NEWS
6 • Thursday, July 28, 2022
SHAIA’S
OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL
Four Generations and Counting
Expanding the Store’s Focus
Meanwhile, back at the store, Alex Shaia added a variety of items so that Shaia’s was like a department store, J.L. said. “My dad wanted it to be a junior department store,” with sections for ladies, boys and babies, J.L. said. So it was through the next decades. J.L. started working at the store in 1953 and in 1955, the store moved just
Above, a current photo of J.L. Shaia and son Ken Shaia. J.L.’s brother, Leo Shaia, joined the business in 1957. By the 1970s, the brothers were co-owners who wanted to remodel the store and change the business focus to fine quality menswear. Below left, Shaia’s founder, S.G. Shaia, sits on the steps of a house in Homewood that was next door to the original shop, which opened in 1922. Below right, a shoe sale was underway when Alex Shaia, left, and his father, Shaia’s founder S.G. Shaia, posed for this photo in front of the family business in downtown Homewood.
When casual Fridays became prevalent in the office, Shaia’s expanded its line of men’s shoes, which the store had carried for 30 or 40 years at that point.
Renovating While Preserving the Past
two doors down from its original address, 2814 18th Street South to 2818 18th Street South. J.L.’s brother, Leo Shaia, joined the business in 1957. By the 1970s, the brothers were co-owners who wanted to remodel the store and change the business focus to fine quality menswear. “We decided we did not want to compete with Parisians (department store). We found our customer was a professional person in most cases.” Since then, every generation has added its own touches to the business, adapting and improving products and service. “We found lines that weren’t as well-known but were of good quality,” such as Ralph Lauren Polo, which Shaia’s carried for 10 years before the designer launched his own stores, J.L. said.
Improvements also have come to the bricks and mortar aspect of the store, J.L. Shaia said. The store itself has been remodeled three times since 1955, and in 1982 Shaia’s expanded to the retail space next door. That project marked a fresh overhaul for the shop, with Birmingham architect Fritz Woehle, who was a Shaia’s customer, designing
the space. At first, Woehle, who designed home interiors, not retail, walked out of the store when approached about the project. He later agreed to do the project. “We didn’t want another cookie-cutter store,” J.L. said. Behind the wallpaper and paneling of the store at that time, a 13-inch-thick brick wall was discovered, which now makes up a key element of the interior décor. So does the skylight that Woehle added
Photos courtesy
national, state and local awards and “has become one of the most respected men’s stores in America.” The Shaia family held a centennial party at the store May 15. J.L.’s grandfather, S.G. Shaia, was a 16-year-old Lebanese orphan who came to the United States in 1896, J.L. said. At first the teenager, who didn’t know a word of English, went to Lexington, Kentucky, and Nashville, then came to Birmingham in 1905. “He was a peddler and carried a 100-pound pack on his back, selling his wares in Jefferson and Shelby counties,” J.L. said. His grandfather saved his pennies and in 1921 bought lots in Homewood. Seeing there were no grocery or drug stores in the area, he decided to open a store in 1922. His business license, dated 192122, shows S.G. was authorized to sell bottled drinks and cigarettes. He expanded the goods he sold to include what the community needed, something that has driven the family business through the years, J.L. said. By the 1930s, when he was no longer working in the store, S.G. was not only a successful businessman but a beloved member of the Homewood community. He visited the store daily, and people sought him out due to his ability to “conjure” warts away, according to family lore, J.L. said. “He had some secret an Indian told him” for banishing warts and those afflicted went to him for help, his grandson said. “I don’t know what he did. He couldn’t tell the secret.” S.G., a widower who never remarried after his wife, Badia, died in 1931, lived to be 96 and died in 1976. In the 1930s, the second generation, S.G’s son Alex Shaia, led the business. His brother, George Shaia, was the store’s bookkeeper but left to work at Southern Railway and in the late 1940s, then took the civil service exam, eventually becoming a Homewood city inspector.
Photo by Brandon Robbins
From Page One
Four generations of the Shaia family have worked in the family business in Homewood since 1922. Here, from left to right, are Ken Shaia, J.L. Shaia’s son; J.L. Shaia; Alex Shaia, J.L’s father; and Leo Shaia, J.L.’s brother.
to the ceiling, which lets in natural light. The store has been remodeled twice since 1982, and the brick wall and skylight have remained. One personal touch that has remained is the handle on Shaia’s front door, J.L. said. The grapevines climbing up the handle reflect the family’s roots in Lebanon. “Our heritage is deep and our ancestors were the Phoenicians, the first merchants,” he said, noting the ancient people of Lebanon who were seafaring merchants and traded throughout the Mediterranean. Leo Shaia retired in 2015 and J.L. retired from the business in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but he goes into the shop to meet friends and see old customers. His son, Ken Shaia, who represents the fourth generation, is “holding the reins. He’s been with us for 25 or 30 years.”
