Belk-Cline Co. Department Store Building
Troy, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The large Belk-Cline Co. lettering gives this downtown Troy wall away, but the neighboring OshKosh B'Gosh advertisement deserves a look too. Together, the faded signs recall a department store that promoted both its own name and the merchandise inside. They're easy details to miss while watching the storefronts instead of the side walls. 12-07

The hyphenated name reflects Belk's practice of operating stores with local business partners. These downtown locations sold clothing and household merchandise before shopping centers changed the retail landscape. The OshKosh lettering adds a more specific reminder of the work clothes once advertised to shoppers here.

UPDATE: The department store is gone, and the building has been repurposed. Its surviving Belk-Cline and OshKosh B'Gosh ghost signs preserve a visible connection to Troy's downtown shopping years. 11-26

Bull Durham Tobacco Ghost Sign
Bennettville, SC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The faded Bull Durham advertisement in Bennettsville belongs to a brand that once painted its presence across the country. Weathered lettering clings to the brick, recalling the years when a building's side wall could earn its keep as advertising space. It's a worthwhile find while exploring the town's older commercial streets. 01-08

The brand developed after the Civil War under Durham tobacco manufacturer John R. Green. Its famous bull imagery drew inspiration from a mustard label associated with Durham, England. Later owners expanded the business and its advertising, making Bull Durham one of America's most widely recognized tobacco names.

UPDATE: This advertisement survived when photographed, but its present condition has not been confirmed. The weathered wall records a small part of a much larger campaign that carried the Durham name far beyond North Carolina. 11-26

Rogers Mercantile
Bennettville, SC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

“Quality Merchandise” was the promise painted beside Rogers Mercantile Co. in downtown Bennettsville. The faded wall lettering offers a glimpse of an earlier shopping district, when a merchant could advertise directly on the building rather than rent space on a highway billboard. Its size made the message readable beyond the storefront. 01-08

Mercantile stores supplied clothing, household goods, and other everyday necessities, giving customers several reasons to visit one business. This advertisement preserves that broad retail identity without spelling out every item once sold inside. The weathered lettering has become part of the building's character, remaining interesting after its original sales pitch lost its purpose.

UPDATE: Rogers Mercantile is gone, and the building has found another use. The surviving painted advertisement continues to identify an earlier occupant and adds another ghost sign to Bennettsville's historic streetscape. 11-26

The Variety Shop
Tigerville, SC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The faded Variety Shop lettering added another chapter to a Tigerville building with a long retail history. Its weathered appearance made the storefront worth noticing, even after customers stopped arriving for everyday merchandise. Behind the old advertising stood one of the community's substantial early brick commercial buildings. 01-08

John Heiskell Roe built the store in 1904 as J.H. Roe & Son, selling groceries, clothing, hardware, and farm supplies. Later tenants changed its name and merchandise. The building even appeared in the 1990 film Coupe de Ville, dressed as a fictional feed and hardware store, with some movie lettering lingering afterward.

UPDATE: North Greenville restored the former store as the Eddie Runion Creative Arts Center. The faded retail display has disappeared, while the building continues in university use, including offices introduced during a 2023 remodeling. 11-26

Sun Drop
Gastonia, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The old Sun Drop display in Gastonia advertised a drink with a particularly strong local following. Its faded appearance suited the surrounding bottling history, recalling the days when soft-drink signs were familiar features along Franklin Boulevard. Around here, the brand meant more than another bottle competing for space in the cooler. 01-08

Sun Drop reached Gaston County in 1953 through Charles P. Nanney's bottling operation. The company had roots in Gastonia dating to 1917 and opened an expanded Franklin Avenue plant in 1939. Sun Drop quickly found customers in the area's mill communities, becoming closely associated with the city's beverage industry.

UPDATE: Operations at the old Gastonia bottling site have ended, while the regional beverage business continues elsewhere. The present condition of this particular display remains unconfirmed, but it records a familiar local advertising name. 11-26

Old Piggly Wiggly Building
Great Falls, SC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The former Piggly Wiggly in Great Falls carried a reminder of grocery shopping beyond the checkout counter. Faded S&H Green Stamps advertising remained on the building, recalling the little stamps customers collected with their purchases. Long after the grocery closed, the wall still promoted a reward that once helped persuade shoppers where to spend their money. 02-08

Sperry & Hutchinson began issuing trading stamps in 1896. Customers pasted them into books and exchanged completed collections for merchandise, from household items to larger prizes. By 1964, more than sixty percent of American consumers saved S&H Green Stamps, making the familiar emblem a powerful retail advertisement.

UPDATE: The former grocery remains vacant, with its faded Green Stamps sign preserving another layer of the building's shopping history. The shelves are gone, but the wall still recalls an earlier kind of customer loyalty program. 11-26