30 year annivery of Hudson's Downtown Closing

**p69rrh51** · January-17-13, 02:21 PM

From the Hudson's facebook page. 30 years ago today, J.L. Hudson & Co. closed the flagship store in downtown Detroit, the tallest department store in the world, due to the high cost of operating.

A link to the Hudson's facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/JL-Hu...e/122409019864

Sorry for the misspelling on the header.

**krapug1** · January-17-13, 02:43 PM

Yes, the store closed to the public at 5:45 p.m. on Monday, January 17, 1983.

The reasons for the closing had much more to do with the serious decline in sales revenue downtown, than with the old buildings operating costs.

For the year 1981 gross sales downtown came in at 35 million, a paltry sum for a flagship store. Sales in 1982 ticked up AFTER the formal announcement in August of that year that the "big store" would close. Many shoppers tracked downtown for a final splurge that Christmas, or at the DDD sales in October of '82.

The stores final day of REGULAR business was December 31, 1982. When the doors opened on January 3, 1983 the store was in going out of business mode, and most services were transferred to Northland.

To Hudson's credit they ran the going out of buiness sale themselves, and thus saved the grand store from the indignity of having a liquidator come in to run it.

During 1983 and 1984 they continued to maintain display windows along Woodward, and kept up the awnings.

Ken

**Detroitnerd** · January-17-13, 02:55 PM

Boy, sure am glad that "eyesore" is gone. It looks so much better to have that nice, clean girder farm on our main street.

And I'm sure it's going to be redeveloped right away. Any day now.

**Danny** · January-17-13, 03:28 PM

I went with my 2 older cousins to the J.L. Flagship Dept Store in summer of 1982. It the time Downtown Detroit Hudson's store were up to 5 floors. The elevetors were jam packed with customers. Saw the men's dept, womens dept, toy dept, and ate lunch there. I have a really great time in the historical flagship store. It will be missed.

**Spartan** · January-17-13, 04:40 PM

Who owns the land there?

**Ltdave** · January-17-13, 08:59 PM

i hadnt been there in many years by the time it went into 'closing' mode...

would have liked to but not being very close to the city, my life was full of other HS senior things...

**Hermod** · January-17-13, 09:06 PM

Downtown Hudson's was a store of dreams. Northland and Eastland were cheap knock-offs. Six mile bus to Gratiot and the Gratiot streetcar [[and later bus) right down to the front door. Shop all day and have the packages "sent" [[to arrive about two days later). We will never see their like again.

**stasu1213** · January-17-13, 10:45 PM

Life magazine had done an article on Hudsons in the late 50s

**Gistok** · January-18-13, 01:00 AM

I always found it odd that Hudson's was more impressive from the Farmer St. side... but then again... it took years longer to acquire all the Woodward property to fill the block...

**p69rrh51** · January-18-13, 01:43 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Downtown Hudson's was a store of dreams. Northland and Eastland were cheap knock-offs. Six mile bus to Gratiot and the Gratiot streetcar [[and later bus) right down to the front door. Shop all day and have the packages "sent" [[to arrive about two days later). We will never see their like again.

Hermod you are so right about Northland and Eastland. I remember going to Eastland with my parents when the mall had not been covered. Hudson's Eastland while being a nice store did not compare to how cool the store was downtown. My dad talked about taking the East Jefferson streetcar and looking for nickels in all the telephones on the mezzanine if I remember correctly where they were located.

**mikefmich** · January-18-13, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Downtown Hudson's was a store of dreams. Northland and Eastland were cheap knock-offs. Six mile bus to Gratiot and the Gratiot streetcar [[and later bus) right down to the front door. Shop all day and have the packages "sent" [[to arrive about two days later). We will never see their like again.

Spot on Hermod! Except we took the E Warren bus from Balduck, got let out on Woodward, and would board for home on Farmer.

**tielerh11** · January-18-13, 08:17 AM

Gosh, I remember when the building was brought down but back then I really had very little idea what it meant.

It makes me sad now. I've spent a couple of years in Atlanta, where a once struggling neighborhood has regained its footing, and a building very similar in size, scale, and use to the Hudson's building has found new life:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponce_City_Market
http://www.poncecitymarket.com/home

I love Atlanta, but this kind of project would have been soo much cooler in Detroit.

Cheers.

**Kathleen** · January-18-13, 09:00 AM

We used to pile us 5 kids into the station wagon and head downtown via I-94 from Whittier. Taking the I-75 south ramp these days still brings back those memories!! Getting off at the Madison exit, we would park on Centre Street in front of the Milner Hotel for 5 cents an hour and then walk across Grand River to enter Hudson's and go right into the Bargain Basement!

For our post-Christmas shopping trip [[just Mom and the two oldest girls), Dad would drive us up to Jefferson and put us on the E. Jefferson Downtown bus near the White Tower east of Alter Rd. Same way back home...what a fun ride with our laps filled with packages and bags stuffed full!!

**Gary** · January-18-13, 09:31 AM

I used to wander over there once or twice a week on my lunch hour in the final few months. It was pretty sad to see how the store had declined from its heyday.

**MidTownMs** · January-18-13, 10:19 AM

My favorite J.L. Hudson memory was when I turned 12 my mother and I got dressed up and had lunch in the Riverview Dining Room on the 13th floor. The highest floor I had ever been on was the 12th floor which as always reserved for Christmas. That was really special because we always ate in the cafeteria in the basement where all the bargains were. But that day we had the Maurice Salad which Hudson's was famous for and she showed me how a "lady" is supposed to drink tea. Here's the receipe for those who want a taste of nostalgia. Enjoy!!!

Hudson's Maurice Salad Recipe

1 lb. ham, julienned
1 lb. cooked turkey breast, julienned
1 lb. Swiss cheese, julienned
1/2 cup slivered sweet gherkin pickles
1 hard-boiled egg, diced
1 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
8 - 12 pimiento-stuffed green olives for garnish

Dressing
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons teaspoons onion juice
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 cup mayonnaise, reduced-fat or regular
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Salt to taste

**Kathleen** · January-18-13, 10:44 AM

Thanks for that memory, MidTownMsl!!

A few of my downtown Hudson's memories....

For my 6th birthday, my parents and I had lunch on the 13th floor and then went to the Music Hall to see "How the West Was Won"!!

Every time I hear The Temptations "Just My Imagination" on the radio, I am transported back to the girls dressing room, trying on dresses for my 8th grade graduation!!

I enjoyed a visit to the stamp store on the mezzanine. It felt a step up from buying stamps at Lippert's on Mack.

Sophia Loren made an appearance there to promote her new perfume. I was able to take a photo of her. And I still have the free 8x10 b&w still photo and free paperback copy of her memoir--both autographed that day!

Not long before they closed, I ran over from our offices in the Book Tower to be there when the doors opened so I could be the first in line at the Ticketmaster to buy tickets to see Hall and Oates at Masonic Temple.

**the rock** · January-18-13, 11:01 AM

I have over 150 locomotives and about 450 pieces of rolling stock in my model train collection, and it all started with a Lionel train set my parents purchased for me at Christmas from the most famous department store floor on earth, the 12th floor toy department of the downtown Hudson's store.

**EastsideAl** · January-18-13, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by mikefmich

Spot on Hermod! Except we took the E Warren bus from Balduck, got let out on Woodward, and would board for home on Farmer.

It was the Vernor bus for us. Of course, we went every year in the days following Thanksgiving to go see Santa in the 12th floor toy wonderland. My father would hang out downstairs in the record department thumbing through jazz records or in the food shop buying a couple pieces of expensive cheese [[the price of which he would have to hide from my mother) for his holiday treat.

My grandmother worked in the cosmetics department on the first floor of the Woodward building for many years, and would buy us things with her employee discount and occasionally take us to the employee dining room [[where the food was pretty much the same as in the big restaurant, but cheaper and without the 'frills'). Later, when I was in high school, I changed buses downtown every weekday and many of those changeovers included a visit to Hudson's, where we felt like we had sort of free run of the store. The place was already in its decline by then, but we high school kids still hung out in the 4th floor snack bar until they made us leave.

I was in college when the store closed, and, given the sad shadow of itself the store had become, just as glad not to be there. At the time we were all certain that there would be an economic comeback and that someone would certainly want to reuse that large, beautiful red brick civic landmark of a building.

I was again gone, working in NYC, when they blew the place up, but every time I go by that big open wound in the middle of downtown I am still in the back of my mind surprised, shocked, ashamed, and angered that they did it.

**Gistok** · January-18-13, 11:10 AM

Kathleen... I remember the coin and stamp location on the mezzanine. I remember you had to take a few steps up or down... since the mezzanine was not all an even floor level.

Also I believe Lippert's was on Warren & Harvard before moving to Greater Mack in SCS. "Coins & Stamps" was on Mack & University. I had been to both locations, and spent many happy hours as a teenager in the Mack C&S store listening to owner Roman Lester tell stories about the olden days of coin and stamp collecting...

**p69rrh51** · January-18-13, 11:52 AM

Gistok, Lippert's was at Harvard & E. Warren my parent's first home was 3 doors down on Harvard. Years ago when I got into collecting toy trains seriously a friend/long time collector made an observation that Detroit was a Lionel town because Hudson's sold the brand. Every city was different due to the brand the local department store sold.
As for downtown my mother took my sister and myself plus the next door neighbors every year for Christmas shopping. After shopping we would meet my father and the neighbor's father at Cardinelli's for dinner.

**Onthe405** · January-18-13, 12:42 PM

"Downtown Hudson's was a store of dreams. Northland and Eastland were cheap knock-offs"

It's all relative. IMO, Gruen's Northland & Eastland were the Taj Mahal compared to the subsequent 60s/70s "malls" and "big box" and "lifestyle center" eyesores of the present day.

**Kathleen** · January-18-13, 01:24 PM

Hi, TheRock!! Nice to see you are still checking in!!!

Thanks, Gistok and p69rrh51, for the clarification on the location of Lippert's! Funny how I remember the Lippert name...and only the C&S store on Mack. I have no recollection of going to the stamp store on Warren, which was definitely closer to home than the one on Mack.

**mtm49269** · January-18-13, 02:22 PM

The last day the restaurant was open, a phone company co-worker and I went there for lunch. I wanted to toast the "Great Lady" out with a bottle of champagne but the waitress wouldn't open a bottle for just two glasses. [[Geez! back then you could actually drink alcohol with lunch!) So, I bought a full bottles and, after our glasses were filled, had the waitress share the remainder with any other diners who wished to toast.

Speaking of toast, man! I miss the shrimp salad sandwich on toasted cheese bread!

**Neilr** · January-18-13, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by mtm

The last day the restaurant was open, a phone company co-worker and I went there for lunch. I wanted to toast the "Great Lady" out with a bottle of champagne but the waitress wouldn't open a bottle for just two glasses. [[Geez! back then you could actually drink alcohol with lunch!) So, I bought a full bottles and, after our glasses were filled, had the waitress share the remainder with any other diners who wished to toast.

Speaking of toast, man! I miss the shrimp salad sandwich on toasted cheese bread!

For mtm:

http://goodfoodprojectmichigan.blogs...-sandwich.html

**rooms222** · January-19-13, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Life magazine had done an article on Hudsons in the late 50s

Found three interesting articles about Hudson's in Life in the 50's-

The late 50's one has this neat two page drawing of the flagship. Be sure to scroll up four pages from this link to see it all, including Christmas at Hudson's...... http://books.google.com/books?id=YD8...20life&f=false

Here is color Life Magazine coverage of Northland "built by J.L. Hudson, the most elegant new mall in the country- [[1954) http://books.google.com/books?id=R1Q...son%22&f=false

Long article about Hudson's being in the forefront of fighting discounters in 1954- http://books.google.com/books?id=R1Q...son%22&f=false

1964 Rotarian article describing Gruen's Northland, and his new venture, turning downtowns- "the heart of the city," as he called it, into mall-like arcades.

http://books.google.com/books?id=wzM...20life&f=false