Tar heel junior historian [2007 : spring, v.46 : no.2]

Challenging the Chain Stores by Dr. Lisa Tolbert* or two months in the spring of 1929, a group of African American grocery store owners in Winston- Salem organized public lectures, meetings, exhibits, and food tast- ings that attracted large audiences and national attention. What was all the fuss about? The grocers were joining a new cooperative business group called the Colored Merchants Association (CMA), which had begun in Alabama. On April 17 they announced in a local newspaper an ambitious plan to create "a movement looking towards the salvation of the Negro independent grocery stores, through cooperative buying and teaching the lesson and value of advertising." National Negro Business League leaders promoted the grocers' efforts as a national model for African American businessmen working in an increasingly competitive marketplace. To understand why the Winston-Salem activities got so much attention, it is impor¬ tant to know about changes in the grocery business in the 1920s and about the impact of segregation on African American store owners and shoppers. In the 1920s, segregation laws and customs restricted public activities based on race. Signs marked such spaces as public bath¬ rooms, train station waiting rooms, or sections in movie theaters for “white only" or "colored only." (The terms colored and Negro were widely used for non whites and for persons of African descent, respectively, in the early twentieth century.) Despite the restrictions, African Americans started successful business communities and created vibrant neighbor¬ hoods in the segregated South. Local grocery stores became the most common small busi¬ nesses run by black merchants. That's a big reason why the Winston-Salem grocers made such an impact. In 1929 the city directory list¬ ed 373 grocery stores. African Americans operated more than 30 percent (128 of them), making up by far the largest group of black businessmen there. These store owners faced new challenges because of important changes in the retail trade. Chain stores — such as Sears, Roebuck and Company, F. W. Woolworth, and the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) — grew a lot in the early 1900s. A chain is a com¬ pany that rims many stores in different places, operating under the same name and selling the same merchandise. Chain stores created new ways to sell groceries — which meant stiff competition for smaller stores. Hundreds of small, independent grocery stores dotted downtowns and neighborhoods throughout southern cities and towns of the early 1900s. Most grocers, white and black, owned one store that served the neighbor¬ hood where they lived. Customers walked daily to their neighborhood store to shop or phoned in orders for delivery. By the 1920s, however, new chain stores began to attract more and more customers with low' prices and modern interiors. 210 О Г P О К T и N I Т Y July. 1029 The С. M. A. Stores Face the Chains By A LSO?,- L. Hoi-SEY ON August 10. 1920, a dozun Negr« grocers in Montgomery, Alabama, met and organized the Colored Merchants’ Association and agreed to operate their stores as С. VI. A, Stores. H, C. Ball was eieeted president and David F. Lowe, Jr., see- rotary. Tbr; idea of this cooperative merchandising dTort initiated with A. C. Brown, who for more than twenty years has been a successful grocer in Montgomery. Sharing alike Mr. Brown's en¬ thusiasm was Mr. David F. Lowe (since deceased), one of the pioneer mer¬ chants of Montgomery. The Association was organized in Mr. Lowe's More. At the present time [here arc fourteen stores :n the organization and •ach member reports from twenty to sixty per cent increases in gross volume as a result of the new plan of operation. The Association meets cverv Tuesday night at a member store at which lime their purchasing needs arc combined and on the day following, the wholesale grocers in Montgomery are asked to ANNOUNCING THE С. M. A. STORES An Organization of Progressive Local Grocer* Uod<ioiror» piimbtiUn plui, lb г mjttnbf il«u >-i!l bo •Utoc- «oil C»-Wn»rtv<] b Elfin i lift nr»bla titb io cihitiln • «mltorm, «laniard tmicr itw) to »*S quality merchaisdise at lowest prices Cash Special* /or Saturday May 4th 12k ?.Г:.2Г7 . ,11е Покг (eatrlleiH 4nh iff) 12 pourvli lor ... Octipn So*cs C ban 48c 25= Cellar*?* Ydlo* Cline P“<bc> (L*tv сулс quality) ...... a . C,“± 7h|*4 uU “There is a С M. A Store in Y aur Neighborhood” r T r'.J,* "o. - in the Montgomery Advertiser and the Montgomery Journal— daily newspapers in Montgomery. In addition to the advertising in the daily papers, a reproduction of the newspaper copy is distributed aa hand bills to all the c olored homes in rhe vicin¬ ity of each Store. At least a half dozen staple products, such as: lard, sugar, bacon, etc., arc featured each week at special prices, wbile olhvr bargains, such as: flour, coflee, canned goods, etc., are listed as Second specials, Mr. A. C- Brow n, in commenting on the his¬ tory of the organization, ;aid, “In the face of the stiffest competition which we have ever known, we decided that such an or¬ ganization was the only method by which we could preserve our busi¬ ness." The Colored Mer¬ chants' Association in Montgomery affiliates with the I-ocal Negro Business League in Montgomery and Mr. Morris Smirh, president of the Montgomery League, invited the Sec¬ retary of die National League to visit Mont- Brei Blue Ribbon le«l . . 25= 25= 9= ElLIHGTOfCS— «be Oor«»»i.ciu,. Su— The National Urban League's Opportunity journal featured the Colored Merchants Association in its July 1929 issue. Image from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, American Memory. * Dr ; Lisa Toiberi is an associate professor ai the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she teaches courses in American architecture and cultural history. Her current book project explores how changes in spatial design reshaped social practices in grocery stores of the segregated, urban New South. T H/H, Spring 2007 25