R. William Groskopf Page 350 - 351 - R. William Groskopf. Few merchants of Grand Rapids occupy a more reputable position in the community than R. William Groskopf, of the firm of Groskopf Brothers, trunk dealers. He is of German ancestry, his grandfather coming to Detroit from Germany about 1850 with his family. William Groskopf , the father of the subject of this review, brought his family to Grand Rapids in 1881 and the following year, he and his brother Henry established themselves in the trunk business at No 95 Canal street. The store was later moved a few blocks from the first location, the second building occupied being torn down in 1912 to make way for the construction fo the Pantlind hotel. Groskopf Brothers, as the business was known, flourished from the first, for the two brothers were progressive business men who conducted their business along conservative lines that assured them success. William Groskopf retired from the active management of the business in 1913 and in that year the direction of the company's affairs was taken over by R. William Groskopf and his sister, A.L. Groskopf.  R.William Groskopf was born in Detroit in 1880. He attended the public and high schools of Grand Rapids, and after his graduation from the latter institution entered the store of his father to learn the business. Every phase of the trunk and leather goods business he learned under the careful tutelage of his father, and when his parents retired from the active management, he was fully equipped to assume the joint management with his sister. Brother and sister, building carefully on the solid foundations laid by their parents, have continued to develop the business until today they are the proprietors of two find stores, one located at 112 Monroe street, and the other at 119 Ottawa street. Mr. Groskopf is a wide awake business man and misses no opportunity of improving his business which is already one of the largest of its kind in Grand Rapids. He himself is regarded as one of the reputable merchants of the city and is respected and admired for his business acumen and executive ability.

Transcriber: Terry Start
Created: 4 March 2003