05/26/2026
Ok, sometimes you go for this, and you get that. Dick Raichelson's symposium the week before last at the Sound Convention about the 1st recording sessions in Memphis in February, 1927, (Autozone World HQ!) was really fantastic! In addition to the raison d'etre, the talk about the recording sessions was educational, deep dish, and fascinating. But what was really fun and educational were the advertising graphics he dug up to tell his stories.
While he focused his talk on the actual recordings and the sessions, the ads for where and when the recordings might be purchased got me thinking about the first actual record stores in Memphis.
Everyone knows about Shirley's Poplar Tunes--later sold to the Cuoghis & the Novareses in the early '50s when they removed "Shirley" and her name from the enterprise and sign. Most hipsters know about the legendary Home of the Blues--on Beale St. where the Elvis statue currently resides--and the stories surrounding Ruben Cherry starting the store & label (the 1st store label in Mempho??) in 1948. And a few even know about Dewey Phillips' record department in the W.T. Grant's department store in the late 1940s/early 1950s. Dewey fashioned a p.a. system in his department and screamed at you through the p.a and threw records at you in attempt to move the latest wax & shellacs. His notoriety led to him being discovered by the g.m. of WHBQ and hired to take that insane show down the street to the airwaves at WHBQ on the first floor of the Hotel Chisca!
But were these the 1st record shops in Mempho??? Heck, no, according to Professor Raichelson! He showed slides of ads for records being sold at Goldsmiths in the basement in April, 1927, and at O.K. Houck Piano Company on Beale St. in May, 1927.
But the real grandaddy ad of them all is Mutual Furniture Company on 183 Beale St (at 3rd & Beale) from February, 1924!! If you google that address, you can see Silky Sullivans. Zoom in past the cheezy sign, and you can still see faded "Mutual Furniture Company" verbiage above the windows. Until someone shows me some other data, I'm calling this the oldest record store location in Mempho!
We are proud to be involved in a small way in a 102 year-old (at least!) tradition and industry here in Mempho! Thank you to Dick Raichelson for such amazing digging & great information!!
