Sanders – Abbreviated Timeline 1875: Sanders leased a shop on Woodward Ave. near State/Gratiot., at the location where the J.L. Hudson block would later rise. 1876: Sanders relocated closer to Detroit's business center, moving south on Woodward to the corner of Woodward and Michigan Ave. He named this location the "Pavilion of Sweets." It was adjacent to the building called "Fisher Block", and across the street from the old city hall, the original J.L. Hudson store, and the Detroit Opera House. 1891: Sanders expanded his store into the first two floors of the Fisher Block building, using the ground floor for the soda fountain, and the second floor to make the chocolates. 1896: Sanders occupied the former J.L. Hudson building and named this one the "Palace of Sweets" at at 1037 Woodward, on the west side of Woodward, a couple of doors north of Michigan Avenue. Note: this was the Sanders that Irene ate at when she could afford it. This location became known as the Downtown Store. Sanders remained here until the 1980s. The decor was extremely opulent. It included a factory, soda fountain, cafeteria (in the basement), and a bakery. In the 1930s, Sanders completely remodeled this location. It was now much less ornate, but very elegant with decorative ceilings, elaborate lights, and marble countertops and floors. In 1956, a fire destroyed the top three floors, but Sanders renovated it and added a contemporary facade. 1915: Sanders opened a second store at 2465 Woodward at Henry St. because he needed more space for a factory. This was a 3-story building, but they added 3 more floors to it in 1919. This was Sanders' first "real" factory – workers hand rolled and hand dipped all the confections. 1919: Opened another store on Woodward at Grand Blvd. in the Henry Building. This was Sander's first venture away from the downtown area. 1920: Opened another store in the Dime Bank Building, at 719 Griswold St., directly across the street from the Penobscot Building, where Irene worked. I'm not sure how many years they were at this location. 1924: Sanders also opened a store on the ground floor of the Ford Building on the NW corner of Griswold and Congress – diagonally across from the Guardian Building where Irene worked in 1937. Sanders kept this store until Jan. 1993. 1925: Fifty years after he started, Sanders had 7 locations in Detroit, and also maintained an office, store, and factory at Woodward and Henry St. That building was demolished in 2006. 1930s and 40s: Sanders expanded into the suburbs and constructed a 400,000 square foot factory in Highland Park. mid-1970s (the company's peak years): their products were sold at more than 100 locations in and around Detroit and more than 50 stores in metro Detroit, hiring more than 1500 employees.
1980s: Sanders filed for bankruptcy. mid-1990s: Sanders had disappeared completely from Detroit and was only a memory. 2002: Morley Brands, another Detroit confectioner, bought the Sanders brand and began remarketing Sanders name, candy, ice cream toppings, and baked goods. They opened Sanders stores again, and created a Sanders web site where you can still order the original Sanders products!
Facts about Sanders •
Frederick Sanders Schmidt was born in Germany. His family moved to Peru, Illinois when Sanders was a toddler. Sanders returned to Germany to study confectionery and opened his first shop in Frankfurt in 1868. He married a cousin, Rosa Conrad, returned with her to America, and practiced confectionery in Philadelphia and Chicago. He eventually opened his own shop in Chicago, but it was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1871. They moved to Detroit in 1874 or 1875, where he opened his first confectionery on Woodward Ave near State Street in 1875.
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Fred Sanders was widely known as Grandpa Sanders
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Although Sanders is often credited with "inventing" the ice-cream soda, it was actually invented by Robert Green, a soda fountain manufacturer from Philadelphia.
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From his first store in Chicago until his death, Sanders adhered to several principles: using only the finest ingredients in his confections, closing of Sundays and holidays, and community involvement.
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Until 1913 (when Sanders died), Sanders' business included only ice cream and candies.
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Sanders was one of the first companies in Detroit to use electric motors. He hooked up a huge motor to crush ice for his ice-cream-making process. Unfortunately, it kept breaking down. He was about to get rid of it, but the Edison Illuminating Company sent over a young mechanic to fix it, and it worked great from then on. The young mechanic's name? Henry Ford.
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By 1925, Sanders had seven locations in Detroit, and maintained an office, store, and factory at Woodward Ave & Henry Street – this building survived until 2006, when it was razed for Super Bowl XL.
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By late 1920s, Sanders had 3 or 4 delivery trucks. Only 2 of them could fit in the Henry Street site. They delivered candy and baked goods to Sanders' nearly dozen stores by the late 1920s. They painted numbers such as "No. 17" on the doors of the trucks (even though they had only 3 or 4). Good marketing.
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In the 1930s and 40s, Sanders expanded into the suburbs and in constructed a 400,000 sq. ft. factory in Highland Park
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A few prices in 1937 (year Irene went to Detroit): (menu p54,55) - 5 cents: coffee, tea, or milk - 10 cents: milkshakes, soups, juice, cereal, most sandwiches, plain ice cream, pastries, pies, cakes, sodas - 15-20 cents: ice cream sundaes (15 cents for a chocolate sundae) Just how expensive was this? According to the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics, 15 cents in 1937 is equivalent to $2.40 in 2012. However, to understand the “willing sacrifice” Irene needed to make in order to indulge in a chocolate sundae, we need to look her weekly wage compared to the avg. wage today: Irene earned $12/week, so 15 cents represents 1.25% of her weekly salary (before taxes, of course!). By comparison, the U.S. national average salary in 2011 was approx. $42,980/year (according to the SSA), which is $827/week. 1.25% of $827 = $10.34 So, for Irene to buy a sundae for 15 cents in 1937 was equivalent to the average wage earner today spending about $10.34 for one scoop of ice cream with chocolate fudge sauce – an extremely expensive treat! But it still didn’t stop Irene, so you can see how much she loved Sanders!
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Printed daily menus began appearing in Sanders stores as far back as the 1920s. Sanders tipping rule was printed on the bottom of the menus after John Miller took over the company in 1930: "No Tipping, Please". He eventually lifted the policy and allowed tipping (in the 1970s or 80s).
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In the late 1950s, for the first time Sanders' famous ice-cream toppings were bottled in mason-style jars for retail sale, in 4 flavors: milk chocolate fudge, Swiss chocolate fudge, bittersweet choc. fudge, and caramel butterscotch.
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At the company's peak, in the 1970s, Sanders products were sold at 100 locations in and around Detroit.
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In 1980s, Sanders had to declare bankruptcy and the company changed hands.
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By mid-1990s, Sanders stores had disappeared from the Detroit landscape. But another Detroit confectioner, Morley Brands, bought the brand in the early 21st century. They began remarketing Sanders candy, ice-cream toppings, and baked goods. By 2006, Morley had opened two Sanders shops and had plans to open several more, but none of them in downtown Detroit.
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From the 1920s onward, Sanders shops created beautiful window displays, often winning national awards. They changed them regularly, and had special displays every Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, 4th of July, Christmas, New Year's, "Sweetest Day" (Oct 13) - a holiday created by a Cleveland candy maker who gave chocolates and candies to orphans and disadvantaged people, 1945 (end of WWII and 70th anniversary of Sanders)
Family - Fred Sanders (d. 1913) – founder, born in Germany, married Rosa Conrad, four children: * Frederick (born & died in 1870), Charles, Ella (d1906), Edwin (b1874 in Detroit) (note: Edwin was the only child to live well into adulthood) * Charles married Lucy Penning, and had a son Frederick W. Sanders (b1895) * Frederick W. Sanders had a son, John "Jack" Sanders. * Ella married John Miller (d1954)
- Edwin eventually became a partner. - John Miller became president in 1930, the year that Sanders incorporated. He was instrumental in the early 1900s for growing the business. He was known as "the great merchandiser." - Frederick W. Sanders (the grandson of Sanders) became president in 1954 (when John Miller died). He was president until the early 1960s, when he was succeeded by his lifelong friend and business associate Charles H. Welch, Jr. - John "Jack" Sanders became the president in 1963. He started in the cost accounting dept. at the Highland Park headquarters years before that. He was president until 1979.