GRAND RAPIDS — After 80 years of business, Glen’s Army Navy Store in Grand Rapids is closing.
In a Saturday, Aug. 15, Facebook post, the store announced it would close its doors in November.
Glen’s Army Navy Store, located at Northwest Fourth Street, sells a variety of outdoor and survival products that can be difficult to find elsewhere in the area, like ready-to-eat survival meals. It is also a gun store.
Rusty Eichorn has owned Glen’s Army Navy for the past 10 years. He said his parents bought the store in 1974 from its original owner, Glen Dix, upon his retirement. Dix opened the store in 1946.
“In business for 80 years is quite a run for a store like this,” Eichorn said. “We are going to truly be missed, and I feel terrible about that. I wish this store could go forever, but nothing is really forever in retail."
On Monday, the store had the first day of its liquidation sale. Eichorn said the public showed up in full force.
“They were lined up at 8 a.m. this morning — we don’t open until 9,” he said. “ ... Everybody’s been cheerful and everybody’s been cooperative. No fights.”
Customers Beau and Karrie Molitor visited the store Monday. They said they’d been coming to Glen’s for more than a decade.
“Just sad,” Beau Molitor said about the closing. “It's definitely sad to see another local business leave the community.”
Karrie Molitor said they shopped often at Glen’s Army Navy store. It was also one of their go-to spots for Christmas shopping.
“I'm going to miss seeing the staff that we've been so familiar with throughout the years,” she said. “Seeing their faces every year and kind of chit-chatting. Catching up, you know?”
Eichorn pointed to high costs as a reason for the closure. He said freight costs made it difficult to bring in merchandise, especially with high commercial interest rates. He added that high costs also affected his customers’ ability to shop.
“When gas is $4.50 a gallon, when milk is $3.00, you don’t necessarily spend on things that you want … and the store is full of a lot of that,” Eichorn said.
Glen's Army Navy Store will continue its liquidation sale until closure.
