine and sisters that would harbour Jeanine and her secret Jewish identity. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the fate of Jeanine’s parents and sister who were never heard from again either perishing in the Warsaw ghettos or the camps.
With the Allied successes and the defeat of the Axis Powers, life for Europe, Belgium and Jeanine began to come back to normal, sort to speak. At the age of 23, Jeanine with her language skills was able to find work with the Allied Command and was encouraged to attend a dance that was being put on for the Jewish service members of the Allied troops. That night she met her future husband David Louis Burman, becoming a war bride and ultimately a Canadian citizen as she started a new life in Toronto, Canada the home of the Burman family.
Upon returning to Canada in 1946 after serving as a trainer in the Canadian Air Force, Dave was encouraged to join his brother Bill in the furniture business until his brother Alex recruited him to join the team at Helene Curtis the beauty products manufacturer who sold exclusively to beauty salons before the days of mass retail. David was able to land an opportunity to run the Helene Curtis office in Windsor, Ontario so the newlyweds packed their bags and began a new life in Southwestern Ontario. This was the beginning of not only a new industry for Dave but also a newly expanded family since in 1951 and 1952 Dave & Jeanine gave birth to two sons, Allan and Steven. As the boys grew so did the families’ opportunities in the beauty industry. Dave was an accomplished salesperson who after a discussion with the owner of Miller Beauty Agency in Windsor joined that company and ultimately became a partner of its owner, Dave Miller. Both Dave’s and the company’s success increased to the point that it was decided to open a second location in London, Ontario where ultimately Burman’s Beauty Supplies was started, a company that served the beauty salons all over southern Ontario for over 30 years.
Dave and Jeanine were strong complements in business. Dave was the superstar salesman who was born with ‘Value-Add’ in his DNA. He lived for his customers and based his success on their success. Jeanine was the brains of the operation, handling all areas of administration, finance and personnel. With this combination the company would go on to grow year after year, adding more ‘lines’, ‘exclusives and a strong loyal customer base. Unfortunately, the ‘business’ became a consuming force in their relationship and ultimately undermined the love and purpose that originally brought them together.
Upon their separation, Jeanine, always the survivor, made another exodus in her life, but this time to North Miami Beach, Florida. She immediately falls in love with the beauty and warmth of southern Florida, but Florida also falls in love with her. After all, she was attractive, successful and 20 years younger than most of the new people she met. Jeanine danced, dated and dined for several years before re-marring and helping her new husband in his private label vitamin distribution business. As they say, “You cannot keep a good woman down.” As the years went by and with the death of her second husband Jeanine returned to Canada where she spent her days telling her life story and being proud of her grandchildren, believing they would impact the world for the better. Jeanine’s skillful approach to people, business and love of Florida lives on today in her grandson David Allen Burman, who not only owns and thriving business in Southwestern Ontario but in Naples, Florida as well.
by Steven Burman