A Throwback Friday Tribute to Grand Rapids’ Herpolsheimer’s

I'm making this a "throwback Friday" as we remember Herpolsheimer's Department store!

My, how different it was "back in the day!" In downtown Grand Rapids you had most of the retail in the area, and the two big department stores, Wurzburg's and Herpolheimer's. How exciting it was to shop there. They were big and filled with shoppers. Of course, they had fancy Tea Rooms for lunch.

Tom Carter posted this photo above on the Facebook page If You Grew Up in Grand Rapids. It is Herpolsheimer's piano studio display which was on the 6th floor of their old building on September 9, 1937. The studio featured three pianos, two organs, two speaker cabinets, an artistic backless seat, three padded wicker chairs, a fancy rug, two candelabras, two floor ashtrays, two round pans on stands, three statuettes, a bust and three bouquets. To say the least, how grand! It kind of look like a funeral parlor doesn't it.

At any rate, in 1951 Herp's decided to move to their new location at Monroe and Division, and Wurzburg's would then move into this building at Monroe and Ottawa Ave.

What sits in their places now? Well, Herpolsheimer's later on, around 1985, was downsized, became Lazarus and was turned into City Center, a three story mall. That didn't last long, and today we know it as Grand Rapids Police Headquarters.

As for Wurzburg's? It was torn down quite awhile ago, too, and the spot is now the Grand Rapids Art Museum.