MEMORIES:
tikilounge55 remembers...Being from the south, I came across Stuckeys all the time. When the family and I would take our family ... More »
Posted on 12/16/07
Stuckey’s… an oasis on the long drive between Point A and Point B. Stuckey’s… with its two for a buck pecan logs and 99-cent breakfast, two eggs and two pieces of toast with jam. Stuckey’s… rattlesnake earrings, coffee mugs, Mexican rugs and statuettes from wall to wall. Ahh, the memories are fond for anyone who made a Stuckey’s pit stop on the road. Family-friendly, with its blue roof and clean bathrooms, Stuckey’s was a roadside favorite for decades. As popular and as un-missable as they once seemed to be, they’re harder to find today, and are only recently facing resurgence, particularly in the South.
Once upon a very long time ago, Stuckey’s got its start with W.S. Stuckey, Sr., pecan salesman, traveling around to buy and sell the popular southern nut in his home state of Georgia. With his business steadily growing and with an increasingly road-friendly society, in 1936 W.S. Stuckey set up a roadside stand in Eastman, Georgia to take advantage of the many tourists driving by. To complement his basic unshelled pecans, Stuckey’s wife, Ethel, started making pecan logs for him to sell. The logs proved to be a big hit with travelers, and soon the business grew to the point where the little roadside lean-to couldn’t handle the volume. In 1937, Stuckey sold his little stand and built his first store in Eastman.
Realizing the potential to serve road-weary travelers, Stuckey’s expanded their shop to include a restaurant and began to stock other food items. Within a couple of years, two more shops were built in Georgia, with more and more being built each year. During World War II, Stuckey’s came to face the reality that many a candy company saw. With the massive sugar shortage, business slowed considerably, but bounced back quickly and vigorously once the war was over. Franchises started popping up all across the country, many of which were partnered with Texaco, bringing Stuckey’s into the big-time and making it the perfect pit stop for travelers in need of just about anything.
Though unsubstantiated and likely untrue, one popular legend claims that W.S. Stuckey chose store locations by drinking a lot of coffee and driving down the highway. Once his bladder gave up and he made a restroom break, wherever he stopped, a new Stuckey’s would be built. If it was someone’s house, then the owner would become the manager of the store. Or so legend has it.
With such tremendous expansion, it’s almost easy to see where rumors like this would come from. By the time the mid-1960s came around, there were over 350 Stuckey’s throughout the U.S., and it seemed like more were to come. The American roadside icon wouldn’t last forever, much to the dismay of road enthusiasts. In 1964, the Stuckey sold his company to Pet Milk, Inc in exchange for company stock, bringing an end to an era for the Stuckey family.
Under new management and dealing with concerns over oil prices during the late 1970s, Stuckey’s languished, and in 1977, W.S. Stuckey, Sr. died. By the early 1980s, Stuckey’s was down to a mere 75 locations, most of them mismanaged and falling into disrepair. Worse yet for long-time fans of Stuckey’s, the personal touch was gone, replaced by a corporate environment in which no one seemed to care about the classic roadside shops.
During this time, the Stuckey family had been focusing its attention to politics, and their son, W.S. Stuckey Jr. had become a U.S. Congressman. After the passing of his father, and after serving five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1967 and 1977, Stuckey Jr. decided to focus on rebuilding the family business. By 1985, along with the help of some partners, he was able to repurchase Stuckey’s from Pet Milk, and was given a chance to rebuild the family name.
Today, Stuckey’s is back up to an impressive 200 stores across America in 19 states. The stores still carry the signature knick-knacks and doo-dads as they always did, making last minute souvenirs easier to find – everything from Mexican rugs to earrings and pottery. They still carry their signature confection, the pecan log roll, only now it’s available in many different sizes, perfect for on the road, and even better for bringing back the sweet memories of road trips and the family vacation.
