The Stein Mart you may drive past these days is not the Stein Mart of the past.
That Stein Mart was of humble beginnings that clothed much of the Mississippi Delta for little or nothing.
People would travel from Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas to shop at the famed original store in Downtown Greenville.
The famous sales would have people lining streets waiting for the store to open.
I am reminded of these days with the news over the weekend of Freda Stein’s death. She was 96.
Freda and her husband Jake were integral to the success of Greenville from the 1940s until the mid 1980s.
My personal experience with Stein Mart is only as a shopper, but as a college student looking for clothes for a job interview in the mid 1980s, I made the trek to Stein Mart simply because that is what I could afford. It was the first suit I had ever bought on my own.
I don’t remember exactly what I paid for the suit, but I do remember buying a Sax 5th Avenue tie for 50 cents. I was thrilled.
By the way, I got the job.
And the tie lasted another 10 years, until it looked like it was worth 50 cents.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Mr. Jake was a fine man. While at the old store I once recall a hoard of women ripping open packaged polo pin-point cotton shirts and throwing them on the floor. Mr. Stein had them priced at $3.00 each. One lady told me with disgust “the reason there’re so cheap is becasue the ain’t got no little man on them”. These were non-button down dress shirts……I gathered them off of the floor and eventually came up with 10 in my size! Another day I walked in as Mr. Jake was pulling Masters green Ralph Lauren blazers out of a big box. The tags said $350.00……he handed me on in my size…price $35.00. Finally…..at one of the famous Sax sales in the old building down the street….I arrive on 50 cent day. While digging in a big pile I grabbed the end of something made of kid (leather, like ladies gloves)and started pulling. On the other side of the table a middle aged black lady apparently had the other end. Afte we had the piece dislodged from the heap I let go and she held it up. It was sort of long and some slits in it and one of those early magnetic anti shop lifting things on it. She looked at it…looked at me and pondered…”rekon what this IS?” At the time I had no idea. After a moment she tossed it over to me….besides the magnetic thing….it had a price tad of $475.00. Keep in mind, this was the mid-70’s. I figured if it was originally tagged at $475.00…I was going to buy it for 50 cents regardless. When I returned home my wife was thrilled. The item was a designer kid leather ladies halter top. My wife was more thrilled…because she could wear it (very well). We were younger then.
September 4th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Hi,
Everything dynamic and very positively!
Have a nice day
GlenStef
September 7th, 2009 at 6:21 am
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Thanks
Elcorin
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March 9th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
The problem with this country is BOTH the Democrats and Republicans. Anyone who seriously thinks that one side isn’t corrupt or slaves to Corporate America hasn’t done an adequate job of paying attention. To the Republicans: The GW administration will go down in History as one of the worst administrations. They eroded your constitutional rights, expanded the power of the wealthy elite, invaded countries under false pretenses, destroyed diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, and spent money like it was going out of style. To the Democrats: Obama is a dud. He promised much and has turned out to be another corporate lackey. He made deals with big pharma to ensure you could not get your medication cheaper elsewhere, he flip flopped on military tribunals, he refuses to fix health care properly through nationalization or single payer, he populates his inner circle with more Wall Street insiders, he spends money on bailouts and useless stimulus packages.
March 16th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
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