It’s time, with the hopefully temporary closing of the one grocery store left in our town, to recount the basic story of grocery stores in Marion, Michigan. At one time, we had three grocery stores and several more businesses that stocked grocery items. You could always find what you wanted as long as one of these stores was open.
It is sad that today, we could be sitting on the edge of a grocery desert. This is an unfortunate trend brought about largely by the big-box, one-stop, grocery-plus stores in larger places, like Cadillac. Thirty some years ago, when the first one came to “town” it signaled the end for many kinds of local businesses who were unable to compete with the pricing. They slipped away, one by one. We mourned their loss and continued to shop Cadillac. We relied on our local grocery for necessities, sale items, and things that had run out. We were sorry when long time grocery stores in neighboring towns disappeared, and touted the fact that we still had one. We were sure ours would not disappear as others about us have.
If you’ve followed the talk on the Marion Community page on Facebook, you know that there is a great deal of concern over the closing and possible loss of “our” grocery store. We note a lot of comments and most are pure speculation and conjecture. It would calm a lot of fears, end the talk, and garner a lot of goodwill in this town if the ‘supposed’ buyers would let the shopping public know what’s next for us. I’m just saying. There once was a time when we had choices.
Grocery shopping in our little town has as long and varied history as the Village itself. Christopher and Mary Clark were the first settlers and business owners and as such, sold supplies to other settlers. By 1884 the Clarks were not only selling lumber but, dry goods and food stuffs to the fast growing town. By 1889 when the village was formally organized it boasted several businesses selling groceries and meats.
One of the earliest and most recognizable buildings in Marion was the Piper & Lowry building, located next to the Post Office on the northwest corner of Mill and Main. The two story brick, constructed in 1905 after the Great Fire, consisted of two store fronts below and a meeting hall and offices above. The upstairs meeting hall boasted large arched windows. The Lowry Brothers, later joined by the Game Brothers Meat Market, (a.k.a. John and Tom Meat Market) sold groceries in that location from 1900 until 1943 when they sold the business and building to Bernie and Lola Schumacher, who renamed it the Marion Food Market and made it self-service. In 1956 it would become Bernie’s IGA Foodliner and Marion’s introduction to the supermarket, complete with an automatic door, the first in town. The Schumacher’s sold to Jimmy and Naomi Merrifield in 1969, and they to Bruce and June Kime. Today, the building is part of Artesian Springs Medical.
Another longstanding grocery in Marion was located on the east side of the former Ben Franklin. This building was known as the Blevins Block, for builder Amps Blevins, and in the 1930’s and early ‘40’s was home to the Clover Farm Store, operated by Lee Duddles. In the 1940’s he sold to Oscar Johnson who operated Johnson’s Grocery and Meats until the early 1960’s. The building became part of the Ben Franklin during Rick and Marilyn Russell’s ownership, housing a well stocked fabric store and a popular destination for out of town shoppers. It is now a separate building again and home to Hometown Gym and Tanning.
On the northeast of Mill and Main Streets, groceries were dispensed for many years by Frank and Emma White, and later with partner and son-in-law, Dudley Helfrich, at White’s Grocery. In the early 1950’s, after nearly 50 years in business, the White’s sold to Ellis and Naomi Borders who operated their grocery until the early 1970’s. They sold to Max and Judy Kibby who brought the Viking Stores label to town.
Ultimately, it was the Kibby’s who made the decision to leave Main Street. To expand their business they constructed the much larger M&J Grocery, and added to it twice, at the present grocery store location on South Mill. The former M&J on Main is now the Osceola County Senior Meal Site.
In the early 1990’s, the Kibby’s leased their M-66 building to Ashcraft’s of Harrison. They, in turn, sold their business to the Spartan Corporation. Valu-Land, a spin-off brand of Spartan, became one of two early, discount-type grocery stores in Michigan with the merger of Spartan and Nash Foods, a multistate corporation. After several years the brand folded, and all Spartan stores, including the Marion store, became an Our Family branded business, under the Village Market banner.
With the closing of the Village Market this week, we enter yet another chapter of grocery shopping in Marion, Michigan. May we all survive until the next chapter is written.
