Leggett’s Barracks Road
Lots of great businesses have come and gone in the 50-plus years I have lived in Charlottesville. Bear with me as I recall a few of them in the coming weeks. First up – Leggett’s Barracks Road.
At one time, Leggett was an old, downtown department store chain. They chose middle-size cities like Lynchburg, Waynesboro and Danville and offered inexpensive clothing for the whole family. Then, around 1966, Leggett’s decided to open – at least in their minds – an upscale department store and chose the Barracks Road Shopping Center for their experiment. Leggett Barracks Road sold better menswear, high fashions for the ladies and brand name clothing for the children.
In 1967, Bill Leggett hired me to become the menswear buyer as I had practically majored in fine men’s clothing at the University of North Carolina and had a couple years of working at a superior men’s clothier in Yarid’s Men’s Shop in Lewisburg, WV.
Leggett Barracks Road was like a family. The management was deeply involved in the store’s personnel, and it was a fun place to shop, especially on George Washington’s birthday – Feb. 22 to be exact. On that day and that day only, we held a sale that has gone down in retail history as a hallowed event. We marked dress shirts down to 50 cents and ladies’ blouses to a buck. We got rid of literally everything that represented fall and winter and on the next day, Feb. 23, nothing but spring and summer merchandise were on the tables. That’s right, tables. Shirts, slacks, sweaters and almost everything was piled high on tables, except for suits and sport coats.
In those days, the men at UVA all wore coats and ties to class, and Leggett Barracks Road was an inviting place to shop since our sport coats were around $35, compared to $80 and $90 at Eljo’s, Ed Michtom’s, and Page Foster. The UVa guys bought our stuff and pocketed the balance for parties – which they were very good at.
It was at Leggett Barracks Road, that I met a cute girl in the office named Nancy. We married and had the first Leggett Barracks Road baby. Later, all the clerks in the store would stop what they were going when Nancy strolled our baby Angelin through the front door
The Leggett family later sold out to Belk’s and what was once Leggett Barracks Road is now Barnes & Noble.
But we had a great run, and for years, it was Charlottesville’s favorite place to shop.
