First Chamblee Store

The first store in Chamblee was opened in the late 1800s by W. D. Wallace and C. P. Warnock across from the railroad tracks and Chamblee depot. W. D. was known as Dave and C. P. went by Charlie. The building still stands today at the intersection of American Way and Peachtree Road.

This building in Chamblee was home to the first store in the town, owned by Dave Wallace and Charlie Warnock.

Dave Wallace was one of the children of William R. Wallace, who ran a sawmill and built furniture in the area where Fischer Mansion was later built and today is the location of The Preserve at Fischer Mansion and D’Youville Condominiums.

The 1910 census record shows Charlie and Corrie Warnock living in the Cross Keys district of DeKalb County along with their five children. Charlie’s occupation is listed as retail merchant in a general store. Directly below this record is that of Dave and Sibbie Wallace and their son. Dave Wallace is also listed as a retail merchant in a general store.

In Vivian Price’s 1983 book, “A History of the Community and City of Chamblee,” she shares the history of the general merchandise store. “You could buy five yards of percale for 62 cents or a lamp globe for a dime.” Cows and chickens were kept in a pen behind the store, because customers sometimes paid their account with a cow or chickens.

Price says reading the ledger book of the store was like reading the census report for Chamblee. The names included Eidson, Carroll, Sexton, Rudisill, Bolton, Purcell, Coker, Berry, Britt, Pierce, Etheridge, Miller, Loyd, and Elliot. The Chamblee Masons met on the second floor and are also listed on the store ledger as a customer.

The store later became the location of Pierce’s Variety Store and Masonic Lodge 444. The Masons continued to meet in the building for several decades, until a new lodge was built at 5556 Peachtree Boulevard in Chamblee Plaza.

The last time I visited the building, the owners of Moonbird Cafe and Southbound Restaurant had a sheet of history available to customers. (Moonbird has since left this location) The building was originally a free-standing building and the first on the block. Other buildings were built up and down the road, but the Wallace and Warnock store was the only two story. The bricks were handmade and molded, possibly on site.

Shady Ladies consignment and window treatment shop was in the building before it became home to the café and restaurant.

The great care the owners took in restoring the building can be seen outside and when you step inside. “Construction of Southbound took over two years and we opened in May 2014. We worked hard to preserve the original beauty and architecture of the building, which required peeling away many, many layers that the years had piled on.” Wood from the base of the bar was recycled and unique pieces were found to increase the “rustic beauty of the building.”

The bar upstairs was originally in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. Southbound owners bought the bar from a carpenter who had saved the old and worn bar from becoming trash. Today, it has new life upstairs at Southbound.