Bank Block Shopping Center

In 1928, the Grandview Avenue Bank Block was brand new and very important. This strip of businesses was one of the very first in the whole country to have a special kind of parking for cars. Parking was needed because cars were becoming more affordable and many more people owned and used them. The parking lot is behind the stores. Before the Bank Block was built, no one had ever designed a shopping center with planned parking. Some stores that used to be here were a bank, Young's Bakery, Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store, Robbins Five and Dime Cents Store, and Cordi's Barber Shop.

Take a walk through the breezeway next to Stauf's Coffee to check out old photos of Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff.  

The bronze plaque in front of the Bank Block is an Ohio Historical Marker, which is only awarded to very special and historical sights in our state. The Bank Block is also listed on the United States’ National Register of Historic Places which means its history is important not just to our communities but also to our entire country.  

Discuss:  What is your favorite spot to visit on this block? 

Grandview Avenue Bank Block looking southwest from the then vacant east side of Grandview Avenue. The lamppost on the left is at the corder of what is now Second Avenue. The Piggly Wiggly grocery store is just to the left of the parked cars.  

Long's Pharmacy, located in the Bank Block at 1275 Grandview Avenue, was a landmark in the years prior to and just after World War II. This 1947 photograph shows a group of Grandview Heights High School students near the front entrance of the local hangout. The drug store had a pharmacy, sandwiches, and a popular ice cream and soda fountain.