In the early years of the 1900s, Danville’s downtown flourished, and locals who have spent their lives here often talk about childhoods that included trips downtown for shopping.
Photos from the 1940s, 50s and into the 60s show crowded sidewalks and a lot of stores — downtown Danville was where everyone went to shop, catch a movie or conduct business.
On a busy Saturday, people often had to park in the tobacco district and walk to Main Street to shop at Belk-Leggett, Harnsberger’s, Rippe’s, Abe Koplen Clothing, Sears, Woolworth, Thalhimers and other popular shops. But the most exciting times to shop were during the Christmas season and Dollar Days.
Unlike today, when consumers are bombarded with sale flyers constantly, Dollar Days — special sales at almost all the stores downtown in February and August — drew huge crowds looking for bargains.
In a 1995 Danville Register & Bee article, the former manager if Thalhimers, Vernell Cassada, said crowds would be so thick during Dollar Days police were called in to let people into the stores a few at a time. Cassada said people waited up to an hour to get into the best stores for the biggest bargains.
Christmas shopping — which went into full swing after the annual Christmas parade — also drew crowds downtown. In 1995, Albert Koplen, then president of Abe Koplen Clothing, remembered having customers on Christmas Eve until it turned into the wee hours of Christmas Day.
During the summer, farmers sold fried chicken, cakes and other delicacies to supplement their incomes, but there were plenty of other dining options.
From sandwiches and a soda at the Woolworth counter and hot hamburgers sandwiches — hamburgers piled with lettuce, tomato and other fixings, then drowned in hot gravy poured over it all — at the Tuxedo to meals served up at the Cavalier, GSK in the Burton Hotel, Roman’s Restaurant, and the Elks Club’s restaurant, downtown had something for any appetite.
Theaters also proliferated. First-run movies at the Capital, western movie stars on stage at the Virginia (which also operated as the Majestic and the “opera house”), the Dan, the Lea (also known as the Broadway), the Lincoln and the Ritz assured there would be something to do when the shopping and dining was done.
Danville was growing, and in the 1960s and 70s, new housing development sprang up and grocery stores and shopping centers appeared. As the popularity of malls grew, some stores — like Sears — made the transition to the suburbs.
Into the 1980s and 90s, stores began to close or move. Even the national Woolworth chain shut its doors, ending its 117-year reign as a fixture in American life and its 75-year anchor-store position downtown.
Dan River Mills was cutting back and tobacco was no longer the king of Bridge Street commerce. Downtown Danville was changing.
A free event planned for Friday evening, beginning at 6:30 p.m., will celebrate the current effort to revitalize downtown Danville, now dubbed the River District, by unveiling its new branding program that includes new signs directing people to parking and public buildings, a new logo and slogan.
The family-friendly event will feature bounce houses and the Danville Science Center’s Imagination Playground for children and a performance by Dueling Pianos International — which combines music, comedy and audience participation in its show.
The new branding project will be unveiled at about 9 p.m. and will be followed by a fireworks display.
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