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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with Nancy Brown Tysor, October 19, 1999. Interview K-0811. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

Changes affecting small-town business

Tysor describes some of the changes that have affected her business over the years she has been a businesswoman, including changes in clothing styles and the closings of suppliers.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with Nancy Brown Tysor, October 19, 1999. Interview K-0811. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

BRUCE E. BAKER:
What was different about it from then than now, in terms of how the store was set up, what kinds of things did you carry back then that you don't carry now? Probably not much, it looks like! [laughter]
NANCY BROWN TYSOR:
Well, we had a better source, maybe, of seeds and plants. We did good in that. Where all these discount stores or shopping centers and all have come up with plants and seeds now, but we still do pretty good, but not as good as we did back then. We didn't have too much competition in that. We had a good line of hardware, which now is hard to get. And we could get a better line of ladies' wear than we do now. And, there were just so many companies that we have bought from that have gone out of business now. It's hard to replace what we were getting from them. Now, our customers, I think, are mostly middle-aged or the elderly. And the clothing, it seems like, now, that you buy, it mostly caters to the younger generation, not the style us mature ladies and older ladies bought. It's hard to get that now because as they say, the young people are going to spend their money for it, and the older people are more conservative. So it's been a great change in the buying of merchandise and what you buy.