Miller's Department Store was a fixture of Knoxville retail for eight decades. It dominated downtown, and later the suburban shopping mall scene.
Shoppers could buy everything from clothes to shoes to jewelry to decor to toys to gardening supplies to cookware to books. Or they could get a bite to eat and dine in the cafeteria.
In the early 20th century, Miller's was for a time one of Knoxville's tallest buildings, and later, it was home to the city's first escalators. Cormac McCarthy called it a "perfumed and airconditioned sanctuary" in "Suttree," and James Agee called it a "profoundly matronly store" in "A Death in the Family."
There's no question the iconic department store has been immortalized, both in the written word and in our memories,
but its reign has ended. In 1988, Miller's met its end when the remaining stores were rebranded as Hess's.
Miller's was 'a little store of BIG bargains'
Miller's opened in Knoxville March 23, 1901, on the 300 block of Gay Street, identified in a later newspaper article as the northwest corner of Gay Street and Wall Avenue. An advertisement in the Knoxville Sentinel the day before called it "a little store of BIG bargains" and "a store of small prices."
In 1905, it was announced the already successful store would build a new structure at the corner of Gay Street and Union Avenue. That building is still around today and is still called the Miller's Building, although it's now more recognizable as the home of Cruze Farm, amongst other entities.
It was there that Knoxville's first escalators were constructed in 1947. They were introduced to the city in a formal ceremony attended by Mayor Edward L. Chavannes, and the Knoxville News Sentinel reported the "public reaction was full of interest.
"A few shoppers tried the escalator gingerly at first, but invariably rode down again full of smiles," the article continued.
Shifting tides for Miller's
By 1955, another popular department store had opened over on Henley Street: Rich's, but it wasn't long before Miller's incorporated the Knoxville Rich's into its growing empire. In 1961, Miller's took over, the News Sentinel reported that January. One of the first changes Miller's planned was related to the tunnel − which is still around today − that connected the parking garage and warehouse across Henley to Rich's. Miller's wanted to convert it to a selling area.
(Interestingly, there was also a tunnel at the other Miller's. It ran under Gay Street, connecting the 1905 building to the Fidelity Building across the Street.)
Then, shopping began to shift out of downtown. In 1972, West Town Mall opened, with Miller's as an original anchor. The following year, it was announced that the 1905 Miller's on Gay Street would close, although the Henley Street store stayed. In keeping with that trend, the East Towne Mall opened in 1984 with Miller's as an anchor there, too.
In 1987, Miller's was bought by Hess's, a different department store chain. For a time, the Miller's brand was allowed to continue, until 1988 when Hess's changed the name of the remaining stores to Hess's. Hess's closed at the Henley location in 1991 and sold its East Towne and West Town locations to Dillard's in 1992. The chain announced in 1994 it would close its remaining 30 stores.
Hayden Dunbar Evans is the storyteller reporter. Email: hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com. Instagram: @knoxstoryteller.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Miller's Department Store dominated Knoxville shopping scene for decades
