It’s always fascinating how when one door closes, another opens – literally. Take a look at Family Video. After it shut down, new businesses moved into those iconic buildings, giving the buildings a second life. But more often, it’s much simpler than that, with one sign coming down and another being put up.
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But what if that sign never actually went down, and instead has been hiding in plain sight all these years? Surprisingly, these are a fairly common occurrence around Grand Rapids, as evidenced by this one discovered just up the street a few months back, but that doesn’t make this find any less remarkable .
4381 Alpine Ave.
Several businesses have operated at 4381 Alpine Ave., situatedat the intersection of Alpine Ave. and Lamoreaux Dr. NW. In recent years, there have been some short-lived spots, but for about 40 years, Mike’s Cycle Station operated from 1982 to 2019. That’s quite a long time for a business to stay in one spot.
However, the discovery that has people talking online goes back to the field of automobiles, but it goes much further back. As renovations on the building take place for the subsequent property owners, the siding was removed from the top of the building, revealing the old signage for Bug and Buggy Inc., a business that once specialized in repairing VW Bugs and dune buggies.
On the If You Grew Up In Grand Rapids/Kent County, then you remember… Facebook page, someone posted a photo of this building, and the daughter of the business owners, Michele Atwater Mangum, reported that her parents closed the business in the early 80s after her father was diagnosed with brain cancer.
People shared their stories of interacting with the Atwater family and Bug and Buggy Inc., with one person sharing how the Atwaters helped “a broke kid who asked too many questions” to rebuild a VW convertible that he went on to drive all the way to California…