Votruba Leather has been a staple in the Traverse City community for 15 decades, and this month they celebrate 150 years of bringing the finest leather and luggage to Northern Michigan.
“Votruba was started by Frank Votruba, who was a Czechoslovak immigrant. And back then they all used to come into East Jordan, and then they would come to Traverse City because this was such like a booming town back then. So, this is where you’d come and make your connections and look for jobs and all that. While he made his connections here and he married somebody and then the brother ended up partnering with Frank Votruba, and they built this entire City Opera House. This business, it’s changed drastically because travel has changed quite a bit. You know, it used to be horses and buggies and all that kind of stuff and trunks. And now it is the luggage that we see today which is four-wheel luggage,” said Votruba General Manager, Brian Park.
Votruba Leather is the oldest travel goods store in the country.
“The whole premise of the company is to keep the quality high. And we think that customers and we actually know that customers actually appreciate buying a higher quality item, spending a little bit more money and having something that they could potentially have their entire life. And we don’t want to sell, you know cheap items that are going to fail the customer. You come here to have a full experience,” Park said.
And today, Votruba leather still encompasses much of the original store front.
“The floors are all original. We still have the original tin ceilings under this current ceiling, which we hope to bring back one day. And that’ll be another way that we help preserve everything. And we put up a mural in the front of the store that’s an original 1902 photo of Frank Votruba and his family members running the store. It’s so wild to think that the store still looks the same, essentially, as the layout. Just looking all the way back,” said Park.
And on October 30th at 5:00 p.m. you can join Votruba Leather at their storefront, alongside Traverse Connect in celebrating this incredible milestone.
“It’s amazing that we’ve made it this long when so many other travels companies haven’t. And we’ve been a staple in the community for so long. It’s a huge honor for me to work here for the last two years in such a historic place. And just to keep the whole idea of the store going so much longer,” Park said.