Today we’d like to introduce you to Penny Hock.
Hi Penny, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I discovered the building in February 2025 and approached the owners in June regarding acquiring it but I did not want to make a financial commitment until I knew if I could make something happen and miraculously they let me in.
So I cashed in my retirement and opened The Lit by The Penny Loafer. My boutique director and now operations partner, Patti Fitzgerald moved in during July and we opened our doors on August 5, 2025 as a fully operational venue with a cafe, boutique, and lounge, with full schedules and the most unbelievable community support.
By October I realized that as much as I would love to be the owner, the building was built by women, for women, in a time when that was almost unheard of, and it needed to be returned to the community for which it was built. I registered the business as a non-profit and in November we established a Board of Directors and are now poised to sign a one year lease with the hope of acquiring the building with enough donor support.
In the same vision of the founders of the Ladies’ Literary Club, our doors are open to everyone who needs a space to exercise their love of the humanities; artists, musicians, dancers, poets, authors, thespians, magicians, comedians, historians, storytellers, lecturers, scientists, book clubs, and more than all of that is our promise to support other nonprofits and offer a hub for them to gather, educate, share, and celebrate. And.. I could not have done any of this without Patti and her husband, Mike Fitzgerald, who is our Facilities Director… also a volunteer.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Getting exposure and encouraging people to come to this community to see us and spreading the word that although we are a venue, we are here for everyone and no longer just weddings.
We have received no funding at all yet so we have a giant hill to climb and believe we can get there as long as the owners can hang in there until the 501c3 processes.
Everyone who walks through falls in love, just as we did. And we know the community would be devastated if we didn’t survive. But we are fighting hard!!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Oh my gosh.. it’s so vast. I have a restless soul so I spent most my life traveling and moving and learning new jobs, getting new careers, and seeing new things. I have lived in 6 states just because, and the most profound impressions were that of history, literature, and the arts, for I am a musician since the age of 4. Naturally I have landed exactly where my life has prepared me to be.
In addition, I had to make money so I worked in insurance beginning in customer service selling travel trailer insurance and ending as a Master Investigator in Insurance Fraud, where I had a 15 year career.
I am so proud that after an entire life of searching for my place I have landed here. I am incredibly proud of what we are building here at The Lit by The Penny Loafer and very proud of the relationships we are starting with young adults who are not just learning culture, but teaching it! Happy People making other people happy and giving them a place to do it. it is a dream come true and I’m really good at it.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Writing the Baccalaureate special song and performing it at my high school graduation, and then being asked by the District Superintendent to do it again at Commencement and receiving a standing ovation and a recording deal.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thepennyloafer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelitbythepennyloafer/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLitByThePennyLoafer
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-lit-grand-rapids-2?osq=the+lit
