Originally Posted by
EastsideAl
Sad to see it go. Despite Danny's usual spurious nonsense, Gibb's was an extremely classy store whose knowledgeable staff helped introduce many an eastsider to the world of good wine, etc. Tim McCarthy, who later opened Cost Plus over by the Eastern Market, got his start there.
They held on there on Gratiot much longer than most of the surrounding businesses, and for a long time they sponsored sports teams, etc. for kids from the surrounding neighborhood. I well remember going in there with my father on many a Saturday afternoon and having a long palaver with Tim over which wines were both a good drink and a good buy. When I was a younger kid we would also stop in across the street at Alexander & Hourning to pick up some of the German-style meats that my mother loved so much.
So, that's another whole piece of my youth gone, but, really more importantly, as pointed out elsewhere here another part of the real street-level urban fabric of our city gone forever.