Rich's: A Southern Institution

by Jeff Clemmons

In 1867, less than three years after the Civil War left the city in ruins, Hungarian Jewish immigrant Morris Rich opened a small dry goods store on what is now Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta. Over time, his brothers Emanuel and Daniel joined the business; within a century, it became a retailing dynasty. Join historian Jeff Clemmons as he traces Rich's 137-year history. For the first time, learn the true stories behind Penelope Penn, Fashionata, The Great Tree, the Pink Pig, Rich's famous coconut cake and much more, including how events at the downtown Atlanta store helped John F. Kennedy become America's thirty-fifth president. With an eye for accuracy and exacting detail, Clemmons recounts the complete history of this treasured southern institution.

Genres: Business, History

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

Reviews

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting and informative book about the beginning and the end of an important Southern institution started by the Rich family. Having lived in Atlanta since 1959, I was pleased to be able to relive the many special attributes as well some of the sad events that affected the store through the years. It was fascinating to learn how this family store totally controlled by the Rich family was able to keep it all in the family for such a long time. Sadly, in the end, because of debts, mergers and finally selling out to larger companies, Rich's closed. However, many good memories will remain with all of us who were beneficiaries of this fine, southern establishment.

[Penni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up in Atlanta, I thought I knew a lot about the history of Rich’s Department store. As a young girl, I shopped with my Mom at the downtown store, rode the Pink Pig, ate at the Magnolia Room, then later shopped at many other locations. But this book is far more than all of that. Fascinating to learn how much this store was involved in during its 137 years. I had no idea of the extensive philanthropy and community involvement there was by founder Morris Rich and his brothers that truly shaped Atlanta.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

First part tells not only the Rich's story but also the Atlanta story. Second part is nostalgia. What a treat it was to live in the city where Rich's was. What a wonderful store.

[Kelei Sabatino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book for its historical account of the Rich’s department store and its role in the south. Learned so much from this book. Yes, it has lots of details and may be too many date/time place details at times but there were so many historically important things that this departments store did to move the south forward. Enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see the exhibit it is part of at the museum in downtown Atlanta. I purchased this book in hardback and I it was an excellent gift for a former employee.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read but very interesting to this Atlanta native who grew up shopping at Rich's.

[Echo LaVeaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history of an Atlanta institution...and my former employer.

[michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book full of the Rich family history. Still prefer "Dear Store" but a great addition of lore and information for those of us still mourning Rich's demise.

[Julia Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more interesting that I had expected; I couldn't quit telling my husband bits and pieces of what I had just read. Atlanta was where we were married, and Rich's was my first big-city department store when I was young and yearning to buy beautiful things. Later I was also briefly the Richway copywriter, working in offices in the Store for Homes downtown. So I have a great deal of nostalgia both for Rich's and for Atlanta. And having also worked for another department store that was caught up in the cataclysm caused by Campeau, I can't help but feel that the end result of the ubiquitous Macy's stores across the retail landscape impoverishes the cities that lost their home-grown stores. The distinctive has been replaced by the generic.

I think the author did an excellent job of summarizing a complex history of a company and its interactions with the city of Atlanta and later additional cities in the South, as well as also explaining its demise.

[Stephen A Rodgers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book about this department store, which was part of a significant portion of my life. I learned many things about the store's history and its founders and family I had never known, and I discovered the store supported the community even more than I knew.

Toward the latter parts of the book, as Rich's became more corporate, the details of its expansion became a litany of store openings (and some closings) and name changes as mergers occurred. However, it was all still part of the history of this magnificent store, and by the time I was nearing the end of the book, I found myself becoming sad at how so much community culture and years of history can be so easily lost.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading the detailed history of Rich’s. No wonder Rich’s was an Atlanta institution! Such customer focus and generosity couldn’t be duplicated in today’s environment.

Thanks for writing this, Jeff Clemmons.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been born in 1976, one month after Federated purchased Rich’s from the family, I was too late to ever really know the Georgia institution. Sure, its green and gold logo was attractive, but what was the big deal about Rich’s? Was it all nostalgia over the Pink Pig, Great Tree and Magnolia Room? Turns out, Rich’s history is a lot richer than its famed coconut cake. This book does an excellent job of laying it all out. A few things I learned: Rich’s president started the Dogwood Festival; Nathalie Dupree ran a Rich’s cooking school out of its downtown store, a Rich’s president was the driving force behind raising $13 million to build what is known today as the Woodruff Arts Center, the first night Martin Luther King Jr ever spent in a jail cell came from his arrest trying to integrate the Magnolia Room (and JFK’s campaign intervened). Rich's even had a hand in radio station WABE, 90.1. Rich’s was very involved in the community, from cashing scrip issued to Atlanta teachers during a cash shortage during the Great Depression with no purchase required to tracking down victims of the horrific Winecoff Hotel Fire to clothe them and also offering burial clothes for many of the victims. There was even an inner city school called the Rich’s Academy for 15 years. This is a different kind of look at Atlanta’s white flight to the suburbs, but it’s chronicled in Rich’s history, too. Very good read for anyone interested in Rich’s or early department stores, in general.