Two Local Grand Rapids Businesses Are Closing — One Good, One Bad

GRNow.com is reporting about a couple of business closings in Grand Rapids. The first one is for a good reason. Marie Catrib's in Eastown is closing in early February to do some remodeling. The local famous eatery is closing down February 4th for eight days.

From GRNow's website story "Marie Catrib's Closed for Remodeling"
"Hello fine folks! Hope this message finds you well! The reason for me writing today is we wanted to let everyone know that we have a renovation coming up soon here at our establishment. Both our Delicatessen and Restaurant will be closed for about a week and a half. The dates we will be closed are February 4th through February 12th. We will re-open on the 13th of February at 7:00 a.m. All of us here are really looking forward to this and getting very excited to share our renovation with you. Take care of yourselves and hope to see you soon, from all of us at Marie Catrib's of Grand Rapids."

Another article talks about the closing of the Schulers' Books downtown location.

"From the Schuler Books Facebook page:

Dear Schuler Books Downtown customers,

Five years ago we decided to take a chance and experiment with operating a bookstore in downtown Grand Rapids. River Bank Books had opened and closed in a little over a year. This presented us with an opportunity to take over their space and see if we could make a downtown bookstore work. There were a number of handicaps to overcome. In particular, the space lacked Monroe Center frontage and convenient parking. Plus, it takes a wide customer base to support a bookstore – much wider that the customer base needed for a clothing store, or even a grocery. But it was a beautiful little store, and lots of good things were happening downtown. It was an exciting challenge, and it has been a joy to bring Schuler Books to downtown Grand Rapids for the past five years.

However, it's time to renew our lease, so we must again evaluate the promise of a downtown store. While sales have been steady, they have not been outstanding. It's hard to justify another commitment. Regretfully, the experiment must come to an end. We will be running a farewell sale and closing down the store this winter. This is a hard decision to take, but the right one.

Everyone at the store has loved working in the downtown environment. You should know that they have all been offered opportunities at our other locations. Please accept our heartfelt thanks for your support these past five years. It's been a wonderful ride. Hopefully, we will see you at our flagship store located on 28th St., or its sister store on Alpine Avenue, as well as online at www.schulerbooks.com.

With sincere appreciation, Bill & Cecile Fehsenfeld
Owners, Schuler Books

It's too bad. Having visited the Downtown store a couple of times, I will miss the Schulers. It leaves a hole for Monroe Center. On a side note, up until I moved back to West Michigan, I thought Schuler's was a Christan store affiliated with Robert Schuler, the TV evangelist. I wonder how often they get that.

Bon Voyage, Downtown Schuler Books! It's been a nice ride.