Rogers Department Store

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

Loyalty programs, such as Meijer’s MPerks and Hallmark’s Gold Crown Rewards, have been around for a long time. In fact, you can trace the roots of these programs back to about 1896, when Sperry & Hutchinson started to offer its loyalty retail program to supermarkets, gas stations and stores in the form of small green stamps.

S&H Green Stamps were a common commodity with shoppers sometimes selecting a store based on if it offered the stamps or not.

“Back in the days of the 1950s and 1960s, I think the new homemakers of the day were attracted to this idea of getting some extra value to their purchases,” said Bill Branz, from the Wyoming Historical Commission and who oversees the Wyoming History Room at the KDL Wyoming Branch. “I remember my mother saving stamps and one of the most popular were S&H Green Stamps.”

Retailers would purchased the stamps from S&H and then give them away at a rate determined by the merchant. Stamps had values of one, 10, and 50 points. Shoppers would stick the stamps in books that had 24 pages. Filling a page required 50 points and a full book contained 1,200 points. Shoppers would then exchange filled books for premiums, including housewares and other items from a local Green Stamps store or catalog.

S&H Green Stamps would come in one, 10 and 50 point stamps. It took 50 points to fill a page in one souvenir book. It took 1,200 points to fill the 24-page book.

“You would take your books of Green Stamps, and hopefully they would not be falling out, and you would come in there and you would pick out maybe a toaster or something like that,” Branz said.

One of the most well-known local Green Stamps provider was Rogers Department Store, which operated from 1955 to 2005, much of the time at 1001 28th St. SW, Wyoming. It is now where Advantage Solutions is located. Across the street, in the Rogers Plaza was a redemption center.

“So it was a unique part of our local history,” Brantz said as he looks over a few books of Green Stamps along with other similar loyalty program products.

The recessions of the 1970s are credited to the decline of collecting stamps like these.

The recessions of the 1970s is credited to the decline of the stamps, which has pretty much disappeared in the 1980s. At one point, after the redemption center closed in Rogers Plaza, Rogers Department Store started redeeming the books of stamps for Rogers Cash to be used in the store.

S&H Green Stamps still exist, online as S&H Greenpoints. The website is greenpoints.com, where you can still redeem the S&H Green Stamps, as long as you have 60 books or more.

If you would like to view the S&H Green Stamps or other Wyoming historical items, visit the Wyoming Historical Room at the KDL Wyoming Branch, 3300 Michael Ave. SW. The room is open the first and third Saturdays of the month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and by appointment. The Wyoming Historical Commission is always looking for items related to the history of Wyoming. If you have something you would like to donate or if you are interested in volunteering, call 616-261-3508 or visit Wyoming Michigan History Room’s Facebook page.

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

joanne@wktv.org

The Wyoming City Council granted the requested tax exemptions for the new owner of the former Klingman’s/Rogers Department Store building and a future tenant of that building at its Monday night council meeting at Lamar Park.

Earlier this month, the council approved a commercial redevelopment act district which included the former Klingman’s building located on 28th Street. At last night’s meeting, the council received no comment at a public hearing for the commercial facilities tax exemption which was for GR 1001, LLC, owned by The Hinman Company, the owner of the former Klingman’s building. The exemption is for the redevelopment of the facility, located at 1001 28th St., SW and is for a period of 12 years. City staff noted that The Hinman Company would spend between $3 – $5 million in renovations on the site.

“The new roof is going up as we speak,” said Elizabeth Slane, regional property manager at The Hinman Company, during public comments at the meeting. Slane said they are excited about being a part of the City of Wyoming adding that her son currently lives in the city and that that her husband is a 1977 Wyoming Park graduate.

The Wyoming City Council also approved a personal property tax exemption for seven years for Advantage Sales & Marketing, a future tenant for the building. The exemption is for an estimated $845,000 in personal property for a duration of seven years with an option for an additional five years. Advantage Sales & Marketing plans to consolidate its two current offices, one in downtown Grand Rapids and the other in Cascade Township, which will bring an estimated 300 jobs along with adding another 100 new jobs.

Advantage Sales & Marketing is a sales and marketing company that was founded in 1987 in Southern California and now has 120 offices in the United States and Canada. Its only Michigan offices are in the Greater Grand Rapids area, according to its website.

An official from the company indicated that they too were excited to be a part of the City of Wyoming. According to reports from the city, renovations to the building are to be completed in January 2018 and Advantage Sales & Marketing has indicated it would move in at that time.

Opened by Hyman “Hy” Berkowitz in 1955, Rogers Department Store was touted as one of the largest department stores in Michigan. However changes in shopping and the opening of RiverTown Mall impacted the store, with it closing in 2005. In 2008, Klingman’s, a furniture store, moved into the site, only to close two years later with the building being empty every since.

News broke of The Hinman Company’s interest in redeveloping the site when the company sent a letter to the city in May.