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Roger's Department Store Site

DwntwnGeo

By DwntwnGeo
in Grand Rapids

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GR_Urbanist Burg

GR_Urbanist

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"'This could be a Disney community,' Bob Israels said...He outlined the project, including a park designed by 9-year-old Collin Gates, whose mother works with Israels and whose father owns Preferred Landscape Inc. The 1.5-acre park land at 28th and Riley Avenue SW is slated to open Aug. 1, with a 3,200-square-foot skate park, 10-hole miniature golf course and playground. The amenities would be free to the public."
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downtownGRguy Unincorporated Area

downtownGRguy

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Great to see Israels trying to bring Klingman's back to what it once was. My father recalls working for Klingmans during summers in college installing draperies, etc. all over the state. They did a significant amount of business in the Metro Detroit area as well as up and down the lakeshore from the state line to the UP.

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suydam Hamlet

suydam

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Great to see Israels trying to bring Klingman's back to what it once was. My father recalls working for Klingmans during summers in college installing draperies, etc. all over the state. They did a significant amount of business in the Metro Detroit area as well as up and down the lakeshore from the state line to the UP.
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aowwt Whistle-Stop

aowwt

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Well if anybody can get a scan of the southwest advance for this week you will see a shot of what the main enterence and store front will look like. It looks quite impressive and frankly I think it looks very classy. BTW it looks like they will be running a smaller profit line in the store than what a lot of us were thinking. What this means is that those employed at the old store will probally be running the larger store with little extra help IMHO. I would love to see a peak in the there right now. As for store opening date, it says August 1st is the date and any day longer will cost Mr Bob a million bucks. BTW speaking of Mr Bob, he is getting himself a new place in town in the GR Press article on sunday. I guess he will use it as a guest residence for vistors and what not that are from the higher end of the spectrum. Maybe somebody wispered into his ear that a 20k bungalow house does not impress big spenders. Hehe.

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citygirl29 Crossroads

citygirl29

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I drove by this morning. On the east side of the building they had some of the large windows open and I could see inside. It looked great!!! Very bright and open with LOTS of lights (looked like either chandeliers or great track lighting). And on the front of the building they had one section of the floor to ceiling glass completed. It sure is coming along and looking fantastic.

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tamias6 Town

tamias6

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Went to Harbor Freight to get some tools today. While in the area I decided to squeeze off some shots of the new Klingman's Furniture store. I must say that this project is turning out light-years better than I anticipated. My favorite feature is the conversion of the former Roger's mirrored sign board into a massive floor to ceiling glass curtain wall. I have not seen this much transparency on a suburban retail space in a very long time. Overall. its clear that Bob Israel is going big with this store. I hope what he's doing is a turns out to be a success and serves as a catalyst in helping that stretch of 28th street turn around.

You want transparency? You got it!

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The west flack of the building. The orginal 60's/70's architecture is being mixed in with more modern elements. Looks good overall.

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Judging by the size of this megalithic column, the street sign is going to be huge.

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More glass just for good Measure. The two level sales floor looks like it will be open and airy.

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The store front from another angel. Gotta love all that glass.

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What looks to be the store's main entrance. As if the glass curtain wall wasn't enough, more windows have been punched into the walls of the building.

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Some mystery columns going up. Could be for one of the three six story buildings GR Dad mentioned.

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aowwt Whistle-Stop

aowwt

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thats the same sign post that Rogers had before. The only brand new thing is those arch windows flanking on the side of the new main enterence. As for that retaining wall or something I think it is just so they can provide a nice smoth and level parking lot and provide a buffer between the lot and the bussiness. It does look like they did remove an enterence on that side and made a nice bump out window. I do love all that glass on the front though. I been riding past it about each week to look at the progress. Its quite impressive. I do hope though that they are making the floors level straight across.

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amylynne Whistle-Stop

amylynne

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My mom and I went tonight to check out the new Klingman's at their grand opening event. I would really like to go back when it's light out to see how it looks when there's light coming in all of the new windows. I liked most of what they've done in there. I felt there were a few areas that were a little blah, but I suppose the focus really should be on the furniture, not the walls.

We went mostly because we wanted to see what they had done with the building. It looks different, but there are a lot of things that remain the same, like all of the stairways (such as the backless stairs that always scared me as a child.) It still makes me sad that they removed the grand staircase and put in escalators in the last few years that Roger's was open. It was fun to walk around and remember where different departments were and where I bought my prom dress, etc.

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