Brendle's

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Brendle's grew from S.W.&Y. Supply, an Elkin wholesale grocery-distribution business founded in 1918. Douglas D. Brendle joined in 1953, added toys and housewares, and turned the warehouse into a showroom; the company began publishing catalogs in 1957. The result was part catalog counter, part treasure hunt, stocked with jewelry, electronics, toys, sporting goods, housewares and gifts.

From its North Carolina home base, Brendle's became a familiar regional stop across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee. At its 1990 peak, the chain operated 58 showrooms and employed roughly 3,000 people. For shoppers, this was the era of circling catalog pages, filling out order slips and waiting for the mysterious stockroom to produce the prize.

The big showroom model ran into hard times. Brendle's entered Chapter 11 reorganization in 1992 and completed a reorganization in 1994 after store closings. A second filing came in April 1996; the company closed 18 of 30 stores and attempted a leaner mix centered on home goods, crafts and party merchandise. In December 1996, it announced liquidation of its remaining retail operations.

Our Brendle's collection celebrates the catalog-circling, counter-ticketing, stockroom-summoning magic of a Southern retail original—because apparently buying a toaster should have felt like recovering an artifact.