E.S.C. quarterly

              The E. S. C. Quarterly
VOLUME 7, NO. 3-4 SUMMER-FALL# 1949
Merchandising Set New Record in North Carolina Last
Year, Retail and Wholesale; History of Development
**
One of North Carolina's many fine and modern department stores (see inside cover)
PUBLISHED BY
Employment Security Commission of North Carolina
jpttm^awm FROM
RALEIGH, N. C. B^Y L-
: ;sTy im
PAGE 82 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1949
The E. S. C. Quarterly
(Formerly The U.C.C. Quarterly)
Volume 7, Numbers 3-4 Summer-Fall, 1949
Issued four times a year at Raleigh, N. C, by the
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION OF
NORTH CAROLINA
Commissioner:-;: Mrs. Quentin Gregory, Halifax; Dr. Harry D.
Wolf, Chapel Hill; R. Dave Hall, Belmont; Marion W. Heiss,
Greensboro; C. A. Fink, Spencer; Bruce E. Davis, Charlotte.
State Advisory Council: Dr. Thurman D. Kitchin, Wake For-est,
chairman; Mrs. Gaston A. Johnson, High Point; W. B.
Horton, Yanceyville; C. P. Clark, Wilson; Dr. Alphonso
Elder, Durham; Corbett Scott, Asheboro; L. L. Ray, Raleigh;
Joel B. Leighton, Rockingham; J. A. Scoggins, Charlotte.
HENRY E. KENDALL Chairman
R. FULLER MARTIN Director
Unemployment Compensation Division
ERNEST C. McCRACKEN Director
Nortli Carolina State Employment Service Division
M. R. DUNNAGAN Editor
Informational Service Representative
Cover illustrations represent typical North Carolina
industries or business activities under the Employ-ment
Security Program.
Cover for Summer-Fall, 191fi—North Carolina has an abund-ance
of group department stores, operated by native sons.
Among these are Belk, Eflrd, Ivey. In variety stores, Rose
leads the held. Many other department, variety, food and
other types originated and are operated in the State. Picture
shows the remodeled and modernistic front of the Ivey De-partment
Store in Charlotte. See articles in this issue on
all merchandising groups.
Sent free upon request to responsible individuals, agencies,
organizations and libraries. Address: E. S. C. Informational
Service, I'. 0. Box 5SU, Raleigh. N. C.
CONTENTS
Page
Merchandising in State 82
Kendall Reappointed; New Members; Integrate Services.— 83
Price Deputy Commissioner 84
N. C. Retail Trade Exceeds Two Billion Dollars a Year 85
Trading Paths, Packs, in Early Merchandising in State 87
By William S. Powell
North Carolina Home Base for Large Department Stores ... 90
Four N. C. Natives Achieve Fame as Merchandising Leaders 94
N. C. Has 42 Variety Chain Groups Owning 250 Stores 98
Nation-Wide Variety Store Chains Operating in State 102
Eight Wholesale Drug Firms, Long, Prosperous Records 106
Wholesale Distributors Have $1,290,000,000 Business ... .....110
Two Big Machinery, Equipment Firms Started in Raleigh .118
Ancient, Odd, Interesting Retail Firms in Operation 120
Food & Drugs Handled by Large National & Local Firms 124
Clothing, Furnishings, Apparel, Shoe, Furniture Stores 129
Retail Merchants Have Large and Effective Association 132
By Willard L. Dowell
Wholesale Association Promotes Interest of Members 134
By E. S. Yarbrough
N. C. Automobile Dealer Group Most Active in Nation .. _ 135
By Mrs. Bessie B. Ballentine
N. C. Readjustment Allowance Program, Sept. '44-July '49 ..136
By Mrs. Viola T. March
North Carolina (A Poem)..... 138
By James Chadwick
Note: Articles not credited with By-Line, were written by M.
R. Dunnagan, editor, with cooperation of firm members.
MERCHANDISING IN STATE
Merchandising in North Carolina is big business.
Both wholesale and retail trade has developed and
expanded in the State to keep pace with the ever
growing demands of the State's citizenship for more
and better merchandise. Retail trade exceeded $2,-
137,000,000 during the fiscal year ended last June 30,
and the North Carolina Department of Revenue does
not claim that these figures tell the complete story.
Much trading does not go on the records. But the
retail trade produced through the 3% sales and use
tax more than $40,000,000 in taxes, which is the
largest single item in the revenues which keep the
State's governmental machinery in operation. The
revenue reports show that 59,995 active merchants in
the State at the end of 1948 were collecting and re-porting
sales taxes.
Wholesale distributors, numbering several hun-dreds,
handle business which amounted to more than
$1,290,000,000 in the fiscal year ended last June 30.
These figures include the business done by eight
wholesale drug firms which have an average age of
more than 54 years, the oldest having been in opera-tion
for more than 80 years. The wholesale distribu-tors
have a heavy investment in plant and merchan-dise
and distribute large sums in payrolls in the
State.
North Carolina has a few men who are merchan-dising
geniuses. Three of these, W. H. Belk, J. B.
Efird and J. B. Ivey, all of Charlotte, have developed
huge department store firms which cover this State
and have overflowed into many other states. Another
is P. H. Rose, Henderson, who has developed a vast
variety store organization that covers several states.
This State also has many other merchants who have
established group or chain stores in these and other
lines of merchandising which not only reflect credit
upon the State, but also are important cogs in the
State's business structure.
Many nation-wide chain stores of various types
have numerous units in North Carolina. These chain
stores purchase many millions of dollars worth of
their merchandise, distributed through their units
throughout the nation, from North Carolina manu-facturers
and producers. These items include cig-arettes
and other tobacco products, textiles, hosiery,
clothing, furniture, novelty items and food, feed and
other items produced on North Carolina farms.
This issue contains articles dealing with the early
days of merchandising in the State, the extent of
wholesale and retail trade at present, activities of
various wholesale and retail organizations, in addi-tion
to many items about outstanding or character-istic
mercantile firms doing business in North Caro-lina,
those originating within and outside the State.
Efforts have been made to give as complete a pic-ture
of wholesale and retail trade in the State as pos-sible.
Numbers of firms have been given space. Many
others could just as well have been included. Many
heads of firms have been contacted in securing in-formation,
either by personal visits or by letters.
Most have responded gratefully. Others have failed
to respond to requests and a few have declined. The
results give a fairly complete picture of merchandis-ing
in North Carolina.
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 83
Kendall Reappointed; New Members: Integrate Services
Col. Henry E. Kendall, filling out three years of
the unexpired term of Col. A. L. Fletcher as chair-man
of the Employment Security Commission, was
reappointed by Governor Scott for a four-year term
expiring June 30, 1953. He and other appointees
were administered the oath of office in Governor
Scott's office August 1 by Associate Justice M. V.
Barnhill.
Dr. Harry D. Wolf, State University professor,
who had been a member since reorganization of the
Commission as of July 1, 1941, as a representative
of labor, was reappointed to a four-year term as a
representative of the general public. As such, he
succeeded S. Buxton Midyette, Jackson, who finished
the unexpired term of Judge C. E. Cowan, Morgan-ton,
resigned. Mrs. Quentin Gregory, Halifax, was
appointed as a representative of the general public,
succeeding Mrs. W. T. Bost, Raleigh, who had re-signed.
Bruce E. Davis, Charlotte, assistant State
director of the CIO Organizing Committee, began a
four-year term representing employees, taking the
place of Dr. Wolf.
Three of the members were appointed two years
ago to four-year terms and will continue to serve
until 1951. They are R. Dave Hall, Belmont, a mem-ber
since 1941, representing employers; Charles A.
Fink, Spencer, president of the State Federation of
Pictured are members
of tlie Employment Se-curity
Commission of
North Carolina in the
entrance of the Cas-well
Building, home of
the Central office, Aug-ust
1, fottoioing admin-istration
of the oath of
office to Chairman
Kendall and Dr. Wolfe,
reappointed, and Mrs.
Gregory and Mr. Da-vis,
new appointees.
Members are, left to
right, Bruce E. Davis,
Charlotte; Dr. Harry
D. Wolf, Chapel Hill;
Chairman Henry E.
Kendall; Mrs. Quentin
Gregory, Halifax; Ma-rion
W. Heiss, Greens-boro;
Charles A. Fink,
Spencer, and R. Dave
Hall, Belmont.
(Photo by Robert M.
du Bruyne)
Labor (AFL) and representing employees, also a
member since 1941; and Marion W. Heiss, Greens-boro,
who succeeded, in turn, Senator R. Grady Rank-in,
Gastonia, and T. Clarence Stone, Stoneville, as
employer representative.
One important step taken by the Commission at its
meeting that day, in addition to routine matters, was
adoption of a resolution providing for complete in-tegration
of the services performed by the Commis-sion
through its two principal divisions, Employment
Service and Unemployment Compensation, particu-larly
in the 65 local, branch and divisional offices in
54 communities of the State.
Under earlier practices of the Commission the
local office manager was responsible for all func-tions
of both divisions. When the Employment
Service was loaned to the Federal Government Jan-uary
1, 1942, for the war period, as was the case in
all states, it became necessary to set up a separate
Unemployment Compensation Division staff in each
office to handle the claims load. Since the return of
the Employment Service to the Commission in No-vember,
1946, separate operations have been carried
on in local offices, although some of the Central Office
functions were integrated.
The new integration program, similar to steps
taken by other states since the war, means that a
PAGE 84 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY SUMMER-FALL, 1949
manager in the local offices will be responsible to the
Commission for all local office functions. It will
provide for the interchange of personnel in any of
the local office functions, as demanded by work load,
by shifting personnel from one activity to another.
This step is taken to eliminate divided responsibility,
thus promoting smoother operations.
Biographical sketches of the two new members
of the Commission, similar to sketches of other
members in earlier issues, follow
:
MRS. QUENTIN GREGORY
Mrs. Quentin Gregory, Halifax, native of Reids-ville
and formerly Miss Nelle Haynes, is a house-wife
and mother, but has also found time for an
active life in civic, educational, religious and patri-otic
organizations.
After finishing high school at Reidsville, she at-tended
Woman's College of the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro, and then entered the teach-ing
profession. She taught for three years, two in
Halifax, and it was then and there that she met and
married Mr. Gregory, for many years president of
the Bank of Halifax and brother of the late Senator
Edwin C. Gregory, of Salisbury.
She became the mother of six sons, one of whom
lost his life in action in World War II. The others
range in age from 15 to 27 years. Because of her
interest in her children and also in teaching she
became active and interested in the work of the
Halifax Parent-Teacher Association.
For 15 years Mrs. Gregory was a member of the
Halifax County Board of Public Welfare, serving as
chairman of this board for five years. For two years
she was chairman of the Halifax-Weldon Chapter of
the Red Cross. She has also been active and inter-ested
in the work of the Halifax Garden Club and
served for two years as district director of the North
Coastal Plain District of the Garden Club organ-ization.
Since 1938, for 12 years, Mrs. Gregory has been
a member of the board of trustees of the Confederate
Women's Home at Fayetteville, and hopes that she
will be able to continue on that board. In 1948 she
was elected president of the North Carolina Divi-sion,
Daughters of the Confederacy, to which posi-tion
she was re-elected in October.
Throughout her mature life Mrs. Gregory has
been an active member of the Episcopal Church and
the Woman's Auxiliary of the church, having served
for three years as district director of the Edgecombe
District Woman's Auxiliary of the Episcopal Church.
And, as if Mrs. Gregory did not have enough to do,
she admits that she has two very well-developed
hobbies : birds and flowers.
BRUCE E. DAVIS
Bruce E. Davis, 53, native of Whiteville, attended
the Whiteville high school and did odd-time work on
his father's farm on the outskirts of Whiteville. As
he approached majority, he worked for spark plug
(Continued on page 105)
PRICE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
As a step toward making
effective the plan for com-plete
integration of all lo-cal
office functions of the
Employment Security Com-mission,
as described in
the accompanying article,
Chairman Kendall announc-ed
that Brooks Price, Char-lotte,
field representative of
the Commission, had been
selected to assist in this pro-gram
with the title of Dep-uty
Commissioner.
Mr. Price came to Raleigh
August 15 to take part in
Brooks Price working out procedures for
this integration of services
and to participate in training in preparation for its
becoming effective September 1. He will spend
much of his time reviewing local office operations
in the field.
Joining the agency as field representative May 3,
1937, Mr. Price was assigned to work in several
counties, an area that was reduced to Mecklenburg
County, due to the heavy business of that county.
He has rated "excellent" practically all of the time
since he started.
Native of Union County, Mr. Price graduated from
Wesley Chapel High School, Monroe, attended Stray-er's
Business College in Washington in 1921 and in
1922-23 studied law at Washington University. In
1931-32 he was an officer in the U. S. Capitol Police
in the House Gallery in Washington.
As a youth Mr. Price worked in his father's store,
later worked for a wholesale firm in Washington and
for the Ford Motor Co. in Charlotte. During World
War I he served in the 113th Field Artillery, 30th
Division. He married Miss Mary Louise Brooks, of
Pitt County, who died in 1944, and has one daughter,
Dorothy Brooksyne, aged 12. He is a Methodist and
served as Sunday School superintendent for several
years.
Mr. Price operated a general store at Weddington,
Union County, for 12 years, during which period he
was engaged in farming. Also during this period
he served as a Justice of the Peace for 12 years.
In 1936, Mr. Price was nominated and elected
representative of Union County in the N. C. General
Assembly. It was in the 1937 session that he intro-duced
a bill providing for free textbooks for all pub-lic
school children in North Carolina. This bill was
modified and enacted, but its provisions have all
been adopted by subsequent sessions.
As a legislator, he was a member in December,
1936, of the special session of the General Assembly,
called for the special purpose of enacting an Unem-ployment
Compensation law, establishing the Em-ployment
Security Commission (then the Unemploy-ment
Compensation Commission) and consolidating
the North Carolina State Employment Service as one
of the two main divisions with the Unemployment
Compensation Division under the Commission—di-visions
he is now assisting in getting closer together.
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 85
N. C. Retail Trade Exceeds Two Billion Dollars a Year
Retail trade in the aggregate is big business in
North Carolina. During the last fiscal year gross
retail sales passed the two billion dollar point for the
first time. In the fiscal year ended last June 30, retail
sales reached $2,137,223,018. This is 1.45 percent
above the $1,998,536,457 in retail sales for the pre-ceding
fiscal year which ended June 30, 1948.
Wholesale trade in North Carolina is also big busi-ness,
amounting to $1,290,188,180 in the last fiscal
year. This shows an increase of 1.03 percent over
the preceding fiscal year, 1947-48. These figures are
arrived at by blowing up the sales tax of 1/20 of one
percent on wholesale sales, and do not include a rela-tively
negligible amount of non-taxable wholesale
sales. The sales tax on wholesale sales amounted to
$645,094.09 for the fiscal year ended last June 30,
as compared with $588,175.21 for the preceding fiscal
year, 1947-48.
The gross sales in retail trade shown above in-clude
both the taxable and non-taxable sales, as re-ported
to the Department of Revenue by the active
retail merchants in the State on their monthly re-ports,
along with the amount of their sales tax col-lections.
These sales tax collections for the fiscal
year ended June 30, last, amounted to $38,469,140.01,
which is an increase of $1,318,840.71, or 3 percent,
over the $37,229,454.49 collected in the preceding
fiscal year, 1947-48.
The gross retail sales tax shown above does not
include the Use Tax of 3 percent, which is a tax
collected on purchases made by North Carolinians
outside the State, usually mail order business, as
reported and paid by mail order houses. This tax
for the fiscal year ended last June 30 amounted to
$1,330,141.71, thus representing sales valued at $44,-
338,057. This was slightly larger than in the pre-ceding
fiscal year.
Nor do the retail sales tax figures include motor
vehicle use tax, which, in the last fiscal year, amount-ed
to $231,241.04. Since there is a limit of $15 on
the 3 percent sales tax collected on motor vehicles,
and other purchases (even if the value is above $500)
,
this means that more than 15,416 motor vehicles
were purchased outside the State during the last
fiscal year and the $15 tax paid when the owner
applied for a license. And, if the average cost per
car or truck purchased outside the State last year
was $1250 (only a few of the popular priced cars
sell for less than $2,000, but the bulk of these sales
were used cars) then it means that North Carolina
dealers lost their profits in handling something like
$20,000,000 worth of motor vehicles.
All sales taxes, including retail, wholesale and use
taxes in North Carolina amounted to $40,675,515.85
during the fiscal year ended last June 30, or an in-crease
of 3.35 percent over figures for the preceding
fiscal year, 1947-48. The Department of Revenue,
however, does not claim 100 percent collections, and
the official expression is "as reported monthly on
sales tax report forms". This applies also to the
figures on gross sales, which includes both taxable
and non-taxable sales. The actual amount could
exceed appreciably the $2,137,223,018 reported as
gross sales.
The Department of Revenue reports that 59,068
active merchants were operating in the State at the
beginning of the present fiscal year, July 1, 1949, as
reported. It also shows the numbers of merchants
by counties, their gross sales and the sales tax col-lected
by counties. It gives the amount of sales tax
collected in cities of more than 10,000 population,
this list including 27 of the larger cities of the State.
Another analysis shows the retail sales and use tax
and, separately, the wholesale tax, all by types of
business for the past fiscal year. These analyses are
shown below.
ANALYSIS OF SALES AND USE TAX COLLECTIONS AND
GROSS RETAIL SALES BY COUNTIES FOR FISCAL
YEAR JULY 1, 1948 THROUGH JUNE 30, 1949.
Active
Merchants Gross Gross
County July 1, '49 Collections Retail Sales
Alamance 1253 $ 791,342.31 $ 40,869,277
Alexander 172 57,694.26 3,454.306
Alleghany 98 27,380.44 1,593,969
Anson 350 156,339.66 9,408,827
Ashe 316 68,904.77 4,649,741
Avery 188 34,343.20 2,114,452
Beaufort 713 305,811.86 18,120,266
Bertie 395 124,206.38 7,543,765
Bladen 385 138,792.54 9,056,060
Brunswick 309 41,669.25 2,412,305
Buncombe 1826 1,696,965.16 87,932,390
Burke 558 277,655.42 14,431,198
Cabarrus 1060 740,592.46 37,882,508
Caldwell 632 282,627.03 14,349,220
Camden 66 7,773.63 413,892
Carteret 441 189,242.42 10,941,804
Caswell 186 34,661.12 2,425,492
Catawba 940 651,572.22 34,488,147
Chatham 365 145,587.52 7,793,409
Cherokee 288 96,338.17 5,409,531
Chowan 200 97,466.06 4,890,145
Clay 64 9,037.73 755,121
Cleveland 756 519,471.66 27,845,493
Columbus 777 312,970.93 17,061,607
Craven 698 433,371.24 23,032,498
Cumberland 1046 958,183.71 51,088,012
Currituck 109 16,306.32 985,632
Dare _ 127 37,063.48 1,765,325
Davidson 914 450,235.44 28,271,497
Davie 207 76,984.54 4,357,902
Duplin 633 200,654.48 10,803.929
Durham 1425 1,571,153.81 80,759,597
Edgecombe 704 450,399.39 24,192,838
Forsyth 2087 2,097,492.62 97,223,643
Franklin 430 138,424.39 8,424,848
Gaston .1619 1,003,889.04 59,525,349
Gates _ 140 28,059.16 1,403,940
Graham 66 29,358.96 1,830,443
Granville 331 178,378.64 10,239,252
Greene 181 58,366.30 3,433,674
Guilford 3045 2,872,461.13 151,725,343
Halifax 954 495,408.67 27,605,072
Harnett 651 327,014.83 18,347,269
Haywood 484 282,885.20 15,092,914
Henderson 465 270,913.96 16,164,976
Hertford 319 156,582.50 7,671,042
Hoke 144 62,432.71 3,973,689
Hyde 121 15,819.61 1,045,289
Iredell 873 482,163.11 26,735,379
Jackson 201 81,953.17 5,467,989
PAGE 86 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1949
Active
Merchants Gross
County July 1, '49 Collections
Johnston 961 410,752.51
Jones 126 26,278.68
Lee 421 280,379.64
Lenoir 766 486,915.05
Lincoln 368 184,332.15
Macon 196 95,152.36
Madison . 201 63,837.76
Martin 392 174,742.06
McDowell 323 172,914.22
Mecklenburg 3169 4,211,613.84
Mitchell 222 74,113.07
Montgomery 305 108,705.78
Moore 577 243,889.53
Nash . 856 600,696.06
New Hanover 1483 1,154,323.44
Northampton 373 96,794.47
Onslow 426 199,183.81
Orange 391 237,124.47
Pamlico 156 21,171.03
Pasquotank 492 299,481.33
Pender 265 50,932.65
Perquimans 166 56,482.33
Person 363 179,368.20
Pitt 977 566,512.36
Polk 157 48,533.07
Randolph 743 336,673.99
Richmond 640 333,087.21
Robeson 1107 568,629.79
Rockingham 1137 503,030.98
Rowan 1242 775,359.04
Rutherford 731 299,570.26
Sampson _ 751 226,072.24
Scotland 334 169,274.65
Stanly 588 304,068.76
Stokes 253 50,831.34
Surry 793 478,783.17
Swain 120 46,994.63
Transylvania 198 98,485.98
Tyrrell 86 17,944.18
Union 563 278,089.13
Vance 510 328,571.86
Wake 1969 2,082,362.46
Warren 296 115,574.63
Washington 209 82,958.02
Watauga 206 85,360.30
Wayne L 1074 696,004.34
Wilkes 662 239,242.32
Wilson 866 520,177.26
Yadkin 287 75,936.62
Yancey 186 41,050.24
Foreign 583 2,061,609.93
Branch Agency Collections
Use Tax on Mtr. Vehicles 231,241.04
Gross
Retail Sales
22,614,369
1,807,534
15,366,274
27,272,335
10,019,407
4,336,000
3,932,997
9,935,363
10,452,973
209,431,852
4,463,075
6,389,430
13,795,474
30,674,216
52,484,479
6,371,703
11,985,876
12,476,538
1,590,531
15,213,643
3,229,120
2,855,964
9,585,828
29,997,437
3,383,189
20,196,717
18,826,821
30,750,701
27,228,523
47,581,392
17,066,493
12,155,725
10,097,111
16,529,331
3,821,175
23,824,813
2,559,000
4,990,269
1,049,349
18,576,059
18,467,415
109,346,536
7,402,152
4,583,330
4,657,216
36,436,431
11,732,947
26,147,435
4,054,167
2,726,596
89,739,441
Total 59,06
8
Total Collections for 1947-48
Net Increase: 1948-49 over 1947-48
Percentage of Increase
$40,675,616.85 $2,137,223,018
$39,356,776.14
1,318,840.71
. 3.35%
ANALYSIS OF SALES AND USE TAX COLLECTIONS AND
GROSS RETAIL SALES REPORTED BY TYPES OF
BUSINESS FOR FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 1948, THROUGH
JUNE 30, 1949.
Gross Gross
Type of Business Collections Retail Sales*
Apparel Group
Boot and Shoe Stores__._ $ 535,407.62 $ 18,461,276
Clothing Stores—Ready to Wear 2,716,664.92 95,069,317
Furriers .._.__ 4,528.10 192,327
Haberdasheries 368,395.00 12,771,529
Millinery Shops 68,197.26 2,421,330
Shoe Repair Shops 66,009.15 3,133,687
Others 68,461.07 2,397,387
TOTAL $ 3,827,663.12 $134,446,853
Automotive Group
Automobiles and Trucks $ 2,589,867.66 $284,045,434
Filling & Service Stations 1,787,488.32 134,583,187
Garages—Repairs & Storage 296,648.49 14,823,120
Gross
Type of Business Collections
Motorcycles & Bicycles 39,856.24
Parts, Accessories, Batteries,
Tires, Etc. __. 871,900.87
Others ______ 423,318.33
TOTAL $ 6,009,079.91
Food Group
Bakeries and Dairy Products $ 62,436.99
Candy & Confectionery _'__ 124,869.76
Fruit Stores & Vegetable Markets 16,808.44
Grocery Stores and Meat Markets 2,170,233.20
Lunch Rooms, Roadside Inns, Etc. 467,014.46
Restaurants, Cafes, Cafeterias,
& Hotel Dining Rooms 2,018,138.28
Others 9,855.39
TOTAL $ 4,869,356.52
Furniture Group
Furniture Stores $ 2,548,642.08
Household Appliances ____ 627,991.82
Musical Instruments, Music,
Phonographs, Etc. 259,732.38
Industrial, Office & Store Fixtures 152,984.01
Others 187,795.45
TOTAL „___$ 3,777,145.74
General Merchandise Group
Department Stores : $ 4,151,777.33
Drug Stores 1,246,132.86
Dry Goods Stores 715,996.59
Farm Implements, Supplies, Etc... 643,903.48
General Stores 2,924,184.52
Hardware, Paints, Oils,
Varnishes, Etc. 1,383,751.03
Jewelry Stores 601,028.89
Leather, Leather Goods, Etc 532.94
Machinery & Rd. B'lding Supplies 165,062.76
Second-Hand Goods Stores 16,459.21
Sporting Goods Stores 112,714.70
Variety—5 & 10 Spec. Stores 1,806,140.73
Others 126,272.72
TOTAL : $13,893,957.76
Lumber and Building Materials Group
Building and Const. Contractors-..$ 109,488.21
Building Hardware & Mac. Stores 44,606.34
Building Material Dealers 1,305,467.17
Electrical & Plumbing Contractors 54,205.65
Electrical & Plumb'g Sup. Dealers 1,295,015.50
Individual Property Owners 706.75
Others __ ._ 68,936.89
TOTAL $ 2,878,426.51
Unclassified Group
Beauty & Barber Shops $ 55,173.45
Book Stores, Stat., School
Supplies, Etc. -__ 136,679.46
Cigar Stores & News Stands 796,728.08
Coal, Wood, Fuel and Ice Dealers.. 722,413.94
Feed Stores & Grain Supplies 87,954.64
Florists & Nurseries 188,204.83
Monuments & Tomb. Dealers________ 2,963.56
Mules, Horse & Cattle Dealers...- 18.46
Office Supplies 149,610.51
Undertakers & Funeral Parlors— 149,520.94
All others not elsewhere specified 924,242.58
TOTAL $ 3,213,510.45
Grand Total Retail Groups $38,469,140.01
Wholesale Group
Automobile and Trucks $ 43,797.41
Auto Parts, Batteries, Tires, Etc... 64,490.77
Beer 23,715.58
Building Materials 17,030.67
Clothing 3,669.49
Gross
Retail Sales*
2,108,493
36,120,834
18,873,831
$490,554,899
£ 3,777,188
4,597,121
1,366,792
346,092,785
16,807,808
70,276,133
656,565
$443,574,392
$ 91,739,259
24,270,574
10,479,262
10,090,157
7,082,199
$143,661,451
$146,182,439
65,061,269
25,053,942
49,044,714
139,914,051
56,213,111
22,439,048
36,791
11,085,778
570,698
5,268,160
63,778,474
5,309,380
$589,957,855
19,013,789
3,193,819
98,276,799
2,368,006
57,552,013
35,840
4,630,859
$185,071,125
2,106,520
7,236,026
28,925,385
27,676,784
13,513,418
6,972,389
323,523
1,015
7,931,121
6,570,230
48,700,032
$149,956,443
$2,137,223,018
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 87
Gross
Type of Business Collections
Cotton Merchant 10.00
Drugs . 10,746.69
Dry Goods .. 5,659.56
Elect. Plumb. Sup. & Equip. 40,571.78
Furniture 14,660.71
General Merchandise 12,834.44
Grocery & Other Food Products.... 174,926.86
Hardware, Farm Implem. Etc.— 34,450.69
Machinery & Mill Supplies ... 31,112.62
Petroleum Products .. 71,034.89
Tobacco, Candies, etc.... 23,220.59
Others .. 73,161.34
TOTAL $ 645,094.09
Use Tax
Use Tax . $ 1,330,141.71
Branch Agencies' Collections Use
Tax on Motor Vehicles... 231,241.04
TOTAL $ 1,561,382.75
Grand Total Retail, Whole-sale
and Use Tax... .....$40,675,616.85
Gross
Retail Sales*
ANALYSIS OF SALES AND USE TAX COLLECTIONS BY
CITIES WITH POPULATION IN EXCESS OF 10,000 FOR
FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 1948 THROUGH JUNE 30, 1949.
Cities
Asheville
Burlington
Charlotte
Concord _....
Durham _
Elizabeth City.
Fayetteville
Gastonia
Goldsboro
Greensboro
Greenville
Hickory
High Point
Kannapolis
TOTAL _____
Gross Coll. Cities Gross Coll.
1,508,180.44 Kinston . _.$ 415,972.76
625,226.44 Lexington 242,395.65
3,982,675.78 New Bern 373,079.17
372,841.03 Raleigh 1,794,876.38
1,510,871.89 Reidsville _. _.__ 213,874.30
279,406.95 Rocky Mount .. 651,575.86
889,407.78 Salisbury _. 595,847.65
682,112.33 Statesville .. 350,091.78
541,377.38 Shelby 345,934.60
2,015,160.05 Thomasville -_. 137,681.58
347,153.32 Wilmington .. 1,086,707.03
483,747.91 Winston-Salem.... 1,921,269.49
705,463.90 Wilson . 430,079.40
393,028.30
$22,896,039.15
*Total taxable and non-taxable sales as reported monthly on
sales tax report forms.
Trading Paths, Packs, in Early Merchandising in State
By William S. Powell, Researcher, N. C. Department of Archives and History
There is one phase of merchandising not only in
North Carolina but throughout most of the United
States which has changed but little during the past
100 years or more. That is the country store. While
our churches, schools, and family life have been
acted upon by, and reacted to, "progress" many of
our country stores have gone along doing business
very much as they did in the days of our great grand-fathers
or earlier. Some, to be sure, have added
electric lights, but most of those which have them
have nothing fancy, just a plain bulb hanging by
two wires from a fly-specked ceiling. Occasionally
there is an electric icebox but as often as not ice is
kept packed away in sawdust in a little shed to one
side of the store. For heat in winter there is a cast-iron
potbellied stove resting in a little square of
sand ; some of the windows may have rusty iron bars
to keep out prowlers, but most of them have heavy
wooden shutters.
Even the country store did not spring up full-grown
in America. It evolved from the trading ex-perience
of merchants who had done business in the
New World almost since its discovery. And from
the country store have grown our modern depart-ment
stores, super-markets, and a host of others.
Indeed, in many cases, modern towns and cities owe
their origin to a rural store haply situated by the
banks of a navigable stream, at a crossroad, or along
the line of a railroad.
Merchants of London, Bristol, York, and other
English cities early began to invest capital in foreign
trade. It was, to a large extent, these investments
which made possible the formation of the Virginia
Company which established the first permanent Eng-lish
settlement in the New World. Merchant groups
earlier had assisted Sir Walter Raleigh in his ill-fated
attempts to settle Roanoke Island in 1585-87.
London merchants risked their capital in aiding the
Pilgrims to settle the colony of Plymouth in 1620 and
an association of merchants living in and about Dor-chester,
England, was responsible for the organiza-tion
of the colony of Massachusetts.
TRADE WITH VIRGINIA—ENGLAND
Quite early in the seventeenth century Virginians
became interested in the territory lying south of
them and soon explored the region around the Chowan
River and found it very fruitful. By 1657 this ter-ritory
and that along the Albemarle Sound was being
settled. In 1653 a young man from Virginia, "a
trader for beavers," had gone to "Rhoanoke."
By the end of the century Carolina was a region
to be reckoned with. In 1695 it was proposed that
the northern part of the colony be placed under the
"care and inspection" of the governor of Virginia to
prevent the shipping of tobacco grown there through
the inlets of Currituck and Roanoke without paying
duties.
Trade between North Carolina and England flour-ished
and on July 18, 1715, a group of merchants
trading in the colony described it as a "hopeful . . .
province," and reported that it had "for many years
taken off . . . much of our English Manufactures,
and brought ... a large Revenue to the Crown by
the Dutys upon Rice, Skins, pitch Tar and other
Naval Stores & Commoditys imported from thence,
and yet from the first Settlement of it, not put the
Crown to one penny Expence."
EASTERN N. C. MERCHANTS
Among the early eighteenth-century merchants of
eastern Carolina were "Thos Swann of ye prcinct of
pascotank," "Jno. Blish & Comp,." "Joseph Boone
merchant," "Wm. Bell of Corratuck Merchant,"
"Jno. Newman," and "Henry Speller." Thomas
PAGE 88 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY SUMMER-FALL, 1949
Peterson operated as a representative of Thomas
Bayfield and the New Pennsylvania Company. Other
merchants seem to have had close connections with
Boston firms; for example, in 1711 Richard Norton,
a tailor of Currituck precinct, purchased goods from
Thomas Handry, a Boston merchant, while a few
years later Nath : Perkins and Sam Holland, both of
Boston, brought suits in Carolina courts to collect
sums due them.
Perhaps the outstanding trade of these early years
was with the Indians. In the seventeenth century
a trading route was developed between Petersburg,
Virginia, and the Catawba and Waxhaw Indians in
the vicinity of and south of present-day Mecklen-burg
County. This trading route cut diagonally
across what is now the state of North Carolina and
undoubtedly contributed to the settlement of the back
country. In 1715, however, during the war with the
Indians, this trade was looked upon with disfavor.
Eastern Carolinians suspected the Virginians of sell-ing
guns and gunpowder to the Indians without re-gard
for the welfare of the distressed Carolinians.
INDIAN TRADE CARAVANS
William Byrd wrote about 1728 that generally in
carrying on ordinary trade with the Indians it was
customary for "Gentlemen" to "send for Goods prop-er
for such a Trade from England, and then either
Venture them out at their own Risk to the Indian
Towns, or else credit some Traders with them of
Substance and Reputation, to be paid in Skins at a
certain Price agreed betwixt them.
"The goods for the Indian Trade," Byrd wrote,
"consist chiefly in Guns, Powder, Shot, Hatchets,
(which the Indians call Tomahawks,) Kettles, red
& blue Planes, Duffields, Stroudwater blankets, and
some Cutlary Wares, Brass Rings and other Trinkets.
"These Wares are made into Packs and carry'd
upon Horses, each load being from 150 to 200 Pounds,
with which they are able to travel about 20 Miles
a day, if Forage happen to be plentiful.
"Formerly a Hundred Horses have been employ'd
in one of the Indian Caravans, under the Conduct of
15 or 16 Persons only, but now the Trade is much
impair'd, insomuch that they seldom go with half
that Number."
STORE ON ROANOKE RIVER
Certainly by the middle of the eighteenth century,
and probably much earlier, stores more or less as
we understand them today were plentiful through
eastern Carolina and not uncommon in some places
in the back country. In 1753 John Saunders, of
Suffolk, Virginia, set out on a journey which even-tually
took him to the new county of Orange on the
North Carolina frontier. He was seeking a suitable
location to open a store, a branch of the store in
Nansemond County, Virginia, owned by the Hamil-tons
of Glasgow, Scotland. At Hick's Plantation
near Ragland's ferry on the Roanoke River, Saun-ders
found a likely site.
"Viewed the Store," Saunders wrote, which Hick
"offerd to lett me and liked the Situation and build-ings
verry well and Came to an Agreement with him
on the following terms Viz that if I fixed a Store
there he should find me a Small fiat to Cross the River
with and make such other alterations in the build-ings
as I should think necessary and stand to all
Repairs and having lett the Dwelling h. and kitchin
to a man for a year I am to give him if I sett out a
Store five pound Currency for the use of the Store
&c the first year and for the whole Plantation yearly
afterwards 12£ Stl. to be paid in goods at the first
Cost, the two first years Rent to be laid out in such
improvements as I shall think proper. He also has
given me till the first Tuesday in December to con-sider
of it and has promised not to lett it to any other
till he has my answer."
Away from the coastal towns there were few set-tlements
of any size and most of the stores in the
back country were scattered and therefore faced
little competition. Most of the merchants were cen-tered
in the vicinity of Edenton, New Bern, and Wil-mington,
while several kept shop on the Cape Fear
at Cross Creek. From these merchants shopkeepers
in the back country frequently bought their stock.
As often as not, however, supplies for their stores
came from Petersburg, Virginia, or Charleston,
South Carolina.
MERCHANTS IN OTHER ACTIVITIES
A few of the merchants were agents for men in
Great Britain and elsewhere, but most of them,
especially in the Albemarle, Neuse, and Cape Fear
regions, were independent. The largest house operat-ing
in the Albemarle, however, if indeed not any-where
in the southern provinces, was that of John
Hamilton and Company. Formed in 1763, the com-pany's
principal stores were in Nansemond County,
Virginia, and at Elk Marsh, some six miles west of
the town of Halifax, in North Carolina, where two
great roads leading from the back country came
together. In addition to these stores the firm operat-ed
many others which, in North Carolina, stretched
from the Virginia line to the Cape Fear, and also
into the back country.
A merchant in those days was not a specialist but
instead engaged in a variety of undertakings. Be-sides
importing and selling assorted goods, he
operated both ocean-going and smaller craft, loaned
money, bought, sold, rented, and cultivated planta-tions,
and bought and shipped local produce includ-ing,
especially in the early days, large quantities of
furs and skins.
The stock of the average store might consist of
such a variety of articles as sugar, coffee, and tea,
clothing, shoes, and hats, tools and machinery, pots
and pans, and books and musical instruments. Com-modities
produced locally were not likely to be found
for sale in the store as they were readily obtainable
elsewhere.
EARLY STORES WERE CRUDE
A store in the western part of North Carolina was
described in 1770 as being "a poorly-built, one-story
log house, with one living room; the log sales-room
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 89
adjoining it is of medium size. Above both there is
no regular ceiling but loose boards are laid across
the rafters so that boxes can be stored there. Near
by is a shed with a board roof supported on posts,
the sides made of slabs ; here hides, tobacco, iron, salt,
etc. are stored." This crude store, however, served
the needs of the people for miles around. It carried
in stock pins, shoe-buckles, combs, buttons, tea, cof-fee,
sugar, flax, cotton and wool, nails, rope, window
glass and "indeed all kinds of necessaries."
With the coming of the American Revolution and
the serious problem of inflation the situation chang-ed.
Both goods and money with any reasonable value
became scarce. The value of skins declined and some
of the stores in the western region reverted to the
old system of barter. Salt was an especially dear
commodity.
When a merchant was found who was willing to
accept the near-worthless paper money his stock was
soon exhausted. The purchaser seldom accepted
money in change; instead he took it in thread or
needles, in leather or some other item in stock at
the store.
SALEM STORE PROSPERED
The store in Salem, in the Moravian settlement,
seems to have steered a smooth middle course. It
engaged in barter generally, but did not refuse paper
money. That money, however, was spent for more
goods as rapidly as possible. By carefully canvass-ing
the length and breadth of the land the store's
stock was kept at a relatively high level. At various
times goods were brought in from Pennsylvania,
Virginia, South Carolina and the towns of New Bern,
Hillsboro, Cross Creek, Wilmington, and Edenton
and from Bladen County, in North Carolina. Cus-tomers
at the store, in turn, came from almost as
broad a territory. Virginians seem to have been
regular customers and military commanders not in-frequently
called for supplies and equipment.
Immediately after the Revolution one of the Mo-ravians
observed: "It cannot be denied that this
country is in the condition of a patient convalescing
from fever, who begins to be conscious of his weak-ness
and still needs medicine and care. The land
itself, the people of property, commerce, public and
private credit, the currency in circulation, all are
laid waste and ruined."
Within a year of the end of the Revolution North
Carolina's trade reached larger proportions than
ever before. Recovery was rapid and "the increased
and increasing trade of this State" was worthy of
note. In a few brief years the merchants of Phila-delphia,
New York, and New England were compet-ing
keenly for the trade of New Bern.
EVERY TEAMSTER A TRADER
Although it probably is impossible to know for
certain, it seems to have been about this time that
that great American institution, the traveling sales-man,
came into his own. Called "traders" at first,
and more recently "peddlers" and "drummers," these
men early began to fill a real need in the commercial
life of the state. During the Revolution the scarcity
of goods and the high prices were so tempting that
"every teamster became a trader," it was said in
1777. A teamster from Maryland passing through
Salem that year purchased "a barrel of sugar and
some pounds of pepper, which he took to Maryland
to sell at a profit." In 1780 two traders asked to be
allowed to display their wares before the Moravians
for three or four days. Before long these special
salesmen were making regular appearances on the
various festive occasions—court week, militia mus-ter,
and election day. Long trips were not unusual
for these men. In 1820 Henry Guy of Johnston
County was reported "absent in the western part of
this state selling goods and is not expected to return
for some time to come."
As an example of the expanding trade it is inter-esting
to note what items a store offered for sale.
In 1808 one store listed: "Tobacco, raw and pre-pared
in all ways; molasses; cheese; tar; oil and
fish-oil ; soap ; candles ; pomade ; brushes of all kinds
raisins; almonds, and sweetmeats; Neuremburg
toys; cow-nuts; salt fish of all kinds; paint, and
needles; turpentine; black glass bottles; colored
paper ; pencils of al Ikinds ; corks ; Scotch snuff ; olive
oil; fans; pocket mirrors; hog bristles; tambours;
needle cases; black arsenic; marbles fish hooks;
burning-glasses tooth brushes ; lacquered paste-board
articles ; shoe wax ; pieces of wax ; blank books, rosin
;
paper made elsewhere, for instance drawing and
music paper; paper hangings; West Indian fruit;
rice."
By 1819 this same store had begun to sell house-hold
and kitchen supplies.
COUNTRY STORE DEVELOPS
It was about this time, it seems, that the country
store began to show signs of developing into the now
old-fashioned country store not yet gone from the
face of the earth. It became a favorite gathering
place for the idle and the curious; it was an im-portant
social center. Frequently militia musters
were held nearby and on election day boxes were set
up to receive ballots.
The merchant, along with the farmer, was refer-red
to by editors and political leaders as "the sub-stantial
citizenry." His was an important place in
the community. The credit he granted kept not only
the small farmer, but some larger ones as well, the
mechanic, and the professional man in business
through bad seasons. By 1860 there were in North
Carolina 3,479 merchants including grocers, drug-gists,
inn-keepers, traders, and bankers.
After the Civil War many merchants no longer
were content to clutter their stores with saddles and
fine silks, with cracker barrels and wooden boxes of
plug tobacco. They began to specialize—to sell silks
and satins and imported gowns, or to stock only
carpets and furniture, or nails and hinges and win-dow
glass. Others, however, stuck to their guns and
even today it is possible to find stores not very dif-
( Continued on page 117)
PAGE 90 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1949
North Carolina Home Base of Large Department Stores
North Carolinians justifiably point with satisfac-tion
and pride at the several huge department store
groups which had their origin in North Carolina and
have overflowed into other states. In at least three
instances, farm boys started with nothing, not even
a high schood education, and through sheer diligence,
thrift, and the acquisition of know-how through trial
and error, have developed far-flung and remarkably
successful mercantile organizations.
Notable among these are William Henry Belk,
Joseph B. Efird and Joseph B. Ivey, all of whom have
most assuredly won the titles of merchant princes.
Their careers bear complete evidence that money in
quantity is not required to start and build a large
and thriving business.
Their experiences and the extent of their achieve-ments
are recounted in the items that follow, along
with records of younger department store or junior
department store operations in North Carolina.
BELK STORES
Charlotte, N. C.
Belk's, starting with a little store containing 2,000
square feet in Monroe on May 29, 1888, has develop-ed
into North Carolina's largest department store
group and into the largest group of stores in the
South.
While Belk stores are opening rapidly, the latest
count showed that 278 Belk stores are operating in
13 States, each store a separate corporation in each
of which William Henry Belk, the founder, is a
heavy stockholder and an officer. Belk stores are to
be found in many cities and towns in North Caro-lina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Maryland, Vir-ginia,
Ohio, Florida and Arkansas.
The Belk organization maintains three large buy-ing
offices, one at Charlotte, one at Los Angeles,
Architect's sketch of the Belk-Broome Go. store at Morganton,
one of the Belk Department Stores, opened for
business in September.
California, and the other in New York City. Man-agers
and buyers of the various Belk stores visit
these buying centers frequently, making their pur-chases
well in advance to suit the types of trade in
their respective areas.
The Belk group had its beginning in Monroe in
which about two clerks were employed. William
Henry Belk, founder, was born near Waxhaw in
Union County in 1862. His father was a casualty of
the War Between the States and left three sons, all
under six years of age. His mother, on whose judg-ment
and advice he leaned for many years, reached
the ripe old age of 96, death coming in 1932. Coming
up in the lean post-war years, Young Henry Belk
early displayed the traits of character, honesty, in-tegrity
and enterprise, upon which his vast organ-ization
has been built.
In 1878, when he was 16 years of age, Mr. Belk
became a clerk in the B. D. Heath Dry Goods Store
in Monroe at a salary of $5.00 a month and in the
first three months saved $14.85. In the next 11 years
the salary was increased to $40 a month and his
position was that of actual head of the store. The
next year, having saved $750, he decided to go into
business for himself. He borrowed $500, on which
he paid ten percent interest.
At the end of the year 1888, after seven months of
operation, Mr. Belk had repaid the borrowed money,
paid all rents, clerk hire and other expenses and had
a clear profit of $3,300. In 1891, Mr. Belk persuaded
his brother, Dr. John Montgomery Belk, born in
1863, whom he had assisted with his medical edu-cation
and who had established a practice in nearby
Anson County, to join him in the mercantile venture.
Dr. Belk continued as an active member of the firm,
which then became Belk Brothers Co., until his death
in 1928.
The first outside unit opened was Klutzz and Belk,
Chester, S. C, in 1893, and the second unit, Harry
and Belk, was opened in Union, S. C, in 1894.
During the next year the turn of events in the
Belk organization meant much to the State of North
Carolina. W. H. Belk had an urge to cast his lot in
Texas. He went to Houston, surveyed the area and
found a building which he could acquire satisfac-torily.
He returned home to consult with his mother
;
she discouraged the move to Texas. As an alterna-tive,
Mr. Belk suggested that they move to Charlotte
and establish a home and headquarters in that city.
His mother agreed and the Charlotte store was open-ed
in 1895, and in Charlotte is located the headquar-ters
for the vast Belk organization.
The Charlotte store today is the result of several
expansions through the years. The building is six
stories high, 75 x 400 feet and extends all the way
through the block from East Trade to East Fifth
Street. This is a complete and thoroughly modern
department store and like most of the other Belk
stores contains a beauty parlor, a shoe repair shop,
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 91
Modem Hudson-Belk store in Raleigh, a leading eastern North
Carolina department store.
a photo shop and other extra departments. The
nearly 190,000 square feet and more than 500 work-ers
in this store are a great contrast to the 2,000
square feet and two clerks, with which Mr. Belk
started his business 61 years ago. Today more peo-ple
shop in a single day in Belk's Charlotte store than
lived in North Carolina in 1895.
Today William Henry Belk, 87 years of age, is
more active and energetic in handling the huge busi-ness
he has developed than many men much younger.
He is president of all of the North Carolina affiliated
stores corporations and is an officer in all of the
affiliates in the other 12 States in which Belk stores
are now found. It has been a Belk trait to watch for
bright, capable young men, usually from rural areas,
and bring them into the organization. As they have
developed, he has made them managers and officers
of the many Belk stores and corporations.
Key men, all North Carolinians, who have been
trained the Belk way and have become important
officials in the Belk organization, include H. G. Leg-gett,
Lunchburg, Va. ; Fred B. Leggett, Danville, Va.
;
Robert A. Leggett, South Boston, Va. ; E. O. Hudson,
Orangeburg, S. C. ; Karl G. Hudson, Raleigh ; B.
Frank Matthews, Charlotte; J. H. Matthews, Gas-tonia;
E. Colin Lindsey, Ocala, Fla. ; W. H. B. Simp-son,
Greenville, S. C. ; George W. Dowdy, Charlotte
Dr. W. D. Simpson, Greenville, S. C. ; J. W. Hens-dale,
Fayetteville ; P. P. Scarboro, Wadesboro; Ray
W. Cline, Concord; A. F. Stevens, Winston-Salem;
K. W. Broome, Hickory; W. E. Gallant, Anderson,
S. C. ; J. G. Hudson, Spartanburg, S. C. ; Arthur L.
Tyler, Rocky Mount.
Dr. John R. Cunningham, president of Davidson
College, at a banquet given four years ago by the
Charlotte Chamber of Commerce in honor of W. H.
Belk, said that, "his achievements rest on his charac-ter"
and further that "his character is the product
of his Christian faith". It is estimated that at least
300 churches have been assisted in their building
program and church activities through the individual
gifts of Mr. Belk and those made through the "John
M. Belk Memorial Fund", which he established in
1928 in honor of his brother and long time associate.
He and his brother established a great hospital in
Taichow, China, "The Sarah Walkup Memorial Hos-pital",
in memory of their mother. Mr. Belk has
been a member of the Presbyterian Church since his
young manhood and has been a consistent and faith-ful
church worker.
The basis of the Belk success has been the opera-tion
of the democratic principle in all Belk activities.
All Belk stores operate under profit sharing plan for
all workers, with certain requirements as to length
of service. Hospitalization is provided for all em-ployees
and life insurance policies are carried on
key personnel in the organization with retirement
plan at age 60, in addition to the Old Age and Sur-vivors
Insurance as provided by the Federal Gov-ernment.
In 1915 Mr. Belk married Miss Mary Irwin, who
has been active in church, civic and patriotic organ-izations.
Mr. and Mrs. Belk have five sons and one
daughter, all of whom have grown up in the store
and have assumed important executive positions. The
late Dr. John M. Belk had seven daughters, all of
whom are stockholders in the various Belk corpora-tions
and some assist in directing the activities of
certain stores.
As stated, W. H. Belk is president of all of the
North Carolina units and an official in all units in
other States. This includes units which contain the
Belk name as well as others without the Belk name,
such as Leggett's and Hudson's.
W. H. Belk, Jr., is a vice-president in charge of
the financial interest of the Belk stores; John M.
Belk is a director in charge of personnel ; Irwin Belk
is a director in charge of the Belk investments ; Hen-derson
Belk, a director, who went on a bridal trip
to Europe the past summer, recently opened a new
store in Thomasville, Ga. ; Thomas M. Belk, a direc-tor,
is an executive in the Belk Buying Service ; Sarah
W. Belk is an executive in women's wear.
The spirit of competition is strong among the 278
Belk units, both in buying stock of goods at advan-tageous
prices and in selling goods in their respective
overlapping area. This spirit of competition and the
high Belk standards of merchandising keep all of
the Belk managers and their personnel on their toes
and these conditions contribute much to the remark-able
success of the Belk units.
Locations and names of the Belk Stores in North
Carolina are as follows : Aberdeen, Belk-Hensdale
Ahoskie, Belk-Tyler; Albemarle, Belk's; Asheboro,
Hudson-Belk; Asheville, Belk's, Fain's and B & J
Department Store ; Belmont, Belk-Matthews ; Boone,
Belk's ; Brevard, Belk's ; Bryson City, Belk's ; Bur-lington,
Belk-Beck ; Canton, Hudson's ; Charlotte,
Belk Brothers, Belk's Basement and College Street;
Cherryville, Belk-Matthews ; China Grove, Belk-Cline
;
Clinton, Belk-Williams ; Concord, Belk's; Draper,
Belk-Cline; Dunn, Belk's; Durham, Belk-Leggett
Edenton, Belk-Tyler; Elizabeth City, Belk-Tyler;
Elkin, Belk-Doughton ; Farmville, Belk-Tyler ; Fay-etteville,
Belk-Hensdale; Forest City, Belk-Logan;
PAGE 92 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY SUMMER-FALL, 1949
Franklin, Belk's; Gastonia, Matthews-Belk ; Golds-boro,
Belk-Tyler ; Greensboro, Belk's and B & M De-partment
Store; Greenville, Belk-Tyler; Hamlet,
Belk's; Henderson, Leggett's; Hendersonville, Belk-
Simpson; Hickory, Belk-Broome; High Point, Belk-
Stevens ; Jackson, Leggett's ; Kannapolis, Belk's and
Belk's Bargain; Kings Mountain, Belk's; Kinston,
Belk-Tyler; Laurinburg, Belk's; Leaksville, Belk-
Cline and Boulevard Store; Lenoir, Belk's; Lexing-ton,
Belk-Martin; Lincolnton, Belk-Schrum; Louis-burg,
Leggett's; Lumberton, Belk-Hensdale ; Madi-son,
Belk-Cline; Marion, Belk-Broome; Marshall,
Belk-Broome ; Monroe, Belk Brothers, Inc. ; Moores-ville,
Belk's; Morganton, Belk-Broome; Mt. Airy,
Belk's; Mt. Gilead, Belk-Cline; New Bern, Belk's;
Newton, Belk-Brumley ; N. Wilkesboro, Belk's; Ox-ford,
Leggett's; Plymouth, Belk-Tyler; Raeford,
Belk-Hensdale; Raleigh, Hudson-Belk; Randleman,
Belk-Yates ; Red Springs, Belk-Hensdale ; Reidsville,
Belk-Stevens ; Roanoke Rapids, Leggett's; Robbins,
Belk-Cline ; Rockingham, Belk's ; Rocky Mount, Belk-
Tyler; Roxboro, Leggett's; Rutherfordton, Belk's;
Salisbury, Belk-Harry; Sanford, Williams-Belk
;
Shelby, Belk-Stevens; Siler City, Belk-Yates; Smith-field,
Hudson-Belk; Sparta, Belk's; Spruce Pine,
Belk-Broome ; Statesville, Belk's ; Sylva, Belk's ; Tar-boro,
Belk-Tyler; Thomasville, Hudson-Belk; Troy,
Belk-Cline; Valdese, Belk-Broome; Wadesboro,
Belk's; Warrenton, Leggett's; Washington, Belk-
Tyler; Waynesville, Belk-Hudson; W. Jefferson,
Belk's; Whiteville, Belk-Hensdale; Williamston,
Belk-Tyler; Wilmington, Belk-Williams and X De-partment
Store ; Wilson, Belk-Tyler ; Winston-Salem,
Belk-Stevens.
EFIRD'S DEPARTMENT STORES
Charlotte, N. C.
Efird's Department Stores, with headquarters in
Charlotte and operating 52 units, largely in North
and South Carolina, has developed into one of the
largest groups of department stores in the southeast
since members of the Efird family started their
mercantile careers soon after the turn of the century.
In fact, the development of the huge group of Efird
Stores by half a dozen Efird brothers, is a saga that
reads more like a Horatio Alger story than the de-velopment
of a great mercantile establishment.
John E. Efird, father of these boys, owned a large
farm in Burnsville Township, Anson County, where
each of these boys served his apprenticeship in farm-ing
as he grew up. In the winter months, these boys
attended school in a one room shanty in the neigh-borhood.
Their mother, determined that her chil-dren
should receive the rudiments of an education,
rented a house in Palmersville, 30 miles away, fur-nished
it and carried with them a cow. She kept
house while the children attended school in the vil-lage.
Each Saturday their father brought a load of
wood and provisions for the next week, spending
Sunday with his family. This continued for two
years from October to April. Meanwhile, a good
Entirely modern and modernistic in many of its appointments
is this large Efird Department Store in Charlotte.
school had opened in Wadesboro, 17 miles away, and
the third year similar arrangements were made for
the children to attend school there.
Joseph B. Efird, second son to enter the business
and chief promoter of the organization of the Efird
stores, got a job as clerk in a country store on Sat-urdays
when he was 15 years old and was fascinated
with his new job. Meanwhile, Hugh Martin Efird,
older son, had clerked in a store just across the line
in South Carolina. When the owner died he was
selected to close out the business for the widow. She
was so pleased that she made him a present of $1,000.
With this money, H. M. Efird went to Charlotte,
bought a small interest in the Racket Store, later
the Bee Hive, on the corner of East Trade Street, at
College Street.
When J. B. Efird was 19 years of age, H. M. Efird
sent for him and gave him a job in the store at $15
a month. After six months an epidemic in Charlotte
caused him to be laid off. He returned home for six
months and then returned to the store at the same
salary. In fact, J. B. Efird worked with the store
for $15 a month for two years before he got a raise.
Because of the other stockholders his brother did
not increase his salary, although he was selling rings
around older clerks drawing much higher wages.
But J. B. Efird was learning the business. About the
same time another brother, Edmund L. Efird, went to
work for the firm.
Then, in 1907, J. B. and E. L. Efird, with $1,000
they had saved, opened the first Efird store in Con-cord.
They marked their goods in plain figures, sold
at one price and for cash, and in a very short time
had developed a splendid business.
Meanwhile, H. M. Efird had acquired additional
stock in the Bee Hive. He had visions of building a
much larger store and talked with the late W. C.
Wilkinson, president of the Merchants & Farmers
National Bank, about financing a new store. Mr.
Wilkinson was sympathetic, but asked young Efird
what would happen if he should die. He replied:
"J. B. knows more about merchandising than I'll
ever know. J. B. will carry on."
Before very long, in 1909, H. M. Efird did die and
J. B. Efird went to Charlotte to handle the business
there. Some of the stockholders were inclined to
close out the business, but J. B. Efird wanted to con-tinue.
Mr. Wilkinson, remembering what H. M.
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 93
Efird had said about his brother, loaned J. B. and
E. L. Efird money with which to buy a controlling
interest in the store. They changed the name to
Efird's Department Store. On the site of the old
Eee Hive, where three of the Efird brothers started
as merchants, is now located the Martin Department
Store, so named in honor of the memory of Hugh
Martin Efird.
Meanwhile, in 1910, Paul H. Efird entered the
firm and opened the third Efird store in Gastonia.
Others followed. In 1912 E. L. Efird opened the
Winston-Salem store and J. W Efird opened the
Rock Hill, S. C, store in 1913. John Ray Efird en-tered
the business in 1912 and by 1920 Efird stores
had been opened in 20 cities and towns.
The Efird brothers worked night and day, spent
little on themselves and continued to open stores as
enough money was saved to start additional units.
Only one of the Efird boys, Samuel M. Efird, re-mained
on the farm. Also, as the Efird stores pros-pered,
the father of these merchants was elected
vice-president of the parent organization and in his
later years he was able to relax and enjoy life.
The Efird Department Stores carry popular priced
and better merchandise and cater to all types of peo-ple,
including textile workers, wage earners and
farmers and, with one exception, sell for cash only.
All stores also carry all types of goods for the
home and for the family in their various well defined
departments. The exception to this general rule is
the large Charlotte Store. H. M. Efird, it will be
recalled, had plans for a modern high type depart-ment
store. He died before his plan could be de-veloped.
J. B. Efird, who took over when he died
and has continued to head the organization, decided
to make H. M. Efird's dream come true. In Char-lotte
he planned, erected and in 1923 opened one of
the most complete and modern department stores in
North Carolina.
The huge store, in the most central location in
the downtown shopping area on North Tryon Street,
has six large selling floors and a mezzanine contain-ing
beauty parlor, service department and offices.
It was one of the first stores in the south to have
escalators providing convenient easy travel to the
upper floors and for 25 years it was the only store
in Charlotte with this added facility, as well as a
full complement of elevators. The store handles a
great variety of merchandise including men's wo-men's
and children's clothing, yard goods, notions,
shoes, furniture, rugs and carpets, appliances, radio
and television, jewelry, silverware, houseware, china,
and gift items of many kinds.
Through the New York buying offices the store
has access to all the markets from New York to Cali-fornia
and abroad.
This Charlotte store is now in the midst of a great
remodeling program, including the opening last year
of its new fifth floor cafeteria which is one of the
most popular down town eating places, and the com-pletely
new remodeled second floor was opened in
September. Other floors are now in the process of
modernization.
As has been the case from the beginning, all Efird's
Department Stores are separate corporations. All
of the stock is owned by members of the Efird family.
Most of these corporations own their own store build-ings,
which stand out in the cities and towns in
which they are located.
The patience, diligence, thrift and hard work,
which are very evident characteristics of J. B. Efird,
have been and still are pronounced characteristics
of the brothers and of the second generation Efirds,
who are now assuming important places in the man-agement
and direction of the Efird Department
Stores. It is the policy of the organization to expand
operations as rapidly as real estate values settle to a
sound basis and merchandising conditions are favor-able.
Two stores have been opened recently in North
Carolina.
The Efird's Department Stores have approximate-ly
2,000 employees in North Carolina, with an annual
payroll of several million dollars and approximately
1,000 workers in stores outside of North Carolina.
The organization provides hospitalization, sickness
benefits, accident and life insurance plans for all
employees. There is also a retirement plan for em-ployees
through a profit sharing trust agreement
whereby a share of the profits are set aside for the
employees in a trust administered by the American
Trust Co., Charlotte.
Efird's Department Stores maintain a buying office
in Charlotte which purchases merchandise for all of
the Efird Stores and also maintains an office at 200
West 34th Street in New York City.
Joseph B. Efird is chairman of the board and is
just as active and as interested in the work of his
organization as he was when he started almost 50
years ago. He is the only survivor of the Efird
brothers who started this vast merchandising sys-tem
soon after the turn of the century. H. M. Efird
died in 1909 ; J. R. Efird, who was vice-president and
Section of the Shoe Department of Efird's Department
Store, Asheville.
PAGE 94 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-Fall, 1949
FOUR N. C. NATIVES ACHIEVE FAME AS MERCHANDISING LEADERS
William H. Belk Paul H. Rose Joseph B. Ivey Joseph B. Efird
manager of the Columbia, S. C, store, died in 1939
;
E. L. Efird, who had charge of the Winston-Salem
store for many years, died in 1945; and Paul H.
Efird, who had charge of the modern Charlotte store,
died in 1948.
Second generation Efirds, who have moved into
official positions wit hthe organization include J. B.
Efird, Jr., and Hugh Martin Efird, sons of J. B. Efird ;
John Ray Efird, Jr., son of J. R. Efird; Paul Efird,
Jr., and John E. Efird, sons of Paul H. Efird, who
have succeeded their father as managers of the big
Charlotte store since his death last fall ; and Jasper
W. Efird, Jr., who is in school, but will join the or-ganization
soon. These young Efirds give every
evidence of having what it takes to carry on the vast
Efird's Department Store organization which their
fathers founded.
J. B. Efird, while spending from 12 to 15 hours
daily in developing the Efird stores, has not found
time to play, although a member of three country and
city clubs in Charlotte, has devoted much time to
civic, religious, community and welfare work. He
has been active on Community Chest and Red Cross
boards, served for several years on the YMCA
board and as a YWCA trustee for more than 25
years. For more than 30 years he was treasurer of
the First Baptist Church of Charlotte, also serving
as chairman of the board of deacons and of the
finance committee. When the Myers Park Baptist
Church was organized, Mr. and Mrs. Efird donated
their beautiful home site of three to four acres and
valued at $60,000 to $75,000 as a site for the church,
now being erected at a cost in excess of $1,000,000.
Mr. Efird is a member of the board of deacons and
the building committee of this church. Mr. Efird
and his family a few years ago donated a library
building to Wingate Junior College. He has served
on the general board of the North Carolina Baptist
Convention and is a director of the North Carolina
Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem. He is a director
of the American Trust Co., Charlotte, and of several
textile corporations.
Locations of the 37 Efird's Department Stores in
North Carolina are as follows: Charlotte (2), Wil-mington,
Greenville, Raleigh, Winston-Salem (2),
Asheville, Salisbury, Durham, High Point, Gastonia,
Lumberton, Rocky Mount, Concord, Goldsboro, Mon-roe,
Lexington, Burlington, Wilson, Shelby, Albe-marle,
Statesville, Lenoir, Laurinburg, Greensboro,
Kannapolis, Kinston, Sanford, Smithfield, Rocking-ham,
Mount Airy, Fayetteville, Henderson, Hender-sonville,
Thomasville and Erwin.
J. B. IVEY & CO.
Charlotte, N. C.
J. B. Ivey & Co., 127-131 North Tryon Street,
Charlotte, is the parent organization and holding
company for the controlling stock for six large mod-ern
department stores operating in North Carolina,
South Carolina and Florida. The home unit and
largest of these separate corporations is the Ivey
Department Store in Charlotte, established in 1900.
Founder, president and principal figure in this
large mercantile corporation is Joseph Benjamin
Ivey, now 85 years old and still active in his mercan-tile
business, his many religious, civic, charitable
and humane activities and in his hobby, growing
beautiful flowers. J. B. Ivey, son of a circuit riding
Methodist preacher, was born in Shelby, June 8, 1864.
In 1900 Mr. Ivey and his brother, who was a silent
partner for a time, opened a small store, 20 feet
wide, on North Tryon Street, with four employees.
Their combined capital was $2500, of which $1000
was in borrowed money.
This proved a poor location and before the end of
the first year the store moved to 13 West Trade
Street. Soon additions were made to the store but
by 1914 it was outgrown and the Ivey store moved
into a new building, erected for the purpose, at 13
North Tryon Street. This building was four stories
high with a basement and had a frontage of 65 feet.
In 1924, Mr. Ivey and his associates moved into their
own building at the corner of North Tryon and West
Fifth Streets, the present location of Ivey's in Char-lotte.
In 1939, sixty feet were added to the rear of
the building and a program of modernization of each
floor was begun. The firm owns the area extending
through the block to North Church Street, and will
extend its building all the way to Church Street
whenever additional space is needed. The present
store building is 88 feet wide by 300 feet long, with
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 95
six floors including the basement, or a total floor
space of about 160,000 square feet. The Charlotte
store is already one of the largest in the southeast
and is probably the leading store in North Carolina.
In March, 1905, David Owens, then manager of
the local Kress Store, joined the Ivey organization
and was a dynamic force in the expansion of the
store. Mr. Owens has been vice-president and gen-eral
manager for many years. He is the former
president of the National Retail Dry Goods Asso-ciation
and has been a leader in civic and religious
activities in Charlotte for many years.
In 1929 W. T. Buice joined the firm and later be-came
the other vice-president. George M. Ivey, son
of the founder, joined the firm in 1920 and is secre-tary-
treasurer of the holding corporation. In 1935,
the Ivey organization began its expansion program.
The firm joined with Keith's Department Store in
Greenville, S. C, to form the Ivey-Keith Co., a lead-ing
department store in that city. In 1937, Ivey's
Inc., was opened in Asheville and is the leading de-partment
store in Western North Carolina. Later
Ivey's opened stores in Orlando and Daytona Beach,
Fla. This year another unit was added when the
firm acquired Taylor's in Raleigh. The Raleigh store
is now known as the Ivey-Taylor Co.
Officers of the parent firm, J. B. Ivey & Co., are
J. B. Ivey, president ; David Ovens and W. T. Buice,
vice-presidents, and George M. Ivey, secretary-treas-urer.
These are also the officers of the subsidiary
companies, except that in each local organization the
store manager is an executive vice-president. George
M. Ivey, Jr., son of the secretary-treasurer, is learn-ing
the business in the company's Greenville, S. C,
store. John Buice, son of the vice-president, is di-visional
merchandise manager for the first floor
departments in the Orlando store.
The parent company is capitalized at $2,225,000
and owns the controlling stock in all of the subsidiary
companies. About a year ago 25 percent of the stock
of J. B. Ivey & Co. was made available to the public
and was quickly purchased. The subsidiary com-panies
include Ivey-Keith Co., Greenville, S. C.
;
Ivey's, Inc., Asheville; Yowell-Drew-Ivey Co., Or-lando,
Fla., and Daytona Beach, Fla. ; Ivey Realty
Co., Charlotte, holding company for the Charlotte
store building and warehouses; Ivey-Land Co., Day-tona
Beach, which owns the store in Daytona Beach
;
and Ivey-Taylor Co., Raleigh. Jack Taylor, former
owner of Taylor's, is a director of the Raleigh and
parent companies. Managers and executive vice-presidents
of the five stores outside of Charlotte in-clude:
W. R. Chappell, Greenville; Ralph P. Grant,
Asheville ; James B. Keith, Orlando ; Paul A. Guthrie,
Daytona Beach, and M. C. Perrine, Raleigh.
Indicative of the popularity of the Ivey Stores is
the fact that last year the five units did business in
excess of $19,000,000. Each store is an independent
unit, has its own staff of buyers, its own office set-up
and its own credit manager who handles its accounts
individually in each store.
In the early days, J. B. Ivey did all of the buying,
but now there are approximately 150 individual buy-ers
for the six Ivey stores. Buying offices are main-tained
in New York City and Los Angeles, Califor-nia,
these offices being owned by the member stores,
which use them as headquarters for buyers in those
markets, and for reports on conditions in the mar-kets,
thereby guaranteeing the latest information on
new merchandise.
Reflecting the deep religious nature of J. B. Ivey,
all Ivey stores keep their display window shades
down on Sundays. No store advertising is carried
on Sundays. No work and no business travel is en-gaged
in on Sundays. Carrying his convictions fur-ther,
Mr. Ivey pioneered in early closing and shorter
days for his employees. No time clock and no sepa-rate
entrances are provided for employees. The
Charlotte Ivey store also pioneered in operating a
lunch room for its employees. All employees enjoy
paid vacations, group insurance is provided for em-ployees,
and commissions on sales, with regular
drawing accounts are provided for all sales people,
while non-sales employees receive annual bonuses.
Throughout his long life Mr. Ivey has been a lead-er
in religious, charitable, civic, patriotic and other
organizations. Only a few of his many activities
include: steward of the Methodist Church for 50
years, superintendent and teacher in the Sunday
School for 60 years, president N. C. Sunday School
Assiciation, delegate to nine Quadrennial General
Conferences of the Methodist Church, member
YMCA board, member Charlotte School Board, mem-ber
of board of trustees of Lake Junaluska Assembly
and numerous others.
Recently installed Sportsivear and Junior Department, second
floor, Ivey-Taylor Co., successor to Taylor's, Raleigh.
EXTRA COPIES—REPRINTS: A few copies of this
magazine are sent usually to all firms about which an
article is included. A reasonable number of extra copies
may be sent on request as long as they are available. Due
to heavy demands, we may not be able to fill all requests.
We are advised that our printer, Owen G. Dunn Co., New
Bern, N. O, is prepared to supply as many reprints of any
article in this issue as may be desired in single sheets,
folders or otherwise at reasonable cost and will submit
sample proofs and prices, if notified promptly—before
the type is thrown in.
PAGE 96 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1949
JOHNSON COTTON CO., INC.
Dunn, N. C.
The Johnson Cotton Co., parent corporation, with
headquarters at Dunn, and with eighteen stores in
North Carolina and two in South Carolina, in addi-tion
to two fertilizer manufacturing plants and six
cotton gins, had its beginning in a small general
merchandise store at Coats, Harnett County, in 1909.
Nathan M. Johnson, founder and president, was
only 17 years of age when he opened his little store
at Coats. A year later he moved to the larger town
of Dunn and continued his general store operations.
In 1921 he gave his firm the name "Johnson Cotton
Co." due to extensive dealing in cotton, cotton seed,
and cotton ginning. The business was still owned
by Mr. Johnson.
Johnson Cotton Co. was incorporated January 1,
1937, and associates of Mr. Johnson were permit-ted
to buy stock. Mr. Johnson continued to hold the
controlling interest in this corporation and has con-tinued
as its president.
Officers of the Johnson Cotton Co. are N. M. John-son,
president; W. J. Thompson and N. M. Johnson,
Jr., vice-presidents; W. G. Smith, secretary-treas-urer;
T. H. Sansom, chairman of board; and J. 0.
Warren, assistant secretary-treasurer. These offi-cers
form the Board of Directors and are stockhold-ers
in the parent organization and all the other indi-vidual
units.
All of these officers have grown up with the or-ganization.
Mr. Sansom joined Mr. Johnson in
1921 ; Mr. Thompson came with the firm September
1, 1933; Mr. Smith joined the organization January
1, 1934; N. M. Johnson, Jr., joined the organization
in 1934, and returned after a tour of duty with the
U. S. Navy during the war. Mr. Warren came with
the firm in 1936. I. R. Williams is attorney for the
organization.
Johnson Cotton Co. stores handle complete farm
and home supplies, including cotton, general mer-chandise,
hardware, furniture and home furnishings,
building materials, bottled gas and appliances, elec-trical
appliances, oil and coal-burning tobacco curers,
John Deere farm implements, and fertilizers manu-factured
by the two affiliated corporations, Johnson
Cotton Co., Dunn, and Josey Fertilizer Corp., Wil-mington.
Each store has a separate warehouse for
storing goods until they are needed for the retail
trade.
The South Carolina stores are located at Conway
and Lake City. James P. McAlpine is manager of
the Conway store, and B. H. Smith the manager of
the Lake City store.
Managers of the North Carolina stores, each a
separate corporation, and their location, are as fol-lows:
Wade Tart, Clarkton; C. E. Mallard, Fair-mont;
F. A. Dawson, Fayetteville ; Ernest C. Mc-
Lamb, Goldsboro ; Mrs. Lucy Long, Lillington ; John
Godfrey, Louisburg; H. K. Herlong, Lumberton; L.
W. Turner, Raeford; John Tulloss, Rocky Mount;
Clyde Gentry, Roxboro; Ivan Johnson, Sanford; N.
J. Dark, Siler City ; J. M. Tart, Smithfield ; L. B. Fus-sell,
Wallace; Lloyd Johnson, Wendell; Mrs. Myrtle
Davis, Wilmington ; Marvin Wade, Wilson.
LEDER BROTHERS, INC.
Whiteville, N. C.
Leder Brothers, Inc., with home offices and prin-cipal
store at Whiteville, was organized as a part-nership
and started its business of operating modern
department stores in 1925. The firm now has 12
complete units, 10 in North Carolina and one each
in South Carolina and Virginia.
Leder Brothers was founded 25 years ago by J.
Herman Leder and Morris Leder, who are still
active in increasing the services and extending the
business of the company. To facilitate the expan-sion
program, the firm was changed from a partner-ship
to a corporation in 1947. The officers are J.
Herman Leder, president; Morris Leder, vice-presi-dwent
and J. Paul Hatley, secretary-treasurer.
This firm, in each of its units, carries a full line
of clothing, shoes, piece goods and all other items
to be found in modern department stores. Complete
clothing needs are carried for all members of the
family and many nationally known brands of mer-chandise
are handled at economical prices.
During the past two years this firm has made ex-tensive
improvements in modernizing its facilities
for increased service and efficiency. The home and
parent store in Whiteville recently moved into new
and enlarged quarters with modern fixtures and
fully air-conditioned.
In its 12 stores Leder Brothers employs approxi-mately
250 people, practically all of them residents
of the communities in which the stores are located.
The slogan for all of the units is "Shop With Confi-dence
and Wear With Pride".
In addition to units at Marion, S. C, and Chase
City, Va., North Carolina unit locations and man-agers
are as follows : Whiteville, Home Office Super-vision;
Wilson, Leon Leder; Goldsboro, Morris
Leder ; Jacksonville, Sam Leder ; Clinton, Joe Leder
;
Smithfield, C. E. Williams; Plymouth, Julius Seger-man;
Rockingham, W. H. Jenkins; Concord, C. A.
Plyler.
THE SPAINHOUR STORES
North Wilkesboro, N. C.
The Spainhour group of six modern department
stores, with headquarters in North Wilkesboro, had
their beginning in a small wooden store in the cross-roads
community of Dellaplane in Wilkes County
in 1870, only five years after the close of the War
Between the States.
The late R. A. Spainhour, founder of the store,
related that for many years during the Reconstruc-tion
Period, during which the people were poor and
could get little money, most of his trade was carried
on by barter, rural people trading farm produce for
the merchandise they needed. The store operated
at Dellaplane was eight miles east of North Wilkes-
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 97
boro and 40 miles from Statesville, in which was
located the nearest bank and the closest railroad.
Goods were hauled by mule team and wagon from
Statesville to this rural store.
Later the store was moved to Moravian Falls and
still later to Wilkesboro, which had become the center
of a large trading area. When the railroad was built
by the Southern from Winston-Salem to a point
across the Yadkin River from Wilkesboro and the
newer North Wilkesboro at the end of the line
began its remarkable growth, another Spainhour
store was opened in the new town by J. E. Spainhour,
son, and E. B. Sydnor, brother-in-law, of J. E. Spain-hour.
This firm became Spainhour-Sydnor Co., as
it is today, although Mr. Sydnor is no longer a mem-ber
and is now president of the Richmond Dry Goods
Co., Richmond, Va. (Mr. Sydnor died Sept. 29, 1949.)
The Spainhour stores are still owned by members
of the family, although each is a separate corpora-tion.
The son of the founder, J. E. Spainhour, and
his four sons, W. R. Spainhour, Hickory; L. S. and
Roy Spainhour, North Wilkesboro, and E. S. Spain-hour,
Elkin, developed and expanded the stores. W.
R. Spainhour, Hickory, died in 1945, and Jack E.
Spainhour has since headed the Hickory store.
J. E. Spainhour is still active manager of the home
store at North Wilkesboro, where one of his sons is
active. The Sydnor-Spainhour Co. at Elkin was
established in 1926, with E. S. Spainhour in charge.
J. E. Coleman is manager of the Hickory store, the
Spainhour Co., opened in 1929. Spainhour's at
Statesville opened in 1942 and S. A. Black is man-ager.
The Morrisett Co., Winston-Salem was ac-quired
by the Spainhours in 1945 and P. L. Coleman
is manager. C. P. Rice is manager of the Lenoir
store, Spainhour's, opened in 1947.
All of the Spainhour stores are thoroughly mod-ern
and up-to-date, but the Hickory store is modern-istic
as well. Recently it has been enlarged and
renovated and takes its place as one of the fine stores
in North Carolina. A Hickory police officer, asked
directions to the Spainhour store, gave them and
added: "You can't miss it. It covers a large part
of the block." The letterheads carry "Spainhour's
—
Hickory's leading store" and "The Quality Store of
Specialized Shops".
wM^%^'\*;*\
WHITE'S STORES, INC.
Greenville, N. C.
White's Stores, with the main office in Greenville
and branches in five other North Carolina towns,
handle general merchandise and are generally classi-fied
as junior department stores.
Sam T. White, president and general manager,
organized and incorporated the firm in 1922 and has
long been one of the prominent merchants in eastern
North Carolina. Associated with him as officers are
William H. White, his son, secretary and treasurer,
and Mrs. Helen F. White, his wife, vice-president.
These officers and Charles A. White, form the board
of directors.
Sam T. White, the founder, serves as general man-ager
of the main store in Greenville. Other stores,
with their managers, are as follows: Washington,
A. J. Rector; Windsor, Gray Bland; Ahoskie, R. L.
Drake; Scotland Neck, R. J. Stogner; Mount Olive,
Thomas Lazarik.
In addition to the retail stores, this firm operates a
wholesale department which supplies all of White's
stores and numbers of other accounts in the eastern
section of the State.
Section of Lincolnton department store of B. 0. Moore & Sons,
Inc., headquarters in Wadesboro.
B. C. MOORE & SONS, INC.
Wadesboro, N. C.
B. C. Moore & Sons, Inc. with headquarters in
Wadesboro, operates 35 department stores located in
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Ala-bama.
The company was founded in 1923 as a partner-ship
composed of the late B. C. Moore and his four
sons and two daughters. Mr. Moore withdrew from
the business in 1931.
The firm operated as a partnership under the trade
name of B. C. Moore & Sons until 1946 when the
stores were incorporated with an authorized capital
stock of $1,250,000.00 under the trade name of B. C.
Moore & Sons, Inc. with headquarters at Wadesboro.
Recently the authorized capital stock was increased
to $2,250,000.00. The wholesale part of the firm was
incorporated with an authorized capital stock of
$1,000,000.00 under the trade name of Moore Bros.,
Inc., with headquarters at Cheraw, S. C.
Officers of the two corporations are: W. Bryan
Moore, Wadesboro, president; Bennett A. Moore,
Cheraw, S. C, first vice-president; H. King Moore,
Asheboro, second vice-president ; Col. Roy C. Moore,
Cheraw, third vice-president and secretary-treasur-er;
A. Rae Moore, Timmonsville, S. C, fourth vice-president;
Hawley C. Cobb, Wadesboro, assistant
secretary-treasurer.
During the past year in North Carolina, selling
space was doubled in the St. Pauls store by taking
(Continued on page 135)
PAGE 98 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY SUMMER-FALL, 1949
N. C. Has 42 Variety Chain Groups Owning 250 Stores
North Carolina has more than 250 stores classified
as variety stores, many of them also referred to as
junior department stores, which are members of
North Carolina owned and North Carolina operated
chain or group organizations. These are in addition
to many one-unit stores owned and operated in the
State and probably another hundred variety stores
which are members of chains or group organizations
owned outside the State.
It will doubtless be a revelation to most of the
citizens of the State to know that 42 variety store
organizations had their origins and have their head-quarters
in North Carolina and operate more than
250 stores in North Carolina. In addition, many of
these variety store organizations which are truly
North Carolina firms, also operate a hundred or more
variety stores in states outside North Carolina.
Largest of these North Carolina chain variety
store organizations is Rose's 5-10-25^ Stores, with
headquarters at Henderson, which operates 66 varie-ty
stores in North Carolina and 62 such stores in
other states. Other North Carolina organizations
operate from 18 on down to two units in the State and
many of these branch out into other states.
Listed on this page are stores which operate chains
or groups of stores from their bases in North Caro-lina.
This list includes all stores of record, except
those given additional space in brief articles below,
including generally the larger of the variety chain
stores.
ROSE'S 5-10-25^ STORES, INC.
Henderson, N. C.
Rose's 5-10-25^ Stores, with headquarters in Hen-derson,
is a North Carolina chain of variety stores
that has overflowed into four other States and is
continuing its program of expansion. This firm now
operates 128 stores, 66 of which are located in North
Carolina cities and towns.
Paul H. Rose, young business man, started this
large chain in 1915 when he purchased a stock of
variety merchandise and opened his first store in
Henderson. He and Mrs. Rose worked day and night
in preparation of this opening, which involved his
idea of an open display of the variety stock. The
business was an immediate success. During the next
year he opened a store at Oxford with his brother,
T. B. Rose, Jr., as manager and also opened stores
in Louisburg and Roxboro that year. All profits
from these stores were used to open new units by
this partnership.
Rose's 5-10-25^ Stores was incorporated May 1,
1927, with P. H. Rose as president and treasurer,
and T. B. Rose as vice-president and secretary. The
authorized capital was $250,000 with 7 per cent
cumulative preferred shares callable at 110. Exten-sive
common stock was sold giving the firm new
working capital.
VARIETY CHAIN STORES OWNED AND
OPERATED BY NORTH CAROLINIANS
(Others listed in accompanying article)
Asheboro—Jones Variety Stores, 122 Sunset Avenue, W.
A. Jones, owner, three stores.
Burgaw—Westbrook's 5^-$5.00 Stores, H. G. Westbrook,
owner, three stores.
Carthage—Lee's Stores, Inc., LeRoy Lee, president, five
stores.
Chapel Hill—Bruce's 5<J-$1.00 Stores, B. Whitmire, own-er,
six stores.
Charlotte—Crest Stores Co., 833 N. Tryon Street, I. H.
Madalia, president, six stores. Southern 5 & 10^ Stores,
219 N. Graham Street, Ben Jaffa, partner, eight stores.
China Grove—L. C. Variety Stores, Mrs. L. C. Pirie, owner,
two stores.
Durham—Marion 5<£ to $1.00 Stores, 302 S. Driver Ave-nue,
Marion D. Huggins, owner, seven stores. Paragon 5^
to $1.00 Stores, 744 9th Street, Tillman J. Mathes, owner,
two stores. United Department Stores, 114 E. Chapel Hill
Street, E. J. Evans, president, six stores.
Gastonia—Yearwood's 5, 10 & 25<f Stores, 1209 W. Frank-lin
Avenue, L. H. Yearwood, owner, two stores.
Greensboro—Lewis Variety Stores, Lewis Sutner, owner,
two stores. Moore's 5<?-$1.00 Stores, 402 State Street, I. R.
Moore, owner, two stores.
Hamlet—Cade's 5-10-25^ Stores, David F. Cade, owner,
three stores.
Hickory—Wallace, Inc., S. R. Wallace, president, five
stores.
Jacksonville—Jean's 5 & 10 ^ Stores, J. Shapiro, president,
two stores.
Kernersville—P. & N. 5 and 10 & Dept. Stores, Inc., H. C.
Porter, president, four stores.
Leaksville—De Hart 5<? to $1.00 Stores, N. V. De Hart,
owner, two stores.
Liberty—Ruth's 5^-$1.00 Stores, Thomas B. Smith, own-er,
two stores.
Morganton—Carolina 5-10-25^ Stores, Inc., West Union
Street, O. H. Pitts, president, six stores.
Pilot Mountain—M. A. Pickett's 5 & 10<J Stores, M. A.
Pickett, owner, two stores.
Raleigh—Spivey Stores, Inc., 117 E. Martin Street, M. R.
Spivey, president, two stores.
Rich Square—Bauham & Weaver Co., two stores.
Roxboro—Bruce's 5 ^-$1.00 Stores, Nina McC. Inman and
Frank M. Wright, partners, three stores.
Selma—Norton's 5^ to $5.00 Stores, Wilburn L. Norton,
owner, two stores.
Smithfield—J. E. Gregory & Co., J. E. Gregory, owner,
three stores.
Taylorsville—United Variety Stores, L. M. Hinshaw, own-er,
six stores.
Troy—United Stores, Mrs. M. Moscowitz, owner, four
stores.
Valdese—Becker's Variety Stores, Wm. T. Becker and
Mrs. W. H. Becker, partners, two stores.
Wadesboro—McConnell's 5 & 10^ Stores Co., W. R. Mc-
Connell, owner, five stores.
Waynesville—Stovall's 5-10-2 5^ Stores, George D. Stovall,
owner, four stores.
Wendell—Hunter's 5^-$1.00 Stores, Mrs. Kelly Hunter,
owner, two stores.
Wilmington—Winthrop's 5 & 10<? Stores, 719 N. 4th
Street, Winthrop Yeapanis, owner, five stores.
In 1935 the outstanding preferred stock was call-ed,
owners having an option of $110 a share or two
shares of common stock. Practically all accepted the
common stock. In that year 14 new stores were
started, giving a total of 87 stores and a large ware-house
was erected in Henderson, operating as the
Rose Merchandise Company. Again in 1937 five
shares of stock were issued for each outstanding
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 99
Asheboro variety store of Rose's 5-10-25^ Stores,
headquarters in Henderson.
share. In that year 102 stores were in operation
and the business approached $5,500,000.
During the war period expansion was slowed
down. In 1944 the charter was amended, increasing
the authorized capital stock to $2,500,000. All stock
was called and reissued at $10 a share instead of the
former $1.00 a share, thus increasing the par value
of the outstanding stock from $145,630 to $1,456,300.
The annual report as of December 1, 1948, showed
an earned surplus of $2,755,000. Last year the stores
showed sales of $17,581,000, net earnings of $937,000
and dividends of $291,000.
Rose's 5-10-25^'- Stores owns the buildings occupied
by its general offices, store and warehouse in Hen-derson
and also owns a few of the stores operated in
other cities and towns. It employs a total of more
than 3,000 employees in all of its units, approximate-ly
1600 of them in North Carolina. About 100 are
employed in the home office. The company main-tains
a buying office on Fifth Avenue, New York
City, under management of R. H. Martz, formerly a
store manager.
Officers of the corporation are P. H. Rose, presi-dent;
T. B. Rose, Jr., executive vice-president; R. W.
Bruin and H. P. Butcher, vice-presidents; W. T.
Newcomb, treasurer ; L. H. Harvin, Jr., secretary
;
John T. Church, assistant secretary. B. H. Perry is
a director and attorney for the company. The direc-tors
include these officers and N. B. Rose, Mrs. Alice
R. Vaughn and J. G. Brafford.
The firm's buyers are T. B. Rose, Jr., L. H. Har-vin,
Jr., J. G. Brafford, Mrs. M. S. Gerber, R. F.
Neal, J. R. Tolbert, J. L. Seal, G. W. Schertzinger
and Miss Alice Vice, with Miss Lucy P. Jones and
John T. Church as assistants. Department heads
are R. W. Bruin, H. P. Butcher, G. E. Rose, W. T.
Newcomb, Miss Augusta Winstead, W. B. Beasley,
J. A. Hornaday, W. M. Haithcock, Hugh E. Jones,
G. W. Schertzinger, Mrs. Martha Huff and C. D.
Hamm, with J. C. Folger and R. C. Haddock as as-sistants.
District superintendents are N. B. Rose,
L. W. Barnes, S. L. Clary, E. D. Jones, V. M. Turner
and W. J. Thomas.
Locations of the 66 stores in North Carolina and
their managers are as follows : Henderson, F. C.
Poe; Oxford, L. E. Rudisill; Louisburg, R. F. Smith-wick
; Roxboro, Dennis O. Dunn ; Lenoir, J. H. Scott
;
Laurinburg, C. D. Raynor; Rockingham, G. R. Keim;
Statesville, H. F. Watts ; Siler City, Miss Ruth White
Mebane, Miss Mary Jobe; Hamlet, W. H. Fisher;
Enfield, Miss Garlinda Weaver; Reidsville, W. P.
Morgan; Scotland Neck, C. F. Smithwick; Moores-ville,
C. W. Pierce; Roanoke Rapids, W. H. Jones;
Smithfield, Mrs. Ruth Gentry; Cherryville, E. M.
Fuller; Edenton, P. M. Wallace; Littleton, J. M.
Pigford ; Dunn, J. P. Walker ; Warrenton, J. C. Lea-gue
; Farmville, J. P. Jones ; North Wilkesboro, J. T.
Baity; Thomasville, L. L. Ledwell; Sanford, A. C.
Townsend ; Weldon, Mrs. Ala M. Oakley ; Albemarle,
R. E. Laughter; Asheboro, H. W. Boxley; Beaufort,
J. W. Haynes ; Williamston, T. E. Forehand ; Wades-boro,
P. D. Stephenson; Clinton, W. H. Windley;
Lumberton, H. M. Leckie; Kinston, R. B. Parnell;
Morganton, C. T. Buzhardt; Whiteville, H. B. Bar-bee;
Morehead City, P. R. Branch; Marion, W. I.
Haithcock; Burlington, C. H. Tucker; Durham, H. G.
Patterson; Leaksville, Mrs. Mary W. McKinney;
Mt. Airy, E. S. Bowman ; Ahoskie, C. J. Schumaker
Fayetteville, L. W. Rawl; Plymouth, O. T. Ward;
Benson, Mrs. Hazel Brown; Hertford, Miss Kath-reen
M. Nelson ; Robersonville, J. C. Lamb ; Mt. Olive,
Miss Irene Servert; Belhaven, N. M. Hilliard; Ruth-erfordton,
E. T. Adams ; Forest City, C. H. Berthold
Chapel Hill, J. P. Johnson ; Greenville, J. A. Taylor
;
Valdese, Mrs. Nellie W. Craig; Fairmont, J. C. Mc-
Adams ; Canton, W. C. Gardner ; Elkin, Miss Clarice
Oakley; Brevard, Mrs. Frances Millner; Lincolnton,
N. C. Keyt; Windsor, Harry E. Heafner; Kings
Mountain, W. F. Haithcox; Jacksonville, M. G.
Blankenbeckler ; Kannapolis, Robert F. Smith, and
Asheville, C. O. Perkinson.
Lincolnton department store, one unit of the Eagle Stores Co.
headquarters in Charlotte.
PAGE 100 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY SUMMER-FALL, 1949
§
5S»
Interior view of Belmont department store of Eagle
Stores Co., Charlotte.
EAGLE STORES CO.
Charlotte, N. C.
The Eagle Stores Co., 101 North Graham Street,
Charlotte, was organized as the Eagle 5-10-25^ Stores
by Rush Stroup, who operated units in Kings Moun-tain
and Morganton, in which city headquarters was
maintained until 1936, at which time 10 stores were
in operation.
On March 1, 1936, the business was purchased and
the firm incorporated as the Eagle Stores Co., Inc.,
by C. J. Ferguson and C. R. Delk and associates.
Officers of the corporation are C. J. Ferguson, presi-dent;
C. R. Delk, vice-president and treasurer, and
S. R. Goans, secretary. These officers are directors
of the firm, along with H. B. Tyson, B. I. Boyle, Mrs.
Rush Stroup of Shelby; and J. G. Winchester, J. F.
Betts and A. R. Balsam, all of New York. Both Mr.
Ferguson and Mr. Delk were for several years with
the McLellan Stores in the New York office, Mr.
Ferguson as personnel director and Mr. Delk as
buyer.
Taking over ten stores at the time of the purchase
and incorporation, the Eagle Stores Co. has since
opened 30 stores, now operating 40 stores in four
states, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and
Virginia. Stores are located in 18 North Carolina
cities, 14 in South Carolina, and four each in Ten-nessee
and Virginia. The firm operates the ware-house
at 312 West Tremont Avenue, Charlotte, from
which al lof the stores are supplied. L. G. Gerock is
warehouse manager.
The Eagle Stores Co. employs approximately 700
workers in all of its stores, about 300 in North Caro-lina
stores. The firm employs a well developed train-ing
and promotion system. After training as stock-men
the employees move up to assistant managers
and after a period of training, become managers of
new stores. Managers with best records are pro-moted
to buyers and to superintendents. Three sup-erintendents
are employed, each supervising the
work in their three respective districts.
The Eagle Stores Co. operates 21 distinct depart-ments
in practically all of its stores, which are classi-fied
as variety stores. Items carried range from
5^ to $1.00.
Locations of the North Carolina stores and their
managers are as follows : Kings Mountain, E. B.
Smith; Morganton, R. E. Helton; Lincolnton, J. P.
Walker; Belmont, R. E. Palmer; Newton, P. C. Nan-ney;
Sylva, B. S. Baker; Canton, R. H. Stebbins;
Waynesville, Miss M. E. Leatherwood; Forest City,
Miss V. D. Flack ; Shelby, M. S. Michael ; Asheboro,
M. L. Shands; Gastonia, G. C. Huntley; Lenoir, L.
S. Eddy; Wadesboro, W. T. Creech; Williamston,
H. L. Michael; Clinton, U. G. Davis; Statesville, J.
R. Moore; Roanoke Rapids, L. R. Mauney.
WOOD'S 5 & 10^ STORES, INC.
Rockingham, N. C.
Wood's 5 & 10^- Stores, Inc., with home offices at
Rockingham, was organized and incorporated in
May, 1934, by R. L. Phillips, his two nephews, M. L.
Wood and T. P. Wood, and W. H. Anderson. This
firm now operates 15 stores, 10 in North Carolina
and 5 in South Carolina.
Officers of the firm are R. L. Phillips, president
and treasurer; W. H. Anderson, vice-president; M.
L. Wood, vice-president and general manager ; T. P.
Wood, secretary and merchandise manager, and H.
C. Gibson, assistant secretary and assistant treas-urer.
These officers, exclusive of Mr. Gibson, form
the board of directors.
Wood's 5 & 10^ Stores was capitalized at the begin-ning
at $10,000. Since that time the capital stock
has been increased twice and now includes $50,000
in common stock and $50,000 in preferred stock.
The firm has an earned surplus of $126,000.
In the 15 stores, employment averages from 200
to 250, including part time workers, and in the 10
North Carolina stores the average ranges from 150
to 200 workers. The North Carolina payroll, in-cluding
the Rockingham store, office and warehouse
amounts to approximately $225,000 a year.
The policy of the firm is to expand gradually as
suitable locations are found. It also follows the pol-icy
of renting the stores it operates. Approximately
half of the merchandise handled by the 15 stores is
bought in bulk and supplied from the warehouse in
Rockingham.
Wood's 5 & 10^; Stores have experienced very sat-isfactory
growth in the 15 years of operation. In the
past five years the volume of sales has increased
approximately 300 percent, due in part to the in-crease
in the stores operating and to increase in
business of those already in operation.
Operation of the firm in Rockingham has resulted
in the employment of workers representing 75 fam-ilies
in the community, in the home office, warehouse
and local store. The company provides life insur-ance,
health and accident insurance and hospitaliza-tion
for all of its employees, paying 75 per cent of
the premium cost.
President Phillips, before joining his nephews in
the organization of Wood's 5 & 10^' Stores, was for
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 101
several years cashier of the Farmers Bank and Trust
Co. of Rockingham.
The ten Wood's 5 & 10^: Stores in North Carolina
are located in Rockingham, Lumberton, Chadbourn,
Whiteville, Laurinburg, Red Springs, China Grove,
Troy, Rowland, High Point.
MACKS 5-10-25^ STORES, INC.
Sanford, N. C.
Macks 5-10-25('' Stores, Inc., Sanford, now operat-ing
25 stores, was organized and started as a part-nership
in December, 1923, by A. H. Mclver and
Doyle McFarland, who continued the business as a
partnership for about 15 years.
Macks 5-10-25f Stores was incorporated August
1, 1938, with A. H. Mclver as president and treas-urer;
Doyle McFarland as vice-president, and 0. T.
Sloan as secretary and general manager. These
officers form the board of directors. The capital
stock was doubled in April, 1946, through declara-tion
of a 100 per cent stock dividend.
The first store was opened in December, 1923, in
Sanford and it was February, 1925, before the sec-ond
store was opened in Dillon, S. C. Since that time
stores have been opened as opportunities presented
themselves and the policy of the firm is to continue
opening new stores in the chain as occasion arises.
At present the firm is also engaged in improving and
enlarging the stores already in operation.
During the past six years the business of the firm
has approximately doubled, due in part to increased
business in the branches operated and in part to
opening new stores. The firm has followed the policy
of renting its stores when that is convenient, but in
a few cases individual members of the firm and the
firm itself have purchased buildings in order to pro-tect
their interests.
In North Carolina approximately 225 workers are
employed in the 12 stores operated in this State and
approximately the same number is employed in the
12 stores operated in South Carolina and the one
store in Virginia.
Macks 5-10-25<' Stores are classed as variety
stores. They handle dry goods, notions and numerous
other items. Approximately 60 per cent of the busi-ness
handled is in items that range in price from 5^
to 25<\ but many items up to $5.00 are handled.
\
In Sanford, Macks 5-10-25^ Stores operates its
own warehouse department from which it sells goods
only to its own stores. This warehouse contains
approximately 10,000 square feet of floor space.
J. H. Lucas is warehouse manager. The Sanford
store, one of the larger units, has a floor space of
6,000 square feet. The Sanford store manager is
J. H. Joyce.
Locations of the other North Carolina stores and
their managers are as follows : Aberdeen, Mrs. Lucy
McLeod ; Raeford, H. L. Williams, Jr. ; Southern
Pines, Mrs. Thelma K. Holt; Red Springs, Robert
Marr; Madison, Thomas Crumpler; Lexington, P. T.
Brooks ; Wake Forest, G. A. Thomas ; Warsaw, Miss
Mamie L. Bethea; Carthage, Mrs. Daisy C. Kelly;
Carolina Beach, D. B. Mixon ; Greensboro, Robert L.
Lemmond.
WILLIAMS' 5 & 10^ STORES, INC.
Tarboro, N. C.
Williams' 5 & 10^ Stores, with headquarters at
Tarboro, operates eight junior department stores,
five in North Carolina and three in Virginia. A
warehouse is operated in Tarboro to supply the
stores in this chain.
Williams' 5 & 10^ Stores was organized and in-corporated
July 15, 1940, but members of the firm
had previously operated a store in Kentucky under
the firm name of Williams and Hull. Principal offi-cers
of the firm, all of whom received their variety
store experience with the Rose organization, includes
R. E. Dowd, native of Dunn, President; H. W. Hull,
secretary-treasurer and manager of the Tarboro
store; M. W. Maxwell, vice-president and manager
of the Greenville store ; Mrs. R. E. Dowd and Mrs.
H. W. Hull, vice-presidents.
The policy of this firm is to expand, opening new
stores and purchasing stores already operating in
various localities. The latest store was opened re-cently
in Richmond, Va. Also, present policy is to
lease or rent store buildings in which Williams'
Stores are operated.
While the bulk of the business is in 5 & 10^ goods,
the firm actually handles goods at prices ranging
from 5^ to $5.00. Included among the higher priced
items are, hosiery, overalls and other items pur-chased
primarily from North Carolina manufac-turers
and all selling at popular prices. Some of the
stores also carry men's furnishings. Two of the
larger units are at Tarboro and Greenville, while
most of the other stores are still small.
Locations of North Carolina stores and their man-agers
are as follows : Tarboro, H. W. Hull ; Erwin,
J. W. Whittington; Maxton, P. R. Phillips; Green-ville,
M. W. Maxwell ; LaGrarige, Miss Janie Sutton.
Sanford department store, a unit of Mack's 5-10-25$ Stores,
tvith headquarters in Sanford.
POPE'S 5^-$5.00 STORES
Fuquay Springs, N. C.
Pope's 5^-$5 Stores, with general offices and ware-house
at Fuquay Springs, operates1 a chain of five
variety stores in the central section of North Caro-lina.
PAGE 102 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY SUMMER-FALL, 1949
James M. Pope, Sr., was the founder of these
stores. His first mercantile venture was a dry goods
store he opened in Angier about 1925 and operated
for a few years. Later he was a partner in a dry
goods store in Fuquay Springs with Hubert West-brook,
under the firm name of Westbrook & Pope.
Mr. Pope later bought out this business. Mr. Pope
opened his first variety store in Lillington in 1934.
Locations of stores now operated and their man-agers
are as follows: Fuquay Springs, Nelson Ar-rington;
Angier, Herndon Wells; Lillington, Ray-mond
A. Capp; Nashville, Basil Ayers; Erwin,
George Bennett. The store operated in Apex for sev-eral
years was closed during the war period and the
one operated in Yanceyville was sold to Bruce's 5 &
10^ Stores, Chapel Hill, in 1942, both due to hauling
and personnel problems.
In 1944, James M. Pope, Sr., sold out the business
to his two brothers, 0. B. Pope and W. P. Pope, and
his own three sons, Hoyt W., James M., Jr., and
John W. Pope. This year the three sons of James M.
Pope, Sr., now retired, bought the interest of their
two uncles and now operate the business. These
three sons have plans for expanding as conditions
permit.
Pope's 5fS-$5 Stores operate their own wholesale
department in Fuquay Springs, from which all of
the stores are supplied. This firm employs approxi-mately
25 employees in all of its units.
CHANDLER'S, INC.
Rocky Mount, N. C.
Chandler's, Inc., with headquarters at 114 Sunset
Avenue, Rocky Mount, was started as Chandler's 5<;
to $1.00 Stores in 1941 by R. M. Chandler as indi-vidual
owner.
Mr. Chandler had been with the McLellan Stores
for 15 years and had been manager of the Rocky
Mount store for a few years, when he decided to
organize his own firm. He was still employed by the
McLellan Stores when he bought his first store in
Lake City, S. C. The second store was opened in
Rocky Mount.
In 1948 the firm was incorporated as Chandler's,
Inc. ; the officers are R. M. Chandler, president,
treasurer and general manager; J. A. Glover, vice-president,
and D. M. Malone, secretary and assist-ant
treasurer. These officers are the stockholders
and directors of the corporation.
Chandler's now operates four stores in North
Carolina and has embarked on a policy of expansion
gradually as opportunities arise. The stores are
classified as junior department stores and handle
items, the most of which range in price from 5^ to
$1.00. At present the firm leases the store buildings
where it operates. About 30 workers are employed
in the four units in North Carolina.
Locations of the four stores in North Carolina and
their managers are: Rocky Mount, D. M. Malone;
Farmville, W. C. Adams; Roanoke Rapids, J. A.
Glover; Fremont, Mrs. Lucille Register. R. E. Mc-
Lawhorn is manager of the Lake City, S. C, store.
Nation-Wide Variety Store Chains Operating in State
Many variety store chains, nation-wide in their
operation, have stores in many North Carolina cities
and towns. Some of these stores may be classed as
junior department stores, since they have well-de-fined
departments.
An interesting fact about these variety or junior
department stores, as well as those with home offices
in North Carolina, is that they buy many millions of
dollars worth of goods produced in North Carolina
for distribution through their stores in this State
and throughout the nation. In fact, officials of one
such chain make the assertion that it spends much
more in North Carolina than is represented by the
business done in this State.
Information concerning some of these chain stores
and particularly their operations in North Carolina
is given in items below.
F. W. WOOLWORTH CO.
New York City
F. W. Woolworth Co., with headquarters in the
Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, New York and
with an international chain of variety stores, oper-ates
24 of these 5 & 10^' stores in North Carolina and
spends approximately $16,000,000 a year for prod-ucts
manufactured, processed and grown in North
Carolina.
F. W. Woolworth, credited with being the origi-nator
of the 5 & 10^ idea, started this vast string of
popular stores in 1879, or 70 years ago. While a
young clerk in a dry goods store, he conceived the
idea of pricing a number of items on a counter and
displaying a sign "Any Article bf. This proved so
popular that he decided to try it in a store of his own.
After two or three failures, his determination finally
brought success in Lancaster, Pa. Dramatizing his
idea, he began an expansion program as a result of
which more than 2,700 Woolworth stores are now in
operation in the United States, Canada, England,
France, Germany and Cuba.
Of the more than 82,000 stockholders of F. W.
Woolworth Co., as shown in a recent publication, 278
were listed as residents of North Carolina. Two
Woolworth supervisors administer the company's
affairs in this State. They are J. O. Vann, Greens-boro,
and J. E. Luther, operating from Asheville and
Hendersonville. These superintendents report to the
Woolworth District Office in Atlanta.
The 24 North Carolina stores are located in Ral-eigh,
Durham, Elizabeth City, Greensboro, Charlotte,
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 103
Asheville, Wilmington, Winston-Salem, Burlington,
Salisbury, Wilson, Goldsboro, Fayetteville, Rocky
Mount, High Point, Shelby, Gastonia, Henderson-ville
and Kannapolis.
The term variety store naturally implies the han-dling
of a wide variety of merchandise. The average
Woolworth store is certain to handle as many as
10,000 different items. The Woolworth stores start-ed
with the idea of selling merchandise at 5 & 10^.
Such items still form the bulk of the business but
many items with higher price range are to be found
in the Woolworth stores. In addition to the usual
merchandise, lunch counters and soda fountains are
operated in many of the stores.
While selling a large volume of variety merchan-dise
to North Carolina people, F. W. Woolworth Co.
purchases from North Carolina farms and factories,
products valued at approximately 16 million dollars
annually, including such items as men's, women's
and children's hosiery, cotton handkerchiefs, infants
wear, store fixtures, rayon and cotton ribbon, wood-en
ware, elastics, toys made from Carolina pine,
crochet threads, cotton clothesline and twine and
many farm products used in the store restaurants.
Approximately 1300 North Carolina people are
employed in the 24 Woolworth stores in the State.
S. H. KRESS & CO.
New York City
S. H. Kress & Co., with headquarters at 114 Fifth
Avenue, New York City, and operating 253 stores in
229 cities located in 29 States and Hawaii, operates
13 stores in North Carolina and purchases approxi-mately
$2,250,000 worth products from North Caro-lina
producers.
Samuel H. Kress founded the system in April,
1896, by selecting Memphis, Tennessee, as the site
for the first Kress store. The second was opened in
Nashville, Tennessee, the next year. The Kress firm
is one of the oldest and has become one of the largest
variety store organizations in the country with an
annual business of approximately $165,000,000. The
Kress firm owns sixty per cent of the store buildings
in which it operates and the average business of
each store exceeds a half million dollars.
The founder, S. H. Kress, continued as president
until 1924, when he became chairman of the board.
His brother, Claude W. Kress, was president for 17
years and died in 1941. Another brother, Rush H.
Kress, served as vice-president and treasurer for
many years and as president from 1941 to 1945. He
is now vice-chairman of the board. William L. Baker,
who started as a stockman in a southern store more
than 40 years ago, was elected president in 1945
and retired recently. O. N. Birkland is now presi-dent
of the corporation.
Among the purchases from North Carolina pro-ducers
are approximately $1,500,000 worth of hos-iery,
retailed in Kress stores throughout the coun-try;
$335,000 for soda and lunch supplies ; more than
a quarter million dollars for dry goods; and other
merchandise including toys, notions, hardware and
crockery.
The Kress organization is a member of the North
Carolina Citizens Association and local units are
members of local Chambers of Commerce, Civic As-sociations
and Merchants Associations. The organ-ization
provides splendid vacation, health and acci-dent,
life insurance, retirement and other benefits for
all of its employees.
The 13 North Carolina stores are supervised by
two district men, O. K. McCarter and G. N. League.
Locations of the North Carolina stores and their
managers are as follows : Asheville, G. C. Nelson
;
Charlotte, D. E. Jackson ; Durham, C. B. Hilliard
Fayetteville, L. W. Payne; Gastonia, C. M. Hunt;
Goldsboro, E. L. Williams; Greensboro, T. M. Clow-er
; High Point, W. F. Turner ; New Bern, J. I. Mabe
Rocky Mount, J. L. Suiter; Salisbury, W. L. Touch-stone;
Wilmington, A. C. Davis; Winston-Salem, T.
S. Bayne.
McLELLAN STORES CO.
New York City
McLellan Stores Co., with executive offices at 55
Fifth Avenue, New York 3, N. Y., had its birth in
North Carolina in 1916, when W. W. McLellan, a
Scot from New York, acquired a controlling interest
in a nine-store group in North Carolina. Today this
firm operates 230 stores in 29 states, roughly the
eastern half of the United States.
However, McLellan Stores Co. is still largely a
North Carolina organization, following its incorpo-ration
in the Tarheel State in 1916 of the acquired
nine units, eight of which are still in operation.
These eight original McLellan stores still in operation
in North Carolina are located at Kinston, Washing-ton,
High Point, Lumberton, Greenville, Salisbury,
Concord and Hendersonville. The other original
store was in Gastonia.
So successful was the beginning of the McLellan
stores in this state, that four other North Carolina
stores were opened during the next year. McLellan
officials were so highly pleased with the acceptance
of the McLellan idea of quality goods at low prices
ranging from 5^ to $1.00, that they used North Caro-lina
as a springboard for the development of this
vast chain of variety stores.
North Carolina now has 22 McLellan stores, equal-ed
by only one other state, Massachusetts, and Mc-
Lellan's purchases more of its goods from manufac-turers
in North Carolina than are purchased in any
other state except New York.
The mother state has also contributed an im-pressive
list of talented sons to McLellan's. William
L. Nolan, chairman of the board of McLellan Stores
Co., who served as president from 1941 to 1947,
started with the company as manager of the store in
Kinston in 1917. L. B. Brafford, now general super-intendent
of the western districts, embracing eight
midwestern states and 62 stores, is a native of Con-cord.
He has been with the company 22 years, start-ing
as manager, and is one of the three key men in
PAGE 104 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Summer-fall, 1949
the field representing the Sales and Store Manage-ment
Division.
Another North Carolinian, R. P. Walsh, born in
Charlotte, has been with the company for 13 years,
the first six of which he spent in the stores. With the
exception of time out for Army service, Mr. Walsh
has been in charge of the Display Department since
1942. He directs the construction of model counters
and window displays, which are photographed and
sent to local stores for reproduction.
R. A. Robbins, manager of one of McLellan's larg-est
stores, Chattanooga, Tenn., was born at Wilming-ton.
He has been with the company for 20 years,
both in the stores and on the road as superintendent,
and is now manager of this important unit.
A. F. Adams, native of Dunn, is a district superin-tendent
in the northeast. He has been with the com-pany
for 15 years as manager, and served as Sales
Promotion Manager in the N. Y. office for several
years. He supervises 12 stores in New York, Con-necticut,
and Pennsylvania. N. G. Bailey, born in
Green Mountain, N. C, is a district superintendent
in the southeast, supervising 15 stores in Georgia
and South Carolina. He has 14 years of service. E.
L. Lewis, with McLellan Stores for 15 years and a
native of Winnabow, is a district superintendent for
the southeast, responsible for 15 stores in North and
South Carolina.
Estimate of annual purchases from North Caro-lina
firms is approximately $2,000,000, amounting
last year to $2,125,000, topping the merchandise pur-chased
in all other states except New York. Mc-
Lellan officials report that hosiery was purchased
from approximately 30 hosiery manufacturing plants
located in almost as many cities and towns in the
state ; toys were purchased from two manufacturing
firms; underwear from one; men's and boys' wear
from three firms ; footwear, ladies' wear, and crochet
cotton from one firm each, and textiles from two
North Carolina firms.
In North Carolina the stores are supervised by
District Superintendents W. W. Stack and E. L.
Lewis, with R. W. Hill as general superintendent.
Locations of North Carolina stores follow: Kin-ston,
Washington, High Point, Lumberton, Green-ville,
Wilson, Burlington Rocky Mount, Wilmington,
Goldsboro, Elizabeth City, Raleigh, New Bern, Salis-bury,
Concord, Hendersonville, Mount Airy, Hickory,
Lexington, Charlotte, Thomasville and Albemarle.
W. T. GRANT CO.
New York City
W. T. Grant Co., with home office at 1441 Broad-way,
New York City, operates 10 retail stores in
North Carolina and purchases many millions of dol-lars
worth of goods produced by North Carolina
manufacturers for distribution to its 482 stores from
coast to coast.
W. T. Grant founded this nation-wide concern in
1906 and still participates in the company's affairs
as chairman of the board of directors. The first
North Carolina store was opened in Raleigh in June,
1921, and stores were opened later in nine other
cities. In its 43 years of operation, Grant's has em-phasized
presenting everyday necessities of accept-able
quality at low prices. It takes pride in its
"known for values" identification.
Grant's buys considerably more goods from North
Carolina manufacturers than it sells in the State.
Many of Grant's most important suppliers for cotton
fabrics and finished goods for all of its stores are
North Carolina firms. In addition to the millions of
dollars worth of materials purchased directly from
North Carolina sources each year, many more mil-lions
of merchandise distributed by Grant stores are
manufactured from textiles woven in North Carolina
mills.
While the W. T. Grant Co. is known as a "variety
chain," its stores specialize in textiles and wearing
apparel, the major portion of their volume coming
from such items as hosiery, sheets, blankets, towels,
shirts, dress goods and drapery fabrics, of the types
manufactured in North Carolina mills.
H. T. Carmichael, as manager of District 17, sup-ervises
the company's stores in North Carolina and
Virginia. This district is a part of Grant's Atlanta
Region, which is managed by R. Lee Waterman, a
Grant vice-president, who makes his home in Atlan-ta,
Georgia.
Locations of Grant Stores in North Carolina and
their local managers are as follows: Raleigh, J. D.
Setliffe; Charlotte, J. S. Callaway; Hickory, J. R.
Robbins; Goldsboro, G. H. Rogers; Kinston, N. D.
Currie; Elizabeth City, G. F. Walter; Kannapolis,
J. P. Henderson; Greensboro, W. C. Sawyer; Con-cord,
A. M. Wrenn, and Greenville, W. Chapman.
H. L. GREEN CO., INC.
New York City
H. L. Green Co., Inc., with headquarters at 902
Broadway, New York City, has been operating four
limited price variety stores in North Carolina since
1933, but these stores had been operating about ten
years prior to that time by the company's prede-cessor.
This firm handles the usual type of variety store
merchandise, ranging in price from 5^ to $1.00 and
with a few items retailing for more than $1.00.
Much of the merchandise sold by H. L. Green Co. is
purchased from North Carolina manufacturers for
sale in its stores in this and other States. In fact,
the firm estimates that its purchases in North Caro-lina
exceed the amount of its retail sales.
A. A. Hall, district manager, with headquarters in
the Winston-Salem store, supervises the 14 stores in
Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina and
Virginia. The firm employs an average of about 250
persons in North Carolina.
Store locations in North Carolina and managers
are as follows: Wilmington, C. D. Kerby; Durham,
O. G. Crispens; Greensboro, G. W. Herndon; Win-ston-
Salem, E. P. Gaines.
Summer-fall, 1949 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 105
DEPARTMENT STORE
J. C. PENNEY CO., INC.
New York City
J. C. Penney Co., with central office at 330 West
34th Street, New York, N. Y., has more than 1600
stores in all of the 48 States, including 31 stores in
North Carolina, making it the largest department
store chain in the world.
The first Penney store was opened in 1902 in Kem-merer,
Wyoming, in a building 25 x 40 feet. James
Cash Penney, the founder, called this store "The
Golden Rule" and in the first year did business of
almost $29,000. The policy was cash and carry.
In 1909 Mr. Penney established headquarters in
Salt Lake City and in 1913 moved the headquarters
to New York. Meanwhile, Earl C. Sams joined him
in 1907 and they launched upon a partner-ownership
expansion program. When Mr. Penney retired as
president and became chairman of the board, Mr.
Sams succeeded him and in 1947 Mr. Penney became
honorary chairman and Mr. Sams chairman of the
board. J. C. Penney Co. maintains a staff of 200
buyers and all purchases are checked in the Penney
Research Laboratory. Three huge warehouses are
operated, one of which is in Statesville, N. C.
Penney stores do not handle "luxury" or "cheap"
merchandise, but advertise quality goods "For peo-ple
who live simply but well". The stores specialize
in women's hose, blankets and work clothes, handling
such items as dresses, suits, coats, shirts, skirts,
underwear, sports wear, sheets, curtains, towel and
yard good. The company offers to its employees lib-eral
discounts, group life insurance, sickness and
death benefits and profit sharing retirement plans.
The large warehouse at Statesville was opened
about two years ago in order to be near the source
of suppliers. This warehouse is one-story high and
contains eight acres of floor space, located on a 30
acre area. From this warehouse many thousands
of items of merchandise are shipped to the Penney
Stores in all of the 48 States.
The first Penney store in North Carolina was
opened in New Bern in 1924. The newest Penney
stores were opened in Lenoir and Roanoke Rapids in
1941. Operations in North Carolina are under the
general supervision of W. E. Gardner, district man-ager
with headquarters at Atlanta, Ga.
pir
>." Wmff"
-*
Last year the firm purchased from North Carolina
producers goods valued at approximately $32,000,-
000 including piece goods, blankets, underwear and
hosiery.
Locations of the 31 North Carolina stores are as
follows: Albemarle, Asheville, Burlington, Concord,
Elkin, Fayetteville, Goldsboro, Greenville, Hender-son,
Hendersonville, Hickory, High Point, Kannap-olis,
Kinston, Lumberton, Monroe, Mount Airy, New
Bern, North Wilkesboro, Oxford, Reidsville, Roan-oke
Rapids, Rockingham, Rocky Mount, Salisbury,
Shelby, Statesville, Wilmington, Wilson and Winston-
Salem.
Huge warehouse of J. C. Penney Co. near Statesville, one-story
high and covering eight acres of space, which supplies
Penney stores in the 48 States,
KENDALL REAPPOINTED; NEW MEMBERS;
(Continued from page 84)
and automobile firms in Toledo, Ohio, until he was
drafted into the service in World War I. Soon. the
war ended and he was discharged, returning to
Whiteville.
Later he worked in ship construction and retail
selling in Baltimore, and around 1931, he went with
an aluminum firm in Hartford, Michigan, in the
sales end in several southern states. Later he be-came
sales manager for the firm in Tennessee, Ken-tucky
and West Virginia. It was while visiting
mines in these states that he became interested in
the labor movement, an interest that increased while
he lived in Harlan, Kentucky. There he took an active
interest in organizing the miners in Harlan County.
As World War II approached and aluminum be-came
scarcer, he returned to North Carolina around
1940 and helped with the construction work at Fort
Bragg and Camp Davis, then got a job as insulator
at the North Carolina Shipbuilding Co. at Wilming-ton.
Preliminary work included help in installing
boilers in the first ship launched at Wilmington
—
the Zebulon B. Vance—in which he took great pride.
At the shipyard he was active in attempting to organ-ize
his union, the Industrial Marine and Shipbuilding
Workers of America—CIO, of which he is still a
member.
While working at the shipyard and being employed
by the union, he served on the local Appeals Panel
of the War Manpower Commission as labor repre-sentative.
In recognition of his services he was
awarded a certificate by Dr. J. S. Dorton, then State
director of the War Manpower Commission. He
also served on the local Advisory Council of WMC,
and later was named by Governor Cherry as labor
representative on the State Veterans Committee.
In mid-1946 he joined the CIO Organiz