Tag Archives: Georgia Department Stores

Rimes Brothers Department Store, Circa 1911, Ludowici: “We Feed You, Clothe You, and Bury You”

Leave a reply

The Rimes Brothers Department Store building is the last surviving historic commercial retail structure in Ludowici, and was once the anchor of the town’s commercial row on McQueen Street, across from the depot. Neighboring buildings were destroyed by fire in 1970 and never rebuilt. They included the old Ludowici Hotel, Smiley’s General Merchandise, Branch’s Pharmacy, the Suwannee Store, and Collette’s Beauty Shop, among others.

Rimes Bros. Department Store, Ludowici, Ga. Kropp Postcard, 1911. Collection of Brian Brown.

The Rimes brothers [Henry P. (1872-1940), Eugene Booth (1868-1953), and Morgan T. (1856-1914)] came to Ludowici (then known as Johnston Station) in the 1880s from nearby Willie, Georgia, and began a mercantile business. The department store was a culmination of their earlier success and opened circa 1911. It was advertised as the largest store between Savannah and Waycross at the time, and, like many department stores of the era which sold everything from cribs to caskets, was true to its slogan: “We feed you, clothe you, and bury you.”

Maloof’s, 1960s, Dawson

2 Replies

Aziz Daher Maloof (1892-1973) migrated from Lebanon to Georgia circa 1911 and moved to Dawson in 1914, where he established a thriving dry goods and department store. Maloof’s would remain Dawson’s most prominent retail store throughout much of the 20th century. His son Alfred Maloof (1915-1995) eventually took over the business. He moved operations to this location on Stonewall Street in the 1960s, where it remained until closing in 1989. A grocery store was located on the left side of the building.

Kress Building, 1912, Waycross

6 Replies

The S. H. Kress Company was a chain of five and dime department stores established in Memphis in 1896. Samuel H. Kress was an avid art collector and aesthete, and many of his stores are considered architectural landmarks as a result of his ongoing interest in the decorative arts and a desire to place buildings of lasting importance in the communities his business served. Most locations featured lunch counters and excluded African-Americans from service, leading to general boycotts and an eventual loss of business by the 1960s. The company survived until 1981, but by that time, many locations had long been shuttered and the real estate sold or rented for use by other businesses. I’m not sure when the Waycross location closed but I imagine no later than the late 1960s or early 1970s. Downtown department stores struggled by that time as shopping centers and malls became preferred locations for shopping.


The Waycross Kress Building now serves as a real estate office.


Downtown Waycross Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

South Broad Street Storefronts, Cairo

1 Reply

The heart of Cairo’s commercial historic district is situated along South Broad Street and is largely intact.

The plaza parks make it a very pedestrian friendly area. A nice variety of commercial styles from the late-19th and early- to mid-20th century are present.

Most of these historic storefronts are still in use, and while few serve their original purposes, they continue to be the center of the community.

Cairo Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Historic Storefronts, Hahira

2 Replies

As recently as 2015, there were plans to renovate these historic storefronts but it appears that the work has stalled. Though identification of the buildings has proven difficult, the three-story example is known as the Stanfill Building and dates to 1911. My understanding is that it was first used as a department store.

In 2011, Tom Lavender wrote: In 1957, I worked at Taylor’s Grocery the corner building. if my memory serves me right next to it was Choen’s dry goods. One of the upstairs offices was a Doctors office.

Moring’s Cash Store, Soperton

2 Replies

Moring’s was the retail center of Soperton for many years and would have sold a little bit of everything, in an era before big box stores.

Jay’s Department Store, Commerce

Leave a reply

Commerce Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

A. J. Gillen Department Store, 1907, Maxeys

3 Replies

The Victorian commercial building on the right was originally home to the A. J. Gillen Department Store. In naming it a Place in Peril, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation noted: The building currently sits vacant. Due to Maxeys’ isolated location, the large size of the building and its deteriorating condition, attracting a business to the A.J. Gillen Department Store is a challenge. Without that investment, the building will continue to deteriorate.

I made this photograph several years ago and haven’t been through Maxeys in some time. I believe there was an effort to restore it, but do not know of any progress.

Woolworth Department Store, 1939, Augusta

Leave a reply

In its heyday, the F. W. Woolworth Company was one of the nation’s leading retail store chains. The location of the Augusta store was one of the busiest parts of the city when built in 1939. It closed in 1991 and has been empty since.

In 1960, its lunch counter was the site of a sit-in, protesting segregation, by a group of students from Augusta’s Paine College, a historically Black institution.

Broad Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Rosenberg Brothers Department Store, 1924, Albany

2 Replies

This Second Renaissance Revival landmark was designed for Jacob Rosenberg by local architect J. T. Murphy. It was modeled after the Neel Reid-designed Michael Brothers Department Store in Athens. Rosenberg originally opened a store in Troy, Alabama, with his brother, and then expanded to Albany in 1896. He married a local girl, Annie Cohn, and was soon the busiest merchant in town. Rosenberg’s was Albany’s finest department store for much of the 20th century, closing the downtown location in 1978 and focusing their business on the local mall.

It is presently home to the Albany Herald and is alternately known as the Herald Building.

National Register of Historic Places