Miller & Rhoads, Eastland Mall, Charlotte, North Carolina. Apparel advertisement, circa 1978. (courtesy Pat Richardson)
Miller & Rhoads, Eastland Mall, Charlotte, North Carolina. Cosmetics advertisement, circa 1981. (courtesy Pat Richardson)
Miller & Rhoads, Eastland Mall, Charlotte, North Carolina. Sale advertisement, circa 1981. (courtesy Pat Richardson)
In the mid-1970s, Richmond, Virginia based department store chain Miller & Rhoads opened a number of specialty department stores in new malls throughout Virginia and North Carolina, including this two-level location at Eastland Mall in Charlotte.Although modestly successful, Miller & Rhoads specialty stores began closing shortly after the chain's parent company, Garfinkel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads, was acquired by Allied Stores in 1982. By 1986, Allied had exited the North Carolina market except for Raleigh, whose Miller & Rhoads store closed in 1990 when the chain went out of business.
Well this is a new one on me...I didn't know M&R had a junior store at Eastland...where in the mall was it, and what's there now?
ReplyDeleteThose ads just scream "welcome to the 80s!"
I worked there for several years and actually "closed" the store when I was 19 years old! It was a great place to work!
DeleteFrom what understand, it was located near the cafeteria (which would have put it near JC Penney). The store itself was two floors. I have heard that it was never busy.
ReplyDeleteMatt: If you go to the rear entrance between Burlington and Sears on the upper level, you can see where M&R's back door was, it's now LensCrafters' entrance...if LensCrafters hasn't bailed out yet.
ReplyDeletePat: I remember a Chain Store Age article from that era that reviewed department stores in North Carolina, and their review of the small M&R stores was not flattering. They didn't specifically use the word "stodgy," but it was inferred a few times.
Miller & Rhoads tended to be a very elegant chain, but they were a little old fashioned, which wasn’t the greatest thing to be in the ‘70s and ‘80s. A lot of people thought of them as a ‘grandma’ store.
ReplyDeleteI miss M&R. They were the nicest store in Roanoke up until they went out of business, and their impact on Richmond was legendary.