Gone but not forgotten: Knoxville area restaurants and retailers we miss.

[Ted]

I think that's where TGO said it was too. White Stores turned into Food Citys, at least some of them, anyway. Mystery solved, for me, anyway!

Now I wonder what was in that old white building up on the corner of Merchants and Clinton.. it was empty when I moved here, and then was bought by Tim Graham and demolished. He built a retail strip there.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

The northwest corner of Clinton Hwy and Merchant was owned by SuperX Drugs. Kroger ended up buying most or all of the SuperX stores when they went bankrupt. Kroger sold many of them to CVS.

White Stores sold to Food City but pretty much kept the real estate that the stores are on. White Realty still owns the buildings and (apparently) leases them to Food City (K-VA-T Food Stores). I think that K-VA-T stands for Kentucky-Virginia-Tennessee… their early footprint. White Realty’s headquarters are a little north and behind the Bearden Center Food City.

 

[Ted]

Excellent explanation of all that, TGO. I remember you hit some of those same points last year, and it makes more sense to me now.

You really did have to be here in Knoxville when a lot of these things were happening. It's very different trying to piece it together from fragments on the internet that remain. I am so grateful to Mad and you and several others who live here in Knoxville back in the day and know what was actually going on back in the 60's, 70's and 80's. I didn't live here until the very late 90's and much had changed even then.

This topic on Volnation is invaluable in many, many respects. Thank you for starting it, Mad. We who know the history of Knoxville have to keep it alive, because, boy, this town and Knox County is changing radically fast in the 2020's. Much history will be lost if we don't share it here and also support other organizations like Knoxville History Project and Knox Heritage who are trying to do the same thing.

I encourage everyone out there who supports this thread to keep sharing your cultural and growing-up memories of Knoxville.

 

[TN-POSSUM]

637-2121. When I was a kid, we were in White Stores on Clinton highway and the guy who recorded the time and temp was in front of us at the checkout. The cashier got him to give a time and temp update as he was checking out and it blew my mind.

Speaking of White Stores, I remember helping mom with the green stamps and filling the booklets. I can't remember if it was only 1 location that the books could be turned in for "prizes" or if any White Store would take them. Do you remember where the booklets could be cashed in?

(Mom shopped mostly at the White Store or IGA in Clinton when I was a kid. The original building was tore down and replaced with a new Food City. The building the IGA was in is still standing in South Clinton).

 

[MAD]

Speaking of White Stores, I remember helping mom with the green stamps and filling the booklets. I can't remember if it was only 1 location that the books could be turned in for "prizes" or if any White Store would take them. Do you remember where the booklets could be cashed in?

(Mom shopped mostly at the White Store or IGA in Clinton when I was a kid. The original building was tore down and replaced with a new Food City. The building the IGA was in is still standing in South Clinton).

My mom mostly shopped at the A&P in Western Plaza on Kingston Pike. There was a redemption center store at a shopping center near the old Bearden Jr High on Kingston Pike.

 

[Ted]

I could look this up somewhere or on Wikipedia, but I'll ask you guys. When did the stamps go away?

I remember my mom collecting Green Stamps in the sixties, but not much into the seventies.

 

[TN-POSSUM]

I could look this up somewhere or on Wikipedia, but I'll ask you guys. When did the stamps go away?

I remember my mom collecting Green Stamps in the sixties, but not much into the seventies.

I just turned 50 and I remember licking green stamps when I was elementary school age. Probably up until 1981 or 82.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

There was an S&H Green Stamps redemption center in the corner of Bearden Center. Near the White Stores, but a totally different company.

There were also (yellow) Top Value Stamps and that redemption center was across from IHOP in a free standing building. I haven’t driven by recently, but it was still there not long ago. I think it is/was a pet supplies store.

I think that Cas Walker had his own version of trading stamps. I don’t recall seeing redemption stores for his completed booklets - maybe they were traded for items or discounts in his stores.

 

[ArdentVol]

The northwest corner of Clinton Hwy and Merchant was owned by SuperX Drugs. Kroger ended up buying most or all of the SuperX stores when they went bankrupt. Kroger sold many of them to CVS.

White Stores sold to Food City but pretty much kept the real estate that the stores are on. White Realty still owns the buildings and (apparently) leases them to Food City (K-VA-T Food Stores). I think that K-VA-T stands for Kentucky-Virginia-Tennessee… their early footprint. White Realty’s headquarters are a little north and behind the Bearden Center Food City.

White Stores had a Sequoyah LL team. Think that Kiwanis replaced them

 

[TN-POSSUM]

There was an S&H Green Stamps redemption center in the corner of Bearden Center. Near the White Stores, but a totally different company.

There were also (yellow) Top Value Stamps and that redemption center was across from IHOP in a free standing building. I haven’t driven by recently, but it was still there not long ago. I think it is/was a pet supplies store.

I think that Cas Walker had his own version of trading stamps. I don’t recall seeing redemption stores for his completed booklets - maybe they were traded for items or discounts in his stores.

Ok, cool. I didn't remember they were 2 different things until you mentioned that. Were White Stores the only place that gave out S&H green stamps in Knox/Anderson County?


*I found these pictures online

This is the booklet and stamps I can remember.


And I remember the White Store bags....

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

White Stores has a Sequiyah LL team. Think that Kiwanis replaced them

Henderson-Floyd Drug Store was in Bearden Center and sponsored a Bearden LL team at the field on Old Weisgarber next to where the A-frame West Knox Public Library, original West-Side YMCA, and I think the Bearden Lions Club were located. The property is mostly under a parking garage now.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Ok, cool. I didn't remember they were 2 different things until you mentioned that. Were White Stores the only place that gave out S&H green stamps in Knox/Anderson County?


*I found these pictures online

This is the booklet and stamps I can remember.
View attachment 740454

And I remember the White Store bags....View attachment 740453

Green stamps were also given out at “filling” stations.

 

[SuzyVol]

My mom mostly shopped at the A&P in Western Plaza on Kingston Pike. There was a redemption center store at a shopping center near the old Bearden Jr High on Kingston Pike.

I still have a book or C&R green stamps. Can't find a redemption center.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I still have a book or C&R green stamps. Can't find a redemption center.

Aren’t those Cas Walker’s version?

 

[SuzyVol]

Aren’t those Cas Walker’s version?

Yes. When my wife and I cleaned out her grandparents' house, I couldn't let those stamps go in the trash.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Yes. When my wife and I cleaned out her grandparents' house, I couldn't let those stamps go in the trash.

Nice Cas Walker memorabilia. I’d like to see his Watchdog newspapers published online. I think he’d call out check bouncers in it. The stories would be hilarious.

Last I heard, Todd Steed has Cas’s old mailbox from his Knoxville residence.

 

[MAD]

Ok, cool. I didn't remember they were 2 different things until you mentioned that. Were White Stores the only place that gave out S&H green stamps in Knox/Anderson County?


*I found these pictures online

This is the booklet and stamps I can remember.
View attachment 740454

And I remember the White Store bags....View attachment 740453

Seeing those stamps reminded me how much I hated helping my mom glue them into the books.

 

[TN-POSSUM]

Seeing those stamps reminded me how much I hated helping my mom glue them into the books.

My mom would get a pie pan, lay a damp wash rag in it, and "soak" the stamps. It kind of worked but most of the time they'd either rip or stick to the rag. She'd get ticked off and I'd have to lick stamps. I can taste that stamp glue right now.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

My wife says she loved getting to lick the stamps and put them in the books. Me, I was just glad to get a nice sheath knife with stamps when I was in junior high; still have it!

 

[logiman]

Calhoun’s might have originally been Buster Muggs when it was built. I think that it was Bill Mullins of Bill Mullins Tobacco Wsrehouses that developed it. Mullins had warehouses on Prosser Road as well.

Cajun’s Wharf might have been between Buster Muggs and Calhoun’s.

I was a waiter at Buster Mugg's in 1983. I left before it closed. I never understood why they were not successful. We were packed most nights. Football games were insane. The barbecue was excellent and we would get great acts in the downstairs bar. The Four Tops actually played there a couple times.

 

[GDVol]

I was a waiter at Buster Mugg's in 1983. I left before it closed. I never understood why they were not successful. We were packed most nights. Football games were insane. The barbecue was excellent and we would get great acts in the downstairs bar. The Four Tops actually played there a couple times.

Bill Mullins sold Buster Muggs to a local businessman, Stan Sissom. Stan used it mainly to launder drug money until he was arrested getting off an airplane with kilos of coke. That was in 1985. Stan had previously owned the Orange & White Bookstore on the Strip, before moving to a new building he built on Melrose (where Gus's is now) . Mike Chase opened Calhoun's on the River a few years later, '87 or so.

 

[Freak]

637-2121. When I was a kid, we were in White Stores on Clinton highway and the guy who recorded the time and temp was in front of us at the checkout. The cashier got him to give a time and temp update as he was checking out and it blew my mind.

This is amazing. Good memory.

 

[DrRosenRosen]

RIP Sweet Ps downtown location.

Sweet P’s Downtown Dive to Close | Inside of Knoxville

According to a press release this afternoon, Sweet P's Downtown Dive will close June 15, while Sweet P's Uptown Corner will continue operations at the Tazwell Pike location. Catering operations will also continue. The restaurant opened ten years ago at 410 W. Jackson Avenue. Owner Chris Ford...

insideofknoxville.com

 

[bigdaddy]

I’m hearing Babalou, Maple hall, Chivo, and landing house all closing as well

 

[Jack Burton]

I was a big fan of Charlie Peppers and a myriad of other places .

Charlie Peppers had a spicy chicken sandwich called the Rooster Cogburn. The sauce was so good I wish I knew the recipe.