Steve VanderVeen: The retail war between Model Drug and Haan's Drug Store
The corner of River Avenue and Eighth Street saw a retail war in the 1920s. On one corner was Henry Wilson and James Yonkman’s Model Drug Store (present-day Apothecary Gift Shop), and on the opposite corner was Jake Haan and Peter Houseman’s Haan’s Drug Store (present-day Reader's World).
Wilson and Yonkman purchased the Model Drug Store in 1923. That same year, Haan partnered with Houseman of Grand Rapids to move Haan’s pharmacy from 6 E. Eighth St. to 194 River Ave. After spending $6,000 to refurbish their establishment, The Holland City News claimed Mr. Haan had the "most beautiful soda fountain in Ottawa County."
Not to be outdone, Wilson and Yonkman announced in the Sept. 17, 1925, edition of The Holland Daily Sentinel that they would invest $40,000 to make the Model Drug Store "the largest" between Chicago and Mackinaw City.
While the drug department would remain in its present location, the soda fountain/parlor would be in the Steketee portion of the building, where candies and other delicacies were sold. It would have a tile floor with room for 36 soda tables, which could serve 140 soda customers at one time.
In addition, there would be a “retiring room,” lounging room, and other conveniences for ladies. Wilson and Youngman would upgrade the lighting and heating infrastructure.
More: Steve VanderVeen: The Post Building was a retail magnet in Holland
As part of their plan, Wilson and Yonkman would also remodel the second floor of the Post Building, creating "modern suites suitable for office rooms" and adding hot and cold-water plumbing. In addition, a two-story building would replace a one-story building on the north side of the Post Building.
In the Feb. 6, 1926, edition of The Holland Daily Sentinel, Wilson and Yonkman bragged they'd spent $50,000 to give the Post Building eight steam-heated suites on the second floor and "some of the largest show windows in the city of Holland" on the ground floor.
But the economic slump of the Great Depression intervened. Both drug stores changed ownership. John and Jacob Haan, sons of Jake Haan, joined the Peck’s drug store chain of Grand Rapids. Henry Wilson found a new business partner in Con DePree, a previous competitor, before regaining ownership of his business.
In 1952, Wilson remodeled his Model Drug Store. According to the The Holland Evening Sentinel, he extended the soda fountain and cigar departments, made wider aisles and island displays, and provided step-up shelves to help clerks more easily reach items on the top shelves.
He also added fluorescent lighting, remodeled the drug department so that it looked like a modern scientific laboratory to display vitamins, tonics, drugs, and cold remedies, and a special department for cameras. In addition to a registered pharmacist — Henry Dykstra — Wilson employed experienced cosmeticians: B. Parker and K. Kyers.
In 1947, Lee Shaffer and James Yonkman re-purchased the Model Drug Store. In 1961, 28-year-old Keith Ditch, after working for pharmacists in Lansing and South Haven, purchased the store from Yonkman. Ditch recalls, "My mother-in-law thought I would fail in Holland because I didn't have a Dutch last name!"
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In 1962 and 1963, Ditch remodeled the store and took out the soda fountain, which he sold to Marian Rose of the Marionette Restaurant at 42 W. Eighth St. behind the former Peck’s Drug Store. Ditch's wife, Barbara, opened the Apothecary Gift Shop in the space formerly occupied by a barbershop in the back of the Model Drug Store.
Later, they expanded the gift shop to the north by removing a wall and a stairway.
In 1967, Reader's World opened in the former Peck’s Drug Store. In 1973, the Ditchs opened the Yum Yum Shop at 301 Douglas Ave. — then sold it in 1976 after purchasing the Post Building.
In 1998, the Ditchs retired and turned over operations of the Model Drug Store to their daughter, Sharon Fisher. In 2015, they closed the pharmacy and changed the name of the business to the Apothecary Gift Shop. Today, Keith and Barbara’s granddaughter, Jennifer Foley, manages the store.
Information for this story comes from Robert Swierenga’s "Holland, Michigan," Holland City Directories, The Holland Sentinel, and an interview with Keith Ditch, plus correspondence with Sharon Fisher and Jennifer Foley.
— Steve VanderVeen is a resident of Holland. You may reach him at skvveen@gmail.com. His book, "The Holland Area's First Entrepreneurs," is available at Reader’s World.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland History: The retail war between Model Drug and Haan's Drug Store
