History of Glei's
In 1918, Alma Glei (1860-1936) and son Carl Glei (1898-1989) purchased forty acres of property on Milnes Road in Hillsdale County Michigan. The farm began with 50 apple trees and slowly expanded to 100 acres of apple trees when Carl Glei married Ruth Haskins (1904-1997) in 1929. Carl and Ruth had two sons David (1937- )and Owen (1943- ) who also devoted their lives to the growth and development of the business. The business has seen great change since its humble beginnings in 1918. The original 40 acres has expanded to over 300 acres of total acres including over 2 acres of greenhouses. A fire on January 4, 1990 completely destroyed the main building which included the salesroom and apple grading equipment. Although a difficult time, the fire allowed for an even better, more functional building that was in use four months after the fire.
On July 3, 2007, the business once again suffered a devastating loss to fire. Although the fire began in the workshop building adjacent to the main building, the fire was unable to be contained and quickly spread to the main building. The workshop, apple storage, apple grader, retail store, and equipment storage was completely destroyed. The greenhouses were slightly damaged, but mostly unharmed. We remained open for business outside in the perennial shade area until mid November. After careful planning and the hard work of many people, the business has been rebuilt with a packing house/apple storage building to the north of the old store, a workshop, and retail store now in use.
The business is now operated by Damon. David retired in January of 2009 after working hard for many, many years, and sadly passed away in 2020. Owen retired in January of 2015, but just can't stay away and still helps around the farm as much as he can. Glei's now grows over 20 varieties of apples, 200 varieties of perennials, 300 varieties of annuals, several varieties of Christmas trees, and many types of vegetables. Damon and a hardworking, dedicated staff strive to continue to bring the community top quality apples, flowers, vegetables, nursery stock, and Christmas trees.
Glei's acquired a piece of land in Coldwater, Michigan in 2014 and built a new retail outlet. The store is a farm market and greenhouse and includes a bakery. Our new store opened in the February of 2014 after selling out of a little red storage barn for a few months then out of the greenhouse. We have already gotten a very positive response from the community and have a fairly large customer base there already. Our hope is to serve them better and more often by being more conveniently located.
On July 3, 2007, the business once again suffered a devastating loss to fire. Although the fire began in the workshop building adjacent to the main building, the fire was unable to be contained and quickly spread to the main building. The workshop, apple storage, apple grader, retail store, and equipment storage was completely destroyed. The greenhouses were slightly damaged, but mostly unharmed. We remained open for business outside in the perennial shade area until mid November. After careful planning and the hard work of many people, the business has been rebuilt with a packing house/apple storage building to the north of the old store, a workshop, and retail store now in use.
The business is now operated by Damon. David retired in January of 2009 after working hard for many, many years, and sadly passed away in 2020. Owen retired in January of 2015, but just can't stay away and still helps around the farm as much as he can. Glei's now grows over 20 varieties of apples, 200 varieties of perennials, 300 varieties of annuals, several varieties of Christmas trees, and many types of vegetables. Damon and a hardworking, dedicated staff strive to continue to bring the community top quality apples, flowers, vegetables, nursery stock, and Christmas trees.
Glei's acquired a piece of land in Coldwater, Michigan in 2014 and built a new retail outlet. The store is a farm market and greenhouse and includes a bakery. Our new store opened in the February of 2014 after selling out of a little red storage barn for a few months then out of the greenhouse. We have already gotten a very positive response from the community and have a fairly large customer base there already. Our hope is to serve them better and more often by being more conveniently located.
