Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 23, 1991 TAG: 9102230419
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
Laury retired Friday after 24 years as manager of the downtown department store.
For more than a generation, Laury was the friendly Leggett man who greeted people with a smile, who remembered their names, their children and their shoe sizes.
Regular customers stuck with Laury after three shopping centers sprang up on the outskirts of town.
"He's just like family to you," said Barbara Ross, a sales associate at the store for 21 years. "When my children come back, they like to shop here because they remember when Mr. Laury sold them pants when they were only 10."
Laury, 63, started his final day as the guest of honor at a breakfast thrown by store employees. He spent the rest of his last day accepting well-wishes with gratitude - and ambivalence.
"I'm going to be a lost chicken," he said. "I'm really going to have mixed emotions about it. You look forward to retirement, but when the day arrives, you wish you could turn that clock back about 10 years."
A Grayson County native, Laury went to work with Leggett in Galax in 1944. After a stint in the Navy, he returned to the company and worked in Christiansburg and Princeton, W.Va.
In 1967, Laury was transferred to Franklin County as manager of the Rocky Mount store.
"I fell in love with Franklin County immediately and never had any desire to leave."
During the last two decades, Laury adjusted to tremendous changes in the retail industry. Shopping centers drew people away from downtown. His Leggett store - with two floors of merchandise - has been remodeled five times.
The Leggett chain also changed, transforming itself from inexpensive downtown emporium to high-fashion mall anchor.
Leggett in Rocky Mount stayed on the same Franklin Street block where it opened in 1952. It is one of only a handful of downtown stores still open.
"This is small-town America," Ross said. "It is a real personal store."
In the men's section, overalls and work pants outnumber stone-washed jeans. Work boots are big sellers in the shoe department. Muzak - the old-fashioned kind - lulls customers.
The trick for Laury has been to give long-time customers the clothing they want while bringing in new fashions that younger, mall-wise shoppers have come to expect.
Laury said he expects Leggett will keep its Rocky Mount store for many years. The company has a favorable lease, adequate parking and sufficient customers, he said.
"It's very viable," he said. "The people of Franklin County definitely want a Leggett and Leggett wants to be a part of Franklin County."
In the Leggett tradition, Laury was involved in community groups and donated corporate money to various activities.
"Jim's been a real fine citizen," said Allen O. Woody Jr., former Rocky Mount mayor and a friend.
"I've never gone to Jim Laury asking for him to help the town or any civic organization when he or his company didn't participate."
In his retirement, Laury plans to do a little traveling and relax at his summer home on Smith Mountain Lake.
"I like to get out in the boat and water-ski. My children enjoy it. Even one of my grandchildren has learned to ski."
Laury is past member of the Rocky Mount Jaycees, past president of the Franklin County Retail Merchants Association and former board member of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.
He and his wife, Kate, are members of Franklin Heights Baptist Church.
by CNB