DEAR B.H.: Much as I hate to jump into the middle of family disputes — I mean, is your inheritance on the line here? — I think it’s important to let your parents know they were right, and you were wrong. Go apolo- gize to them right now.
At the same time, it’s easy to confuse the two “Mc” stores, since they were owned and operated by the same man, an entrepreneur named William Walker McLel- lan. Since I never met the fellow, I hope you’ll forgive me if the information I provide about him comes mainly from various online sources, so let’s just assume it’s as reliable — well, nearly — as what you would get directly from me.
Though McLellan wasn't from here — he was actually born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1873 — in many ways he reminds me of our very own Clarence Saunders, founder of the Piggly Wiggly empire of grocery stores.
McLellan, unable to find work in his native country, emigrated to the United States in his twenties and landed in Newark, New Jersey, where he took a job working at a department store. Although I really don’t know the specifics, at some point he decided to move to Memphis, where he became manager of the Kress store on South Main Street, well- known for its incredibly col- orful terra-cotta façade. From there, he moved to McCrory’s, where he was eventually pro- moted to vice president. But in 1917, he decided his own name sounded (and looked) better on a store than McCrory’s, so in 1917, he opened the first McLellan’s store here in Memphis at 59 South Main.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll realize that his entire merchandising life was spent in the same two-block section of South Main. McLellan’s advertised itself as a place where customers could buy anything costing five cents to a dollar. at first store quickly expanded into a national chain, with some 200 locations across the country. At some point, just to make things confusing for you and your parents, B.H., he merged McLellan’s with McCrory’s. Who can keep track of all this?
And here’s where his life parallels Saunders’. Both of them lost control of their own stores, through financial misfortunes that are too complicated to go into here. Saunders embarked on other ventures, among them his oddly named “Sole Owner” stores and later his Keedoozle automated groceries. McLellan founded another chain, which he called simply the Mac Stores (long before Apple snagged that name). He passed away in Florida in 1960.
The Lauderdale Library has this fine postcard showing the handsome McLellan’s store on South Main. I was amused by the message scribbled on the back, from a little girl in Marion, Arkansas, to a young friend in Johnson City, Tennessee. She had apparently returned home from a visit to Memphis, where I presume she picked up the postcard, and wrote this: “Dear Nancy, I am back in Ark. I went to the zoo yesterday. The monkey's island was very cute. Will see you in school. Love, Mary Ruth."
The former McLellan's building on South Main is now home to the Frix Jennings Clinic. Although there are no mannequins in the showcase windows, the handsome façade has changed very little from the view shown in the postcard.