When remembering the good ole’ days, do you have memories of your family stopping at Stuckey’s to browse through their pecan log rolls, pralines, and peanut brittle.
Stuckey’s began in the early thirties when a man named W.S. Stuckey, Sr. began selling pecans. During these times of the great depression, Stuckey was looking for a job in Eastman, Georgia. Though he didn’t find one he was told by a warehouseman that he might think about buying pecans and selling them to the warehouse. In no time, with a $35 loan from his grandmother and an old car converted into a truck, Stuckey began traveling from house to house buying nuts.
Sometimes he would spend all his cash to early in the day so he would wait until the bank closed and start writing checks. He would then sell the pecans that night and deposit the checks the next morning before the checks had cleared.
It was a great idea for the unemployed Stuckey who sold about $4,500 worth of pecans in his first year. By 1933 he was doing well enough that a banker lent him $200 to expand his business. Three years later, the bank had extended his credit line to $20,000 and Stuckey’s pecan sales reached $150,000.
In 1936, Stuckey, along with his wife, Ethyl, decided to take advantage of the winter tourist season by setting up a roadside stand. In addition to selling shelled and unshelled pecans, Ethyl made batches of pecan candy that also sold at the stand. For two years, their sales totaled $2,000 to $3,000. In 1937, they sold the roadside stand and opened their first retail store in Eastman, Georgia. Before long, two more stores were built in Georgia and in 1941, a new one was opened in Hilliard, Florida.
When gas and tire rationing began in World War II, Stuckey was forced to close all his stores except the one in Eastman. However, by this time his pecan treats had become so well known, that the couple were commissioned to produce candy for the military.
For more on Stuckey's click here : legendsofamerica.com/66-Stuckeys
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