Photo courtesy Special Collections, University of Memphis Libraries
In our October issue, I told you about Julius Lewis, one of our city’s best-remembered department stores. The family had already opened the architecturally eye-popping store on Union (which is still standing, but now serving as home to Office Max), and on August 23, 1956, they opened another distinctive-looking store downtown, at the corner of Main and Gayoso.
This photo from the old Memphis Press-Scimitar newspaper shows the ribbon-cutting, which involved descendants of the store’s founder.
The photo caption said: “IT’S OPEN! — Hal Lewis, 8, cuts the last of four ribbons to admit a crowd of shoppers at the formal opening at 10 this morning of the new Julius Lewis store, Main and Gayoso. Identical ribbons were cut at the ceremony by four grandchildren of Mr. Julius Lewis (from left): Nancy Sharpe, 3; Sam Brenner, 8; Hal Lewis, 8; and Charles Lewis, 5.”
Today, you can’t shop at a Julius Lewis store in Memphis, or anywhere else for that matter. And that’s a shame. You can read the whole story here.
