Berdines Five and Dime
Introduction
User Uploaded Audio
Listen to a narration of this entry's description by Victoria Endres.
Text-to-speech Audio
This local retail establishment opened in 1908 as Hunt and Berdine's Five and Dime. The business was established by K.C. Berdine and his brother, Lafayette Hunt, who left the business in 1909. The store was first located at corner of Court and Main Street from 1908 to 1915, when K. C. Berdine purchased the present lot and built this building to expand his business, which he renamed "Burdine's Variety Store." Once common in big and small cities alike, few locally-owned five and dime stores have survived to the present. The store includes its original antique confection counter, oak shelves and counters, and tin ceilings.
Images
Backstory and Context
User Uploaded Audio
Listen to a narration of this entry's description by Victoria Endres.
Text-to-speech Audio
Five and Dime stores earned their name from the prices of merchandise-with no items being priced about ten cents. Local variety stores like this were common throughout the United States, and while inflation required them to raise prices beyond their original range, the stores remained popular with bargain hunters. Today, chain stores like Family Dollar trace their lineage back to the original Five and Dime stores, most of which were locally-owned and operated. A trip to Berdines is a trip back in time, as the store owners decided to remove many of the modern shelves and displays a few decades ago in an effort to re-create the historic feel of the store.
Sources
Berdine's Five and Dime website (accessed 6/24/16) http://www.berdinesdimestore.com/