Miller & Rhoads
Miller & Rhoads was as Virginia as a field of Wakefield peanuts. A prestigious department store based out of Richmond; Miller & Rhoads had two locations in Charlottesville when I came to town in 1968. The Downtown Store and one at Barracks Road Shopping Center.
There are two things that stand out in my memories of Miller & Rhoads – the Gift Wrap Lady and Santa Claus.
Even though I worked at Leggett Barracks Road in my early years, I did much of my shopping for Nancy at Miller & Rhodes. First, they had really nice things – all the name brands – and second, they had a lady who gift wrapped presents much like Picasso with an oil palette. I would buy things and beg to be able to watch her enclose my gifts with grace and precision. She deftly cut the paper to within an inch of accuracy, then made crisp folds and pleats, draped the treasures with ribbons and bows and assembled an art form. Under the Christmas tree, it was easy to see which presents had come from Miller & Rhoads and which I had bought elsewhere and wrapped myself. Her works were masterpieces while the presents I wrapped were like crumpled paper somehow secured with a half mile of scotch tape.
The other memory of the grand store was that of Santa Claus. Not so much in Charlottesville, but in Richmond. Thousands of children came from all around and would come to know and recognize the Santa at Miller & Rhoads as the one, true Kris Kringle
I knew him personally. My family often camped at Gwynn’s Island and one of our camping neighbors was the Miller & Rhoads’ Santa Clause. Even his fishing friends called him Santa Claus. He had a glorious white beard, a decent belly, a grand chuckle, and his cheeks were like – well – cheeks.
The downfall of Miller & Rhoads came in 1982 when the Allied Stores bought the chain and nickeled and dimed them out of existence. But for many glorious years, Miller & Rhoads was the standard by which all department stores aspired.
And man, could that lady ever wrap presents!
