Webb's City
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail (Department store) |
| Founded | 1926 |
| Founder | James Earl "Doc" Webb |
| Defunct | 1979 |
| Headquarters | St. Petersburg, Florida , United States |
Area served | St. Petersburg, Florida |
Key people | James Earl "Doc" Webb (founder) |
| Products | Department store goods including gift shop items, hardware, meat market, beauty parlor, travel agency, clothing, cafeteria services, coffee shops, soda fountains, drugstore products |
Number of employees | 1,700 (at its height) |
Template:Other uses 27°46′6″N 82°38′43″W / 27.76833°N 82.64528°W Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates
Webb's City was a comprehensive department store situated in St. Petersburg, Florida. Established in 1926 by James Earl "Doc" Webb, it promoted itself as "the World's Most Unusual Drug Store." Webb has been likened to the "P. T. Barnum of specialty store retailing" due to his innovative marketing approach.[1] The store featured various sideshows, including animal performances, acrobatic acts, and talking mermaids.
At its height, Webb's City spanned roughly ten city blocks, employed around 1,700 staff members, and contained 77 departments.[2][3] It is often recognized as an early model for the modern shopping center concept.
The store’s radio commercial featured the catchy slogan: "There'll be no more hoppin' around the town a-shoppin', Webb's City is your one-stop shopping store." However, with the rise of shopping malls, Webb's City's customer base declined, leading to its closure in 1979.[4]
Doc Webb’s business mantra was "stack it high and sell it cheap,"[5] a strategy later adopted by Sam Walton in building Walmart’s retail empire.[6] Scholars Ronald D. Michman and Edward M. Mazze credit the store’s popularity in St. Petersburg to its appeal among a significant elderly population eager for an engaging venue to spend their pensions. The clientele predominantly consisted of senior citizens and African Americans because of its location, pricing strategy, and sales volume.[2] Although the store employed members of the African American community, it maintained segregated shopping sections exclusively for white customers and deliberately restricted black employees from advancing to higher positions. This racial discrimination and glass ceiling became central issues during Civil Rights sit-ins and protests throughout the 1960s.
History
Webb's featured a variety of retail offerings including a gift shop, hardware store, meat market, beauty parlor, travel agency, clothing sections, a cafeteria, several coffee shops and soda fountains, as well as a drugstore. According to Doc Webb's son, Webb's City was among the first to implement the concept of an express checkout lane for customers with ten items or fewer. Webb's Outpost was a smaller outlet situated near the Gandy Bridge leading into Tampa. Additionally, a brief branch operated in nearby Pinellas Park, Florida, which some regard as an early model of the modern big-box discount retailers like Wal-Mart and Target.
Haircuts were offered for just 25 cents, and breakfast could be purchased for two cents. On occasion, Doc sold dollar bills for 95 cents. Unique entertainment included ducks playing baseball, dancing chickens, and kissing rabbits. The store also hosted live sideshow attractions such as talking mermaids and circus acrobats.
Low price lawsuits
In 1939, media outlets positively highlighted Webb’s sale of 50-cent tubes of Ipana toothpaste at only 13 cents each, likely as a promotional tactic. Despite favorable press coverage, manufacturers were displeased with their products being sold below the manufacturer suggested retail price. The dispute escalated to the Florida Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in favor of Webb's. Several years later, various distilleries also filed lawsuits against Webb for similar pricing practices; once again, the courts sided with Webb.
Racial discrimination
Between its establishment in 1926 and approximately 1960—particularly before the Civil Rights Movement—Doc Webb’s enterprise was notable for employing African Americans at a time when many St. Petersburg businesses would not. However, these employees were generally assigned roles deemed appropriate for people of color, such as barbers or butchers. African Americans were never placed in supervisory or decision-making positions within Webb’s City. Although African Americans constituted the majority of customers at Webb’s City, they were prohibited from dining at the lunch counter or shopping in certain departments like "ready to wear" or "men’s suits."
Civil rights activism and NAACP demonstrations
By mid-1960, the NAACP alongside members of the Black community actively organized picketing and sit-in protests at Webb’s City to challenge its discriminatory racial hiring practices. The leadership of the St. Petersburg NAACP primarily criticized Doc Webb for failing to employ African Americans in proportion to their significant shopping presence at Webb’s City and their residency in the surrounding neighborhoods. Among the 1,700 staff members, only 150 were Black, and none held positions that allowed for career advancement within the company.[2] Doc Webb contested the NAACP’s claims and initiated legal action aimed at stopping the St. Petersburg NAACP’s protest activities. On December 7, 1960, he obtained a temporary restraining order from the court that barred further NAACP protests at Webb’s City.[2] The NAACP responded by filing a motion to have this order dismissed. Meanwhile, Doc Webb persisted with his legal campaign to prevent picketers from demonstrating on the premises, citing concerns about employee safety and financial losses attributed to the protests; a company comptroller testified that these disruptions had resulted in a loss of US$13,146.[2] In 1961, Webb’s City eliminated its racial exclusion policies; however, the legal dispute extended to the U.S. Supreme Court, which delivered its final ruling in 1964, concluding that the controversy had been resolved by the removal of discriminatory barriers. It has been proposed that the Supreme Court might have ruled in favor of the NAACP had these changes not occurred.[2]
Conflicts between Doc Webb and the NAACP persisted beyond 1964. In 1968, when the NAACP backed a strike by garbage workers in St. Petersburg, they organized picketing and called for a boycott targeting downtown businesses, including Webb’s City. This boycott escalated beyond the earlier peaceful demonstrations; six protesters were arrested at Webb’s City for "interfering with business," which involved chanting slogans such as "Let's burn it down, we'll start with Webb's." Despite this unrest, Doc Webb chose not to seek a permanent injunction against protesters, allowing small peaceful groups to continue picketing at Webb’s City.[2]
Store closure
Webb’s City ceased operations on August 18, 1979. The building was torn down five years later in 1984. Today, the store’s famous giant mermaid sign is preserved and displayed at the St. Petersburg Museum of History.[5]
- ↑ Michman, Ronald D.; Mazze, Edward M. (February 28, 2001). Specialty Retailers -- Marketing Triumphs and Blunders. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9780313000416.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Robbins, P.D., (2003). Stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap: James doc webb and webb's city, st. petersburg, florida. Florida State University Libraries. Retrieved from https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:176309/datastream/PDF/view
- ↑ "Musical production recalls creativity of Webb's City". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on September 8, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
- ↑ "Looking Back: A Final Sale for Webb's City (Aug. 19, 1979)". Tampa Bay Times. August 24, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Clark, James C. (2023). Lost Attractions of Florida. Arcadia Publishing. p. 100. ISBN 9781467145954.
- ↑ Brown, R. H., (nd). "Florida's lost tourist attractions: Webb's city". Retrieved from www.lostparks.com/webbs.html