What's Good for Atlanta ...

Under the formula, "What's good for Atlanta is good for Rich's," civic-conscious Rich's has become the South's biggest department store. Last week, after deciding that what's good for Atlanta, Ga. is good for Knoxville, Tenn., Rich's stockholders approved the store's first excursion outside the city. Rich's bought control of Knoxville's S. H. George department store for $2,000,000 in Rich's stock.

For 87 years, Rich's stuck not only to the old home town but to the old home neighborhood. Founder Morris Rich, a Hungarian immigrant of 19, opened his 75-by-25-ft. store in 1867 on the unfashionable side of Atlanta, and on that side Rich's stayed. Still owned by the Rich family, the store has also stuck to customer-winning policies, e.g., no time limit on the return of merchandise. Last year a woman exchanged a pair of shoes bought more than 13 years before; she had been "too busy" to return them sooner. The policies paid off: Rich's grossed $57 million last year, has netted upwards of $1,700,000 every year since 1946.

By such standards, S. H. George, founded in 1904, is small business; 1953 sales were $4,000,000. Why did Rich's want the store? Explained Board Chairman Frank H. Neely, a, mechanical engineer by training who went to work for Rich's in 1924: "We want to give it new housing, and build it up. We hope to go into other cities which are under-merchandised." What sort of new housing? Said President Richard H. Rich, grandson of the founder: "We intend to build a suburban-type store, with a lot of grass around it and plenty of parking space, all in the middle of the downtown area."

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