For more than 70 years, Marion has had a Roses discount store and that beloved business has been located at three different locations within the city during its long history.
That’s about to change. The Marion Roses store will close its doors on Aug. 24.
Since the closing was announced, the store has held a going-out-of-business sale and customers have flocked there to get good deals on the various items available. As a result, the shelves have become increasingly bare.
“Honestly, it would be sad to see this place go,” said customer Riley Roberts. “I definitely see some people having memories of this.”
Roberts is from Florida and he said he traveled to Marion to be with his parents. It was his first time shopping at Marion’s Roses.
The local store has 18 employees. Graham Daniels, assistant manager, is in his second stint working at the discount store. A few years ago, he was hired to work as a cashier at Roses during the Christmas season. “It was a good store to work for,” he said.
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Daniels returned to the store recently. “I got hired and then the next week they told me that in four weeks the store would close,” he said.
When asked about what he will do, Daniels said he is finishing up his associate degree at McDowell Technical Community College.
What’s next?
A map on the website for Woodcrest Capital, the Texas-based company that manages the Marion City Square, shows a Hobby Lobby coming soon to that building as well as the Ollie’s taking over the former BI-LO building.
Several emails and voice mail messages left with Woodcrest Capital and Hobby Lobby have not been returned.
Late Tuesday afternoon, The McDowell News heard back from Samantha Ackerman, property manager for Woodcrest Capital. She wrote the map of the Marion City Square showing the Hobby Lobby is from her company’s website but didn’t provide more details.
“This is from our website,” she wrote in an email. “You can check for any future businesses coming to this shopping center as well. www.woodcrestcapital.com.”
More memories
Maria Lavender was looking at the remaining items for sale when she was asked about Roses closing.
“I hate it,” she said. “I don’t know what Hobby Lobby has but I hope there’s a lot of crafty people in McDowell.”
“I hate to see this close,” said customer Elaine Weeks. “If I had to pick between this store, Ollie‘s and Hobby Lobby, I will pick this store every time.”
Jessie Lowery is another person who worked at Roses. He said he has fond memories of working there around 26 years ago. He was 16 or 17 at the time. Some of his fellow employees there were Wesley Davenport, Brandi Craig and Matthew Sowers, he said.
“I just remember we had the best time working,” he added. “We all got along well. We always had the best time. Those guys would have (Manager Margaret) Fox laughing. Just great memories.”
The history
For decades, Roses discount store has been a retail institution for Marion and numerous other cities and towns throughout the South. The Marion store has known three different locations where generations of customers have done their shopping.
Roses in Marion was located first on South Main in the center of the downtown. That location dates back to as far as the early 1950s. This location, which is now the McDowell Arts Council center, is the one that many longtime residents remember with fondness and nostalgia. Roses was at this location for many years until it moved to the Lady Marian Plaza in the section that is now Dollar Tree.
In 1987, Roses moved to its third and final location at the Marion City Square, according to previous stories by The McDowell News.
In 2017, that store went through a renovation and a grand reopening celebration took place. Doug McCraw organized the car show planned for the celebration in 2017. Like so many longtime residents, he remembered how important this store was for Marion, especially when it was located in the middle of downtown on Main Street, according to a previous story by The McDowell News.
“I’ve got so many good memories of going to Roses,” he said in 2017. “It was the anchor store for Marion.”
Margaret Fox worked at the Roses in Marion for more than 50 years and she was employed at all three locations. Fox started her job at the Main Street location on Nov. 15, 1951, as a salesperson. She became the store manager in 1990 and retired in July 2002. She died in 2023 at the age of 91.
In 2017, she was interviewed by The McDowell News about her long history with Roses.
When asked what she enjoyed most about her job, she said in 2017, “Everything.”
Fox said in 2017 she especially enjoyed waiting on the customers in the food and candy department. This existed before the snack bar was installed.
“I truly enjoyed my work,” she said at the time.
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