Business/Industry
Ready for shoppers in Raeford-Hoke Village
Checkout areas were being prepared Monday afternoon for Wednesday morning's Sky City opening when this
picture was taken. Part of the sales area of the store can be seen in the background.
Sky City Discount Store
Opens Door Wed .
The newest Sky City Discount
Store opens for business at 9 a.m.
Wednesday at Cole Avenue and 401
Bypass in Raeford.
The Raeford Sky City Store is the
72nd (the 31st in N.C.) in Sky
City's fast-growing chain, now
spanning five southeastern states.
Sky City's regular hours will be 9
a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through
Saturday, and 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. on
Sundays.
The main reason for Sky City
Stores' success is that they sell an
extremely wide variety of nationally
known and trusted brand-name
merchandise at low "discount"
prices, while their competitors
often stock lesser-known brands or
unbranded items.
Sky City stores carry such names
as Wrangler, Hanes, Fruit-of-the
Loom, Today's Girl, Lovable.
RCA, Panasonic, GE. Hoover,
Polaroid. Kodak and hundreds of
others.
The Raeford store is large -? in
the 40,000-square-foot range -- and
has over 40 departments, carrying
men's, women's, and children's
clothing, appliances, hardware,
cameras, toys, and almost every
other type of product most
shoppers look for. It will also have
a comfortable snack bar where
shoppers may relax and enjoy a
light meal.
Except for top management
people, most department heads
and all of the staff have been
recruited from the Hoke County
area.
The manager of the new store is
Lee Pittman. Sky City stores are
basically self-service (which helps
keep prices down), but there will be
a sales force of 30 to 40 persons to
help shoppers when needed.
Despite the large size of the
Raeford Sky City store, shoppers
will find shopping easy. Aisles are
extra-wide; fixtures are especially
built to insure easy reach and
visibility.
Departments are clearly marked
with overhead identification signs.
Multiple checkout counters elimi
nate long lines. Light walls and
daylight lighting systems provide
warmth and friendliness through
out the store.
A unique feature in Sky City
stores is the way the chain buys
ladies' fashion items. Because most
women don't want a fashion item
that is sold to hundreds of other
women in the same area. Sky City
limits the number of items it buys
for any one location. This also
allows Sky City to offer a wider
variety in all its stores.
A very popular service offered by
Sky City is the Layaway Plan. Any
item in the store can be put on
Layaway with 10% down and
regular payments until it's paid for.
On items of S100 or more, a 25%
down payment is necessary.
Additional financing can be
arranged for higher-priced mer
chandise such as color TV's,
stereos and similar items. Sky City
also honors VISA and MasterCard
credit cards.
Robert E. Peterson. Chairman of
the Board of Sky City Stores. Inc.,
said "We were delighted when the
Raeford location became available.
The people, the area... everything is
to our liking for a successful
operation. We hope to become a
welcome addition to the fine busi
ness community that exists in
Raeford."
Sky City is an outgrowth of a
chain of conventional stores
> Certificate is abouL >
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u^nk location
founded in 1919 by B.A. Bower in
Knoxville, Tennessee. This chain of
small, department-type stores
operated in five states. In 1948
M.C. Peterson succeeded Bower as
President of the company and
moved the headquarters to Ashe
ville.
In 1962 Peterson founded Sky
City Department Stores as an
evolution of the Bowers chain. He
thought a store that offered many
stores under one roof and had
plenty of free parking would be
attractive to shoppers. Most down
town areas had become very limited
in the number of parking spaces
available to shoppers.
Many new merchandising tech
niques were adopted which enabled
the stores to carry brand-name
merchandise at prices discounted
from the normal retail selling price.
Self-service, mass purchasing, and
low operating costs were important
factors in making this possible. The
first Sky City store became an
immediate success as soon as it
opened.
The success of the first store in
Asheville was so great that in 1963
the original size of the building was
doubled. Plans for additional stores
became a reality when Sky City
opened its second store in Hickory
in 1964; the third location was
opened in High Point in 1965.
What started with an idea and a
single store has now become a
regional chain, covering five
southern states, Georgia, Ala
bama. North Carolina, South Caro
lina and Tennessee.
Four other new Sky City stores
have opened or will open during
1982: West Jefferson. Sanford,
Newland, and Clinton.
Management of Sky City intends
to add from four to eight new stores
to the chain each year.
Sky City has become an im
portant part of the total economic
cycle in many southern states. The
chain purchases many manufac
tured goods from the same regions
in which it operates stores.
Local economies are also helped
by the new jobs created as stores
open, as well as by making
necessary products available to
more people at lower prices.
Since Western North Carolina
has long been called "The Land of
the Sky," that name was adopted
by Sky City in honor of its first store
location.
Most of the Sky City advertised
promotions are planned months in
advance, and there are times
because of shipping, manufactur
ing, or other problems that a
specific item may not reach the
store in time for the sale.
If this happens. Sky City will
issue a rain check for the specific
items, or at its discretion offer a
similar item at a similar saving.
Satisfaction is always assured.
In 1977 Sky City stores merged
with Interco Inc. of St. Louis,
Missouri.
However, Sky City remains auto
nomous and is still headquartered
in Asheville.
Interco operates some 25 manu
facturing and retail merchandising
companies, and according to its
1982 Annual Report had net sales
of over 2 Vj billion, a 13% increase
compared to fiscal 1981.
Among Interco's manufacturing
companies are such names as
Londontown Corp., makers of
London Fog rainwear; the Flor
sheim Co., makers of world-famous
Florsheim shoes; Big Yank Corp.,
manufacturers of Big Yank jeans;
Broyhill Furniture; Ethan Allen
Corp.; and 12 other manufacturing
companies, (with the acquisition of
Broyhill in 1980, Interco became
the nation's largest furniture
maker).
Other principal Interco com
panies include Central Hardware
Company, Eagle Family Discount
Stores, Inc., Alberts, Inc., Fine's
Men's Shops, Inc., Golde's De
partment stores, P.N. Hirsch &
Co., Standard Sportswear and
United Shirt Distributors, Inc.
WAGON WHEEL RESTAURANT
THURSDAY ft FRIDAY
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A.A. Meetings
Wed. 8 p.m.
Nursing Home
Dining Room
"TTlcvtek^
m mm mm i ? ? ? ? tm ?
MOORE
EdanboroughCantar
Raaford, N.C.
Register For
AM-FM Stereo
With Turntable
TO BE GIVEN AWAY
Saturday, Dec. 18th
You Must Bs 21 Years Old To Win
OpcnM DaNy
Closed Sunday