Grand opening set for Wealthy Street Bakery's $1.8M sister, Hall Street Bakery

To say that the people behind the successful Wealthy Street Bakery have made a significant investment in the corner of Hall St. SE and Fuller Avenue SE is an understatement. David and Melissa LaGrand and Jim and Barb McClurg have invested a whopping $1.5 to $1.8 million in what was a dying business district with a defunct building that was "raining inside when we got it," says David LaGrand.

But this Saturday, Feb. 8, at 6 a.m. the doors will swing wide to invite the public to the new Hall Street Bakery grand opening at 1200 Hall St. SE, just a few blocks from where David LaGrand grew up and where his brother still lives in the family home.

The former Veltman's Market was a busy neighborhood haunt when LaGrand was growing up, but in the past decade or so, the neighborhood has experienced significant disinvestment and the loss of several businesses.

The new bakery will feature everything customers have come to crave from Wealthy Street Bakery -- luscious croissants, cookies, and cupcakes, fresh artisan breads, and specialty salads, soups, pizzas, and entrees -- plus Hall Street Bakery will have a dedicated gluten-free kitchen that will produce goods that will be sold at both locations.

"We'll have a sort of hermetically sealed off facility in the downstairs; you can't go downstairs if you have flour on you," LaGrand says.

The bakery will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a setting reminiscent of a European café, complete with outdoor seating and local wines and beers by the glass.

"Wealthy Street has won best bakery in Grand Rapids every year since we've opened (2002), and now it's exciting to have brewers in town who are focused on excellence. All of a sudden we have world-class beers in the city," LaGrand says. "The new location will be able to be more of a neighborhood after-work spot and we really expect to get a good dinner trade."

"We bought the building because we're urbanists and we like to be able to invest in revitalizing community spots," LaGrand adds. "Our passion is being rooted in neighborhoods. If you look with negative eyes, you can see that neighborhood has a long period of disinvestment. Things leave, but things don't really come back, and we're the first real solid reinvestment in the neighborhood in a long time."

Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Hall Street Bakery