Jerry Summers
James Earl "Doc" Webb was born in Nashville in either 1897 or 1898 and his family moved to Knoxville when he was 10 years old.
In 1925, as a self-taught pharmacist by trade he moved to St. Petersburg, Florida to make his fortune.
A small man standing only 5’2” tall and with only a partial grammar school education, he was consumed with an insatiable desire to be a success and he accomplished his goal in grand style after starting off with a small 17x28 foot drugstore in St.
Petersburg known as “Webb’s Cut Rate Drug Company.”
From that beginning he would develop the “World’s Most Unusual Drug Store” known as “Webb City.”
The one stop shopping complex would encompass 10 city blocks on the southside of downtown St. Petersburg that included 72 individual stores within the complex that ranged from a standard grocery/drug store, barber shop, tire store, etc. and at its peak employed over 1,700 people and included parking for 3,000 cars.
The story of Orton Caswell "Cas" Walker (1902-1998) is better known in Tennessee history. In addition to giving country superstar Dolly Parton her first television debut with Porter Waggoner on his early morning television show he also built an empire in the grocery business.
Born in Sevier County, he also had limited education and at the age of 14 he left East Tennessee to work in the coal mines of Kentucky.
He returned to Knoxville in 1922 and in 1924 opened his first store which eventually would grow into a chain of 27 supermarkets in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia.
The start of Cas Walker in the grocery business in Knoxville in 1924 and the departure of Doc Webb for the sunny climate of St. Petersburg in 1925 may be just one of many coincidences of the two dedicated businessmen of that era who became successful entrepreneurs with a connection to the city of Knoxville.
Both were master showmen in the style of P.T. Barnum and Chattanooga Lookouts owner Joe Engel of the minor league baseball team in the Southern Association. Each of them had similar characteristics of being willing to participate in any promotion or gimmick to appeal to customers with low prices through heavy advertising campaigns.
The practice of buying products in bulk at low prices led Doc Webb to establish one of his mottos of “Stock ‘Em High and Sell ‘Em Cheap” which could also apply equally to Cas Walker.
There would be no limit to the unusual and sometimes bizarre promotions that would attract large crowds with particular appeal to lower income whites and blacks alike who would seek a bargain to feed their families.
From Cas’s stunt of burying “Digger” O'Dell underground in the parking lot of one of his Knoxville grocery stores and Doc’s famous price of a “3 Cent Breakfast” during the aftermath of the Depression in 1933 that consisted of “One egg, two strips of bacon, three slices of toast, grits, and ham gravy” both shocked and brought the public into their businesses.
Both were involved in controversy throughout their lives but the turmoil only increased the daily number of customers that averaged 12,000 visitors each day to Doc’s Webb City, “The World's Most Unusual Drug Store” and a similar number to Cas’ locations with his sign of a pair of shears indicating that he was “cutting prices” outside each store.
Cas served in politics in Knox County for over 40 years and would be involved in many battles with his colleagues. He earned the reputation of “always being for the little man.”
Doc Webb would acquire prominence in his legal battles against the Fair Trade laws that allowed “price-fixing” by big corporations.
Although the legend of Cas Walker is well known in the history of East Tennessee and Knoxville, the story of “Doc” Webb in the Sunshine City on the West Coast of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico is likewise legendary in St. Petersburg.
In 2003 a graduate student, Pamela D. Robbins, wrote a “dissertation submitted to the Department of History (Florida State University) in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy which covers the life of Doc in St. Petersburg from 1925 to his death in 1982. By Googling her name, you can obtain a printed copy of said dissertation under the aforementioned title of “Stack Em High and Sell Them Cheap.” Doc’s business journey is equally applicable to Cas.
Fortunately, Doc did not live to see the destruction of his beloved creation by the wrecking ball in 1984 as the once haven of St. Petersburg for elderly tourists moved into light industry and a movement away from dependence on tourism and a lower reliance on the citrus fruit industry.
The empires built by Cas Walker and Doc Webb were products of a bygone era, but one cannot reject the idea that with their determination and creativity that they would be able to adapt to the 21st century.
(The possible theory that Walmart and Sams Club founder Sam Walton may have gotten a few tips from Cas and Doc’s life stories presents another reason to review his business journey to become a billionaire?)
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Jerry Summers
(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)