In the late 40s Mom and Dad moved to Cliffside, NC so Dad could practice dentistry. They had planned to start a practice in Shelby and had a site picked out for an office when Dr. Robertson, Cliffside's only dentist called. Dr. Robertson was not well and needed Dad to come fill in for him while he recuperated. Cliffside was a southern mill town and had a very closely knit family atmosphere. People who lived there during that time have a strong nostalgia for Cliffside. They still have reunions even though the mill was closed years ago. Dad planned to stay there until Dr. Robertson returned, but ended up practicing dentistry there until he retired in the 80s.
There were alot of interesting characters in Cliffside; Mr. Haynes of the Haynes Bank, Harris who was Dad's Dental assistant, and there was Tubby Hawkins. Dad says Tubby was larger than life. Tubby was involved in everything that happened in Cliffside and was quite the entrepreneur. One day Tubby appeared at Dad's dental office in uptown Cliffside. To get to Dad's office you entered wooden doors with creaky, dark, dusty, and very long stairs leading up to the dental office area. Walter Dalton says that when he was an eight year old going to the dentist, this felt like walking up to the gallows.
Tubby walked into Dad's office and said, "Jack there's been a train wreck at the Harris Station down the road. Let's go look at it." Dad had patients to tend to but he agreed to go during lunch. When they arrived at the train wreck, they discovered the train cars contained Donald Duck orange juice and escarole. Tubby and Dad thought they could sell the salvaged orange juice, but they didn't know what escarole was. Anyway, after some discussions they bought the contents, salvaged all they could and got it ready to resell. The Donald Duck orange juice sold quickly, but as it turned out nobody knew what to do with escarole. They put it on a truck to drive up North thinking people up there might know what to do with it. Turns out escarole just wasn't very popular anywhere, but overall the salvaged train wreck turned a small profit. Dad says that for he and Tubby, "the salvage bug had bit".
From there, they bought other train wrecks, fire damaged goods and close-outs. After Dad worked all day in the dental office he would drive around looking at various merchandise that somebody wanted to dispose of. They bought shoes which Tubby and Georgia sold from their basement. Dad says this was before Pic N Pay or but they did run across the Levine's from time to time during this period.
Dad was called back to the Army for Korean War service and he turned everything over to Tubby. When he returned from Ft Bragg, he started looking for salvage deals again and this was the beginning of The Round Up Store.
The Old Round Up Store began with a purchase of a hardware store in Virginia. Mom, Dad, Tubby and Georgia traveled to see the stock. After a lot of discussion they ended up with this stock and moved it into Roy Price's building in Mooresboro. It was named the Round Up Store, I thought because they galloped all over and rounded up the bargains. A cowboy on a horse with a lasso became the logo. Bo Greene was hired as a manager, Mildred Jackson as a cashier and Helen Byars did the accounting work.
Turns out they were pretty good at looking at stock, finding quality merchandise and selling it at discount prices. Mom got involved reluctantly at first, but Dad encouraged her to spread her wings in the business world. At one time or another, they opened stores in Ellenboro, Troutman, Boone, Raleigh, Morganton, Shelby and had three locations in Boiling Springs, NC. My sisters and I worked throughout the years in one location or another and so did alot of our friends.
The Round Up was interesting because we never knew what tomorrow would bring. At one time or another we packed up roller skates, TVs, hardware, soft goods, Misty Harbor raincoats, Lanz, Bobbie Brooks, red pajamas, groceries, shoes and a whole gift store from Oxford, NC. We cleaned and packed and sold flood damage stock from a hurricane in Alabama and fire sales from alot of places. It was wild and exciting and fun. We worked together as a family, doing whatever needed to be done at the time. In the salvage business, you never know when you will be called to pack a train wreck or a close out. You just have to be ready when called.
Dad met alot of interesting people while he was in the salvage business and enjoyed the relationships. Somewhere along in there he also met a man named Johnny Walker who was a sales manager with a fairly new business called Lowes. At that time, Lowe's wanted to franchise so Dad opened a Lowes Franchise in Shelby, NC on East Dixon Boulevard. After several years, Lowes decided that they wanted to have only company stores and they bought the franchise rights back. So they rented Dad's building in Shelby and the Lowe's store operated there for many years.
Dad still had the dental office, still had the Round Up and other stores, they had moved to Lattimore and he and his brother Robert had started a dairy farm on the side. Then Dad decided to get into politics. He told Mom he wanted to run for the Legislature for two terms and ended up staying in the legislature for 22 years. Eventually it was time to close some of the businesses and to simplify the stock.
Today there is still The Round Up Store of Shelby, Inc and it operates out of the original Lowe's location in Shelby. Today the stock is limited to building materials. There is a shop where storage buildings are manufactured and there are a wide variety of cabinets and cabinet grade plywood.
This week, about 60 years after the first train wreck of orange juice and escarole, the Round Up Store of Shelby held a Chamber of Commerce event called Business After Hours.
The purpose of the event is to expose Chamber members who may have never been into the store to come see the products. Dad wanted to make it a memorable event and this meant calling in all of the family to help. Old neurons must have kicked in because everyone knew how to jump in to help.
Dad set the menu; Mama's Country Ham biscuits, shrimp cocktail, cream cheese and olive sandwiches, homemade pimiento cheese sandwiches, pineapple raisin sandwiches, deviled eggs, and David's beef tenderloin. For dessert, he wanted coconut cake, pound cake and Libby's Marshmallow brownies.
Philip, Chris, Jay, Abel, and several others worked for days to get the Round Up cleaned up and organized. Mom, Dad, Libby, David R and I worked to get the food and tables together. Cindy, Judy, Penny, David M, Tammy, Debbie, Will, and Jay were present to help with hosting and clean up. The Round Up looked great and the food was outstanding. It was a very memorable event.
Homemade Pimiento Cheese
Grate an 8 oz block of Cheese (Dad uses Colby Cheese but I use Sharp Cheddar. Dad and Mom like to taste the pimiento so they like colby because it is milder cheese)
Grate a little bit of Monterey Jack with Jalapeno if you want
Add diced pimiento. (Dad and mom have grown their own pimiento but they also like Goya when they can find it)
Add mayo to taste.
Add black pepper to taste. Less mayo than you think. Dad puts alot of pepper.
Mix everything together and spread onto white or wheat bread. Cut each sandwich into fourths. For parties, Mom and Dad arrange on a three tiered platter that they call 'the sandwich tree'.
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