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Date: 02/25/26
Title: HEARTSIDE HISTORY

Premier started as a bay area idea, and found it's physical roots in Grand Rapids in 2001. Looking back at twenty five years of our own business, we decided to dig into some Grand Rapids archives to find historical imagery and information from all of our past and present GR locations. The shop may not be considered vintage yet, however, we found all sorts of rich history about our local from heavy ties to the auto industry, Great Depression support, expired fashion retailers and a few Division Avenue business friends. Scroll the full lineup below with some informational blips on each. Thanks to Grand Rapids for supporting us through all the years, here's to twenty five more. 
1927 / Division & Weston / Pre-construction featuring a trolley, antique cars, and a bicyclist. Hotel Carlton can be seen at our corner along with a Coal & Coke supplier across the street.

1927 / Division & Wealthy at night.

1928 / Division & Cherry / Widening of Division avenue began, with several buildings being removed or quite literally chopped down to accommodate for the trolley and two car lanes.

1928 / Division & Oakes / A deep trench at what is now the Chaffee gallery.

1928 / Division  / A worker walks a precariously tight line hauling materials.

1928 / Division / The OG Civil Engineering team.

1928 / Division  / Road nearing completion.

1928 / Division / A light pole being raised right near our photo studio and office as the road reaches completion.

1931 / Sheldon & Weston / The Great Depression hit hard, and our building, formerly Witters Motor Co. was a food bank for a period of time.

1933 / Sheldon & Weston / Another great depression food bank image of children eating fruit.

1955 / Division & Weston / Another view of our corner showing a picture framing store in our building.

1961 / Fulton & Division / One block over from the shop, at the heart of downtown, Ehinger's Shoes. A sneaker store would occupy this space again years later in the recent era of Premier's timeline on Weston.

1973 / Division & Monroe / A long running record store that only recently closed was just around the corner from our block, but was once located a few more blocks down at Monroe. The best selection of old jazz and blues was house here before they got priced out of town.

1979 / Fulton & Division / Herpolsheimer's was a downtown department store staple for years, closing in the 1980's, only to transform into Mackie's World (the only children's only mall in America), then current as the police station.

1998 / Weston & Division / An iconic local skate spot no longer across the street from the shop. This building was removed  and rebuilt as it had a leaning tower of Pisa-esque lean.

1987 / 909 Cherry / The original shop location before the neighborhood had any other businesses on the block.

1955 / 14 Weston / An old real estate card for our second location at 14 Weston. Different times.

1955 / 14 Weston / The second Premier location in it's previous ownership did car radio installations.

19?? / 14 Weston / The second Premier location several years after the Auto Radiop installation shop as an optical supply store, and a snippet of 10 Weston.
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