Courtesy photo A vintage photo of the J.C. Penny department store that was once located across from Culligan Plaza in Alpena.

Alpena’s upgraded Culligan Plaza sounds absolutely wonderful for the Christmas holiday season offering the massive Christmas tree, Santa welcoming center, abundant seating, accessibility to all, a warming fire, and nearby public restrooms!

This renovated plaza is a central, all-season welcoming corner for locals and out-of-town guests.

The blocks surrounding the corner of Second Avenue and Chisholm Street are now a vast array of creative and well stocked retail establishments, numerous restaurants, and taverns.

Northeast Michigan residents might recall decades ago when the core downtown offered national and local department stores.

Located opposite Culligan Plaza, on Second Avenue, was where the J.C. Penny and Gately’s department stores were once located. Heading north on Second Avenue, in the current Center Building, was Montgomery Ward. A block further north, on Second Avenue crossing River Street, directly across from the former State Theater, was the Vaughn Company Store. In the current Harborside Cycle and Sport, there was a mini version of the Kotwicki’s store. Near the corner of Ninth Avenue and Chisholm Street was the original, and larger version, of Kotwicki’s. These stores focused upon apparel.

J.C. Penny and Gately’s department stores

Gately’s offered a terrazzo walkway to the store’s entrance and was surrounded by large display windows. These windows usually displayed women’s fashion.

With J.C. Penny, the overhead store sign offered the traditional J.C. Penny raised typeface emblazed on a yellow background. Upon entering the store’s front door, shoppers were greeted by ladies and men’s fashion with nearby children’s wear. Family shoes were in the store’s rear. On the first floor was a small jewelry counter. Above the first floor was a half-floor mezzanine offering additional merchandise and perhaps the business offices.

The store also offered housewares, small appliances, and fabric along with patterns and sewing materials. There was also a catalog ordering and receiving counter.

Montgomery Ward

The Montgomery Ward store offered the same entrance, front-window configuration, and similar floor plan as you now see with the Center Building. The store was a full-service department store offering fashion, shoes, appliances, radios and televisions, housewares, paint, tools, automotive supplies, bicycles, sporting goods, and countless other merchandise on three floors and a lower level.

Like J.C. Penny, Montgomery Ward offered a catalog ordering and receiving department.

Montgomery Ward offered two sets of elevators. One was for shoppers and employees while a freight elevator was for directing merchandise to the floors.

The store’s floors were hard. At the store’s rear, off the alley, there was a massive receiving dock.

Two unique stories about Montgomery Ward

On the basement level, toward the corner of the rear wall, was a Coke-Cola vending machine. The unit was as large as a 25-cubic-foot refrigerator. After inserting your money, you opened a sliding door to receive your beverage. The cap would be pried off on a device located on the vending machine’s front.

A six-and-a-half-ounce Coke, in a glass bottle, was five cents! The Alpena Coke bottling plant was then located in the current Nowicki’s Sausage Shoppe.

Finally, there is the story of an unusual visitor who came into the Montgomery Ward store. It was an early Saturday morning when staff discovered the basement was littered with broken dishes, damaged displays, and scattered paint cans.

The intruder? It was a multi-point buck-deer who wandered into town and slipped into the loading-dock’s rear-opening.

A strange bit of history of Montgomery Ward is that in the late 1970s, Mobil Oil owned a significant portion of the retailer. Alas, after Christmas 2000, with dismal sales, the company ceased operation and closed its remaining 250 stores.

Sears and Roebuck

Across the street from Mongomery Ward was Sears and Roebuck. The store was small in size and strictly catalog sales. The store frequently displayed appliances, radios and televisions, along with other select merchandise.

Like Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penny, Sears offered a large Christmas wish book/catalog. In bed with a flashlight, many children flipped through the pages, dog-earing them for Santa.

Vaughn Company Store

The Vaughn Company Store was distinctive and fully local. The first floor was predominantly women, men, and children’s apparel. The clothing was neatly displayed on massive wooden tables with drawers, as well as on numerous circular hanging racks. Shoes and jewelry were located on the first floor. In the shoe department there was an x-ray device where you could slip in your covered foot and see the fit with your bone structure.

At the rear of the first floor were massive stairways leading to the basement and upper levels. Perhaps, the store offered an elevator.

A Vaughn’s purchase I made was a brown woolen cable knit sweater with a rolled collar. It was with my dollars earned while being a Kroger cashier. I probably wore it to a teen dance at the former Alpena Armory on Water Street.

The past is nice. However, the future is important to downtown Alpena.

I’m delighted to see local retailers, restaurateurs, and developers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s leading my former hometown to new heights.

I smile with the memories. It was a jewel of a place to grow up.