Manufacturing malaise

Disastrous decade for thing-makers. Auto-related bankruptcies began with Delphi in 2005 and peaked with General Motors in 2009, while big manufacturing names left: Lear, Tower, Electrolux and Delphi. GM stamping in Wyoming died, but the bankrupt automaker opted to retake its nearby Delphi valve-train plant. For office furniture execs, a nauseating up-and-down ride could land them in their own hospital furniture. The healthiest sector isn’t manufacturing. It’s service, as in retail, groceries, health care and insurance.

You can always grow: downtown

Downtown Grand Rapids gets a lift from its 1990s visage: Consider the scene without DeVos Place convention center, the JW Marriott hotel, River House condominiums, the Van Andel Institute or a very green art museum. Look to the east, where an entire medical Mecca has bloomed since 2000.

Losing ground

On the home front, a real estate bubble popped with a bang by mid-decade, and lots of people lost their jobs as recession and a freefall in the auto industry brought the decade to a close. In the uproar, houses lost value, putting many homeowners “underwater” on their mortgages. The result? Historic rates of foreclosures and a queue of 500 outside the Plainfield Unemployment Office.

Auto industry sputters

It was an immensely challenging time for America’s Big Three automakers. Just this year, General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy, GM CEOs Rick Wagoner and Fritz Henderson were ousted by the government, and Chrysler was pressured into an alliance with Italy’s Fiat. Ford avoided bankruptcy, but its worldwide sales — like its competitors’ — fell sharply.

Fueling frenzy

At the dawn of the decade, pump prices hit an outrageous $2 a gallon before quickly retreating. If we’d only known. Gasoline peaked at $4 a gallon by mid-2008, creating all kinds of havoc: pickup sales tanked, while little cars and hybrids looked pretty sweet. Cash for Clunkers closed out the decade, with gas-guzzlers ditched for more frugal fuel-users. To close the decade: gas is $2.50 a gallon, on average. See? Pretty much back where we started.

The story that wasn’t: Cabela’s is coming!

The state coughed up millions of dollars in incentives not usually given to a retailer, but the project to build the hunting and fishing supermart near Walker Avenue NW and I-96 never got off the ground.

BUSINESSTHE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS

SECTION

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2009

TOP U.S. BUSINESS STORIES OF 2009, F3

NAMES AND FACES IN BUSINESS F2BANK RATE MONITOR F4

JOBS F5

F

1. Which local bank saw its stock price plunge 90 percent in the past decade?A. Bank of HollandB. Independent BankC. Macatawa Bank

2. Which local billionaire leapfrogged a couple hundred spots on Forbes Richest Americans list to No. 44?A. Rich DeVosB. Ronda StrykerC. Fred Meijer

3. What bus trips sprouted up around the country and in West Michigan this decade? A. Foreclosure toursB. Speed tours of Indian casinos

C. Shuttles to the unemployment office

4. Which mall celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009 — the same year its owner declared bankruptcy?A. Woodland MallB. Centerpointe MallC. RiverTown CrossingsD. Westshore Mall

5. Which golf course has not been sold off in bankruptcy?A. Macatawa LegendsB. Holland Country ClubC. Egypt Valley Country Club

WINNERS: Gun Lake Band of Pottawatomi. Decade-plus legal war ends; construction begins on casino.

LOSERS: Homeowners (those who are left). The climb back from bottomed-out prices will be slow.

WINNER: Imbibers. Founders Brewing Co. expands; local entrepreneurs launch vodka-based Sharkwater Tropical Liqueur.

LOSER: The factory worker. Between production consolidating, shutting down or moving out of the country, manufacturing jobs in the state are a fraction of what they once were.

WINNER: Local merchants. Shoppers respond to loyalty pitch — as well as

foreign-made toxic toys and recession — to buy at home.

LOSER: Michigan’s auto industry.Enough said.

WINNER: Downtown Grand Rapids. Let us count the ways: DeVos Place, JW Marriott, a new art museum and ArtPrize.

LOSER: Banks. Take Fifth Third — stock peaked in 2003, it started the decade by purchasing Old Kent Bank and had a stock price of $40 a share. Its stock peaked at $66. Now, along with many other banks, it’s trading around $10. Ouch.

The economy: It’s just badDespite a $787 billion federal stimulus package, much of the U.S. economy

continued to sputter throughout 2009 . The jobless rate topped 10 percent (15 percent in Michigan), scores of banks failed, the federal defi cit tripled to a record $1.4 trillion and stocks fell to their lowest levels since 1997 before rallying. Yet investment banks’ profi ts surged, triggering public anger and efforts in Washington to crack down on Wall Street bonuses.

FIFTH THIRD BANK BUYS LOCAL GIANT OLD KENT (2000)

Anybody remember how 5/3 got that funky name?

MR. FABLES GOES OUT OF BUSINESS (2000)

Some legends do die.

LOEKS THEATERS OPENS CELEBRATION FRANCHISE, BRINGS

IN IMAX (2001)R2-D2 is 50 feet tall!

RICH DEVOS BUYS MICHIGAN STREET

BURGER KING FOR $6 MILLION

(2002)Whopper of a deal

kick-starts Pill Hill projects.

BID TO REPLACE CITY HALL WITH HOTEL FALLS THROUGH (2003)This deprived the rooftop Calder next door of a wider audience.

AMERICAN SEATING OPENS HQ IN RENOVATED FACTORY (2003)

West Side factory renovated into apartments and a corporate

headquarters.

CHILI DOGS, SASSY SPAGHETTI GONE AS WEST SIDE’S RED LION

CLOSES (2004) Yet Burger King’s special sauce

lives on.

CYBERNET SCAM SUCKS UP $100 MILLION, SENDS FOUR

TO PRISON (2004) Bernie Madoff and Enron’s

disgraced chiefs would be proud.

ROGERS DEPARTMENT STORE CLOSES (2005)

The closure of the last of the big locally owned department stores

leaves a gaping hole along bustling 28th Street SW in Wyoming ... for

a while.

E85 ETHANOL TANKS (2005-06) Corn growers loved it; consumers

weren’t buying.

“RIVER GRAND” MYSTERY PROJECT FAILS TO DEVELOP

(2006) Easy come, easy go.

Robert Israels picked up the baton with his West Side redos.

ROBERT ISRAELS BUYS ROGERS,

MOVES IN KLINGMAN’S

FURNITURE (2008)Wyoming leaders

breathe a sigh of relief as 28th

Street SW replaces longtime anchor.

CHRYSLER GUARANTEES CAR BUYERS $2.99 A GALLON (2008)

A year later, when prices plummeted, the deal wasn’t quite

so hot.

TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (TO DATE)

Recall the personal computer, circa 2000? It likely had a “clock speed” — a measure of how fast it could do things — just one-sixth that of

many computers today. In fact, you may be reading this online.

WORTH NOTING

Beyond the headlinesof the 2000s

THE DECADE IN REVIEW

BIZ QUIZ WINNERS & LOSERS

NEW HIGHS, NEW LOWS TOWERS ROSE WHILE ECONOMY DRAGGED DOWN HOUSING, COMPANIES

Answers: 1 B; 2 C; 3 A; 4 C; 5 C

AP PHOTO

Another big loss: Traders gather on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month with looks that were all-too familiar over the past decade.

PRESS FILE PHOTO

Art sells: Business boomed in The B.O.B. and across downtown during ArtPrize ’09.

Rich DeVos

Robert Israels

PRESS FILE PHOTO

Forced changes: Brent Mohr looks at an Oldsmobile minivan on the VerHage of Holland used car lot in June. VerHage was about to give up its Chrysler franchise as the automaker closed dealers nationwide.

PRESS FILE PHOTO

It could be worse ... and was: This photograph of a local Speedway sign was taken just last year.

PRESS FILE PHOTO

Changing skyline: Grand Rapids added two high-rises late in the decade — River House, center, the tallest building in West Michigan, and the JW Marriott hotel, second from right.

PRESS FILE PHOTO

Gone: An Electrolux worker takes personal items from the Greenville plant after his final shift in 2006.