Steketee's was a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

based in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was begun in 1862 in Grand Rapids, and soon grew to several stores throughout southwestern

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. After a purchase by the

Dunlaps Dunlaps, based in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, was a family-owned chain of department stores in the central and southern United States catering to most classes depending on the location. The chain operated under the trade names of Dunlaps, Stripling & ...

company of

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

in the early 1990s, the stores were gradually closed, with the last store closing in 2003.

History

Paul Steketee, a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

immigrant, came to Grand Rapids in 1850. In 1862 Steketee and John H. Doornich formed a dry goods operation that would become one of

West Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for a region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Generally, it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Peninsula's Lake ...

's oldest retailers."Last Steketee’s to close its doors"
The two ran the store for 10 years before a fire devastated the business. Following the fire, Doornich sold out to Steketee, who brought his family on board to help run and rebuild the operation. With the growth of Grand Rapids, the family decided to build a larger 8-story flagship store on Monroe Avenue, the city's retail hub. The store opened with much fanfare in 1915. The draw of Steketee's Grand Rapids store was big enough that the family decided to expand its operations in the 1950s, opening its first satellite store in 1958.

Sale and demise

In 1991,

, a

department store company, bought out the Steketee's family, bringing the West Michigan operations under their umbrella of brands. After being bought by a Texan company, Steketee's downtown Grand Rapids store and its other locations were affected by changes in retail patterns and the rise of national brands. The Steketee store at Maple Hill Mall in Kalamazoo closed in 2003.’02: More churn for retail industry
The downtown store closed in 1998. Dunlap's shuttered its last Steketee's store in 2003 with the closing of the

Westshore Mall The Shops at Westshore, formerly Westshore Mall, is an open air shopping mall in Holland, Michigan. It opened in 1988 and the mall's anchor tenants are Burlington, Grand Rapids Community College, Dunham's Sports, and Holland Charter Township Co ...

location. The vacant downtown Grand Haven Steketee's building has been adapted as th
Tri-Cities Historical Museum

References

{{reflist Companies based in Grand Rapids, Michigan Defunct department stores based in Michigan Retail companies established in 1862 Retail companies disestablished in 2003 Defunct companies based in Michigan 1862 establishments in Michigan