Fort-Grove Shopping Center (Wyandotte, MI)

[Hudsons81]

And now I've decided to partake in the game.

Although there are no signs anywhere with the center's name, the Fort-Grove Shopping Center, located in Wyandotte, Michigan, just south of Detroit, is a large-sized strip mall located at 3869-3901 Fort Street, at the northeast corner of Grove Street, hence the namesake. First built in 1958 and downsized during the mid-1960's, the following is a list of tenants over the years, organized by year and address, mostly courtesy of this site:

1958

• 3849: Crown Furniture
• 3863: United Mills Discount Center (sold general merchandise)
• 3873: Ben Franklin
• 3883: Household Finance Corp. (loans)
• 3885: Kingsboro Cleaners
• 3889: Cannon Shoes
• 3897: Grove Drugs
• 3901: A&P

1970 (3849 was torn down a few years earlier)

• 3863: State College of Beauty
• 3873: Mr. Music (record store)
• 3883: Household Finance Corp. (loans)
• 3885: Kingsboro Cleaners
• 3897: Grove Drugs
• 3901: A&P

1975

• 3863: State College of Beauty
• 3873: Mr. Music (record store)
• 3883: Household Finance Corp. (loans)
• 3885: not listed
• 3897: Grove Drugs
• 3901: not listed. Likely around the time the A&P became an IGA store.

1980

• 3863: State College of Beauty
• 3869: Household Finance Corp. (relocated from 3883 sometime between 1975 and 1980)
• 3873: part of a larger Grove Drugs
• 3883: part of a larger Grove Drugs
• 3897: Grove Drugs (expanded sometime between 1975 and 1980)
• 3901: Danny's Foods (IGA)

1985

• 3863: State College of Beauty
• 3869: Household Finance Corp.
• 3897: Arbor Drugs
• 3901: Danny's Foods (IGA)

2006

• 3869: China Star (Chinese restaurant)
• 3887: Bouncing Off The Walls (children's play area)
• 3897: Emerald Hall (bingo hall)
• 3899: Dollar General
• 3901: Save-A-Lot

2013

• 3869: China Star (Chinese restaurant)
• 3887: Bouncing Off The Walls (children's play area)
• 3897: Emerald Hall (vacant? Exterior sign just says "Emerald")
• 3899: Dollar General
• 3901: Save-A-Lot (vacant)

3901, in particular, has an interesting history: originally an A&P, it became an IGA supermarket known as Danny's Foods by 1976, only to close around 2000. Save-A-Lot opened just two years later and remained open for over a decade until closing this year. 3897 also has an interesting history: it was originally Grove Drugs before being acquired by Arbor Drugs by 1985. It briefly became a CVS in 1998 after CVS acquired Arbor Drugs, but it was shuttered a few months later and Emerald Hall opened in that space a few years later. It appears that 3899 may have been created after Save-A-Lot shrunk the size of 3901 when they moved in.

[Hudsons81]

UPDATE:

2014

• 3869: China Star (Chinese restaurant)
• 3887: Bouncing Off The Walls (children's play area)
• 3897: Emerald Hall (I've confirmed it-it's vacant-Exterior sign just says "Emerald")
• 3899: Dollar General
• 3901: Save-A-Lot (reopened earlier this year)

Turns out, the only reason Save-A-Lot temporarily closed was for a major remodel.

[TheFugitive]

Sounds like the Banksville Plaza, a shopping center at the south end of Pittsburgh.
Opened back in the 50's and maybe a bit older than that.   It lies right on US 19 south
which was a major thoroughfare between downtown and the very prosperous suburb
of Mount Lebanon.  Four lanes and likely one of the earliest roads on which you could
safely drive at more than 25 MPH.

When I was a kid the anchor tenant was a local department store called Stephen Richard's. 
My mom loved that store, and as a result I spent WAY too much time at the Banksville Plaza as a young child.
In those days apparently Sears and JC Penney were stingy giving out credit.  Stephen Richard's
was not, which made my mom, with her growing young family, a very loyal customer.

The way I remember it from the early 1970's the plaza's tenants would have been:

Barber Shop
Bakery
Bar/Restaurant*
Stephen Richard's Department Store
Kroger's
Hardware Store
Deli/Ice Cream Shop
Bank

*This bar/restaurant has operated under various names over the years.  It would become
infamous in 1985 as PaPa J's, the bar where Pittsburgh Pirates and other MLB players would go
to buy illegal drugs, resulting in a high-profile national trial.  It is open today under different
management as Coach's Bottle Shop.

I also remember the huge, gaudy neon sign out by the road which beckoned people into the plaza.
A massive concrete thing standing perhaps 40 feet high with banks of flashing neon tubes all over it.
A more modern sign sits there today atop the old concrete pilings.

Banksville Plaza is still around today, and after various reconfigurations contains the following:

Barber Shop
Indian grocer
Bar/Restaurant (Coach's)
Kuhn's Supermarket
H&R Block
Nail Salon
Radio Shack
Starbucks
Subway
PNC Bank

There was also an outparcel building added for an ice cream shop that is currently vacant.

The plaza has been reconfigured a bit over the years.  Stephen Richard's was a two-story operation.
I remember walking up a large staircase with my mom to get to the second floor shopping level.  That
second level has since been converted into office space.  There are some real estate agents and a publisher
of some giveaway publication up there.  Those offices have their own entrance and are not accessible from
the retail shops.

After Stephen Richard's went out of business Kroger expanded to take much of that space on the
first level. They left town in the mid-80's after their unions went on strike.  They were replaced by Kuhn's,
a local grocery chain.  Until the most recent remodel a couple of years back you could still clearly
identify the building as an early 80's era Kroger store.

It was somewhat amazing that the hardware store survived as long as it did.  Just up the street
was Rollier's, an early mega-hardware store and an early precursor to places like Home Depot.
It had to be very tough competition.  (Rollier's has since moved to a beautiful new building atop
the hill a couple of miles away)

Likewise the hardware store was recut into several smaller businesses.   A vitamin and health food
store was there until a couple of years back, replaced by a nail salon.   There was an Indian restaurant
next to the India grocer for many years.  This part of town has a burgeoning Indian population.  The
restaurant moved to another location about a year ago and the grocer expanded into that space.

[Hudsons81]

Here's a photo taken today of the Fort-Grove Shopping Center, showing the new Save-A-Lot facade that was a result of the reopening earlier this year.

[Hudsons81]

New photos from November 6, 2014.

Sign (with a cameo courtesy of my car at the bottom-left corner!):


The center itself:



Save-A-Lot:


Dollar General:


Emerald Bingo Hall (actually still open):