Just mentioning the Marylena Shoppe in Yazoo City sets locals on a tour down memory lane with stories of elegant Southern women, fine apparel and twirling fabrics amidst a French Settee.
For the past six decades the Thomas sisters have dressed Yazoo City, and their vision took clothiers a step above the rest. And it all began in a small shoppe, never to be confused with shop, on Broadway in 1948.
“When I was a girl, the very name of the Marylena Shoppe in Yazoo City conjured up the notion of the latest in ladies’ apparel,” said Teresa Nicholas, in her article that appeared in the Mississippi Magazine. “Aptly named, the Marylena wasn’t just a shop; it was a shoppe, with all the old-fashioned elegance implied by the fancy spelling of the word.”
The Marylena Shoppe was founded by the Thomas sisters, Mary and Lena. Their business sense and eye for fashion transformed their father’s former grocery store into a unique dress shoppe. The sisters opened the doors on Nov. 9, 1948 at 115 West Broadway.
Sisters Catherine and Juliette Thomas would eventually join the operation as well.
In Nicholas’ article, Catherine remembered how Lena always wanted to operate an apparel store.
After the Thomas’ father died, they did keep his grocery store going for a while. But after Lena took out a small loan, she immediately began looking for merchandise in Dallas. The rest was Yazoo history.
“‘We had an open house with refreshments, and all afternoon and evening, a lot of townspeople came,’” Catherine recalls in Nicholas’ article. “The store had been renovated, and there were beautiful flowers.”
The Marylena Shoppe was more than just a place to purchase attire, hosiery, hats and other fashionable accessories. It was among the community’s thriving Lebanese business district.
In fact, the Marylena Shoppe is the last remaining operation on the strip of Broadway that houses a number of Lebanese businesses.
William and Cecelia Thomas arrived in Yazoo City from Lebanon before World War I. Yazoo City provided opportunities for the family, having coined the title of “wealthiest town in the Mississippi Delta” from the New York Times.
The Thomas family joined other Lebanese business families including the Nicholas, Alias, Hassin and Weber families.
“Like many of the Lebanese immigrants, the Thomases also lived on West Broadway, above their grocery store,” Nicholas added.
Later, the Thomas family would exchange food carts for hat boxes and petticoat bags.
And the Thomas sisters knew their products.
“With the Marylena Shoppe, the striking Thomas sisters-tall, dark-complexioned and always fashionably attired-were continuing the long tradition of Lebanese shopkeeping,” Nicholas said.
The double-show windows let Yazoo in on the latest fashions. A costume jewelry counter and skirted displays filled the cozy entry. An adjacent showroom was lined with dresses.
While researching for this article, The Herald even heard one resident recall the dressing area.
“There was a French settee, and the ladies would come out of the dressing room with flowing dresses in front of mirrors,” he said.
The Thomas sisters traveled all over the country, bringing the latest trends and styles back to Yazoo.
The Thomas sisters clothed Yazoo City for over 60 years.
And now the family has decided to liquidate the stock.
Paul Cartwright, with Cartwright Estate Liquidations, has spent the past week cataloging thousands of pieces in the shoppe for a sale on Friday and Saturday.
From vintage undergarments in their original boxes to hats on a vintage display to Italian gloves to a variety of clothing lines both vintage and just last season...the sale will cover over six decades of fine apparel.
But it’s more than just a sale. It’s a glimpse into a bygone era, a piece of history.
It’s a time capsule of elegant ladies and personal service.
It was a place you went “for the loveliest things.”
