For 136 years, our family has been ensuring that the people of Detroit can find the freshest specialty food products right in the heart of the Eastern Market. Keep reading to learn more about the history of our compnay.
Grandfather, Rudolph Hirt Jr, opened his shop to provide Detroit with the highest quality butter, eggs and cheese. The original name of the store was named after him, R. Hirt Jr Company.
Rudolph built the first half of the store building. Lives on the second floor of the shop with his family.
Rudolph built the second half of the building which included an Otis elevator. The original elevator still stands today and is one of the oldest working freight elevators in Detroit/Wayne county.
Son in law, Clarence DeVries, joined the company.
Two of Clarence’s sons came to work at R. Hirt, Tom and David DeVries. Tom was credited with adding hard to find specialty goods and cheeses from across the globe.
R. Hirt expanded their wholesale business to a new location still in the Eastern Market.
Wholesale and retail businesses separated although still in the family. The original location took the new name of DeVries & Co. The entire business is still in the same hands, we just did some rearranging and renaming!
We've recently remodeled the shop my grandfather built in 1893, putting a new shine on the floor and adding vintage lighting from the American Axle plant. We even built new checkout counters from lumber dating to 1904. Most importantly, we took time to honor Mom and Dad by putting their name over the door.
