Can't quit State street; a little elbow grease goes a long way
Michael Mayday
Issue date: 2/19/09 Section: News
To say Rick Raeff is proud of his store is an understatement. He loves the Star Wars posters his son, Nicholas, was about to throw away, the trinkets that line the top shelves and the regulars that come in everyday. But more than anything else, Raeff loves the State Street Market's history, he says.
"I remember getting people in their 70s and 80s coming in and saying, 'I remember when I was a kid I'd come in here and buy some penny candy,'" Raeff said.
This made Raeff curious, so he went to the Hillsdale Public Library for some research.
Raeff said State Street started as Sea Shoals Grocery when it was originally built in 1938. The store would change names over the years, but it would always remain a store.
It passed through five owners' hands before Rick Raeff's father, Danny Raeff, bought the store in the '70s and maintained it until the early '90s, when he sold it.
Then it started growing stagnant, Raeff says.
"It wasn't boarded up, but it was always locked."
In 2003, after a lengthy legal battle, Danny Raeff managed to regain possession of the store. But at 80 years old, Danny was in no condition to run a general store, much less to restore it to a useable condition.
Around the same time, when the auto industry showed signs of weakening, Raeff said he saw the writing on the wall. In need of an unwavering job, Raeff decided to take his father's advice, and he began restoring State Street Market.
"His words to me was, 'Run it for a while and see if you like it,' and we've been here ever since," Raeff said.
But before Raeff could run the store, he had to clean it, rebuild it and stock it. That took time and money.
"I remember getting people in their 70s and 80s coming in and saying, 'I remember when I was a kid I'd come in here and buy some penny candy,'" Raeff said.
This made Raeff curious, so he went to the Hillsdale Public Library for some research.
Raeff said State Street started as Sea Shoals Grocery when it was originally built in 1938. The store would change names over the years, but it would always remain a store.
It passed through five owners' hands before Rick Raeff's father, Danny Raeff, bought the store in the '70s and maintained it until the early '90s, when he sold it.
Then it started growing stagnant, Raeff says.
"It wasn't boarded up, but it was always locked."
In 2003, after a lengthy legal battle, Danny Raeff managed to regain possession of the store. But at 80 years old, Danny was in no condition to run a general store, much less to restore it to a useable condition.
Around the same time, when the auto industry showed signs of weakening, Raeff said he saw the writing on the wall. In need of an unwavering job, Raeff decided to take his father's advice, and he began restoring State Street Market.
"His words to me was, 'Run it for a while and see if you like it,' and we've been here ever since," Raeff said.
But before Raeff could run the store, he had to clean it, rebuild it and stock it. That took time and money.
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