Part II - Business, a supplement to the Big Rapids Pioneer Newspaper. Used with permission.



GROWING LIST OF GROCERS WHO HAVE COME AND GONE
Today we may think of grocery stores like Giantway, the Village Market, Carter's and Denny's as retail grocery outlets that have come and gone.

But the trail dates back even farther with tthse who remember the former A&P, Kroger and Van Auken stores and maybe have even read about or heard about stores like the Riverside Market and J.K. Sharp & Co. Groceries.

Of the dozen grocery stores listed in the 1938 directory, none exist here today. And a quick review of the 1905 city directory reveals that none of the 24 groceries that existed then have survived to be in the 1938 directory.

The J.K. Sharp & Co. Groceries (top right) was located in the Old Opera Block on the southeast corner of Michigan Avenue and Elm Street. The location oif the Riverside Market (bottom right) is unclear, other than the donor noting that it was in downtown Big Rapids; the Kroger Store (top left) was located at 615 N. State in 1938 and was later located in the Southland Shopping Mall before leaving town; the A&P (inside pictured here) was on the northeast corner of Michigan and Elm; and Van Auken's (bottom left) occupied a building at the northwest corner of the same intersection. (Pioneer file photos)

Return to Mecosta sesquicentennial Page

Return to Home Page