MSU Red Cedar Message Board

Herpolsheimer's and Wurzburg's were the two full service places with coffee shops, bakery. "Herps" bakery had the best chocolate covered donuts in my 5 year old mind and my grandmother would always bring me there. Herp's also had a train suspended the ceiling in their toy department that only ran from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas eve.

The SOB's who finally ran Wurzburg's into the ground shut it down and took all the pension funds with them a few years before pension reform. My wife's aunt spent 29 years with them in starting on the sales floor and ending up as a book keeper and got zip.

In GR Rogers Plaza opened about 1960 and Montgomery Ward left downtown to be the anchor store. Eastbrook Mall opened with Wurzburg and Steketee's around 1970. Woodland Mall opened about the same time with Penney's and Sears as the anchors. They had just had small store catalog order stores downtown that closed within a month of their mall locations opening. Downtown GR has never been the same after Eastbrook and Woodland opened.

I love the stories about Lansing in yesteryear, but I have to admit that I never enjoyed shopping.... ever!

I think I remember being taken to Knapps for shopping. I really remember going to Frandor and Sears.

Like GatorBill, I remember the annual trip in the late summer to Knapps to buy clothes and shoes for school. One of the great things about the trip was riding the "alligators" (escalators) as Nakid Boibeys called them when she was little.

Not to get political, but Lansing owes a lot to David Hollister. He was the catalyst for getting downtown turned around...and also for getting GM to build 2 new plants in the Lansing area. I don't , for the most part, share the same political views with Hollister....but putting politics aside, I have no problem giving credit to one who deserves it regardless of which side of the aisle they are from.

This is my Uncle Bill. The Navy pants are kind of odd, but that is one badass dude right there. This was in either. . . Guam, or Alaska. . . . looks too warm for Alaska. . . 1950s.

I totally agree. They named a building after him, or did he buy it and name it himself? Other then name a street or a park after him I don't know what cities really do to honor people.

Totally agree with this! Was the first place I had a picture taken with Santa. My dad worked dowtown in a building across from the Capitol and we would go to Knapps to shop sometimes after we went to pick him up. I remember one time they had their store windows covered with black paper and small cut out holes to look through to see what was in the Christmas display. We watched as several people in succession smashed their face into the glass trying to look through the holes. Knapps also had an East Lansing location on MAC Ave. where we would shop for school stuff. The kids area was in the basment and I distictly remember buying Buster Brown shoes there that came with some kind of toy. The East Lansing store eventually went OOB and became home for America's Cup and AllyEye.

Why I remember the days when a fella could get a haircut, shave, and lap dance for a nickel!

It used to be a http://www.lostlansing.com ... the link looks broken.

thats right lostlansing.com thanks

Eventually the Eydes own every property in downtown Lansing that isn't owned by the Gentilozzis.

The Knapps location is about 2-3 blocks too far south and I agree in South Beach it would be a fully renovated building with the original facade.

My grandfather's 2nd wife retired from Knapps. In pre mall lansing it was one stop all under one roof shopping.

Rochester had Mitzelfeld's.