Knapp's
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The J.W. Knapp Company, more commonly known as "Knapp's", was a chain of department stores based in Lansing, Michigan, United States. The original store opened in the early 1900's on Washington Avenue in downtown Lansing[1]; by 1937, this store was re-located to a new location. Overall, the chain comprised four stores: three in Lansing, and a fourth in Jackson, Michigan. The last stores were closed in 1980.
[edit] History
The first J. W. Knapp store opened on Washington Avenue in downtown Lansing and featured a pneumatic cash transportation tube system[2]. In 1937, it was moved to a new, five story store built in the Art Deco style. This store was expanded to comprise a full city block by the 1940s.
In the 1950's, the company was sold to the Mott Foundation, which owned a collection of department stores in mid-Michigan, including Smith-Bridgman in Flint; D.M. Christian Company in Owosso, and Robinson's in Battle Creek. Knapp's opened a smaller branch in East Lansing in the early 1960's; this store was later closed, and a newer Knapp's was built as one of the anchor stores of Meridian Mall in Okemos when it opened in 1969. Two additional mall-based locations, at Lansing Mall in Lansing, and at Westwood Mall in Jackson, were acquired in 1973 from Grand Rapids-based Wurzburg's.
[edit] Decline
By the early 1970's, the L.S. Good Co. of Wheeling, West Virginia bought all of the Mott Foundation divisions; L.S. Good Co. declared bankruptcy in 1980, and all of the Mott Foundation nameplates were shuttered. The three mall-based locations were all sold to JCPenney, while the downtown Lansing location was shuttered. A local developer later bought the property and converted most of its selling floors to state government offices, renaming it the "Knapp's Center"; the offices moved out in the 1990s, however, and the building is currently vacant.
