Iconic Detroit Fur Store Dittrich Furs Closes After 133 Years

Dittrich Furs shuts down on April 30. The shop has served Detroit for 133 years. Emil Dittrich started it back in 1893, and five generations ran it until brothers Jason and Shawn Dittrich decided to retire and spend time with their families.

The shop announced the closure in January. Two retirement sales drew hundreds of people. During the first sale on Jan. 13, lines snaked from the store on Third Avenue all the way to W. Grand Boulevard. The second sale on March 6 pulled customers who arrived as early as 3:50 a.m.

"There's a lot of love," said Jason Dittrich, 64, company president, according to BridgeDetroit. "The whole thing is bittersweet."

Aretha Franklin shopped there. The Queen of Soul wore a brown Russian sable coat from Dittrich during a 2015 Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Carole King, famously dropping it to the floor while singing "You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)."

The commercials became iconic in Detroit. Dan Yessian composed the jingle "Dittrich Furs from the Dittrich family" back in the 1980s. Sam Richardson and Tim Robinson drew inspiration from these ads when creating their Comedy Central show "Detroiters."

"Tim (Robinson) and I based this show on the love that we had of local commercials we grew up watching that are so iconic to us," said Richardson to Conan O'Brien in 2017. "I think everybody in Detroit knows those commercials so well."

By the 1950s, more than 100 furriers operated in Detroit. Now only a few remain in the metro area.