Downtown businessman retiring following blaze; ‘It’s been a good journey,’ Dean says

May 28-- May 28--George R. Dean was determined to make his dreams of business ownership come true despite the scourge of segregation and discrimination he witnessed along the way.

A conversation with George Dean

News

A conversation with George Dean

The lifelong Orangeburg resident is now poised to end his 50-year journey in the retail business with the closure of his downtown store.

Businessman thanks first responders, city for efforts in battling blaze that damaged Dean's Ltd.

Local

Businessman thanks first responders, city for efforts in battling blaze that damaged Dean's Ltd.

-- BRADLEY HARRIS

T&D Staff Writer

Dean's Ltd. has operated at its present location at 1185 Russell St. for the past 27 years.

'Everything changes'

Dean, 77, said while he is not exactly sure when his final day will be, he has projected that it will be on Father's Day weekend.

"Everything changes, and now the market is changing. That's why I knew it was time for me to retire. Orangeburg is a community that I grew up in. I have a lot of love for the community but, Orangeburg, as with every other community, goes through its ups and downs. ... Orangeburg and downtown is not what it used to be," he said.

Dean said the shift of major department stores such as Belk's from the downtown to the North Road area impacted customer traffic through downtown, but that's not the only change he's seen.

"These tariffs that are being implemented by the present administration in Washington are going to run up the price of clothing. They're already predicting that. So when you're dealing with a transitory community like ours and so many of our professionals now live outside of our community, those dollars are not staying in our community. ... When you have a shrinking profit margin and less consumers for your product, I don't have to say any more," he said.

Dean, who had worked in the insurance business, always dreamed of owning a business of his own.

He started in retail in 1968, when he and a high school friend opened an African apparel shop on Boulevard Street at the Railroad Corner.

"It was during the time of the demonstrations, the struggle for black folks around America was no different in South Carolina and in Orangeburg. We opened up an African apparel shop selling dashikis and earrings and African artifacts and black literature," Dean said. His friend, a United Methodist minister, stayed with the business approximately six months before leaving for Tennessee.

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"I bought him out. And the next year, at one time I had three businesses on one block on the Railroad Corner. I had my insurance office upstairs, and I had the African apparel shop, which we called The Last Word.

"And then I had an opportunity given to me by Mr. O.Z. Brandyburg, who ran the East End Variety Store. Between he and Gordon's Dime Store is when the boycotts were going, and they served a lot of our people during the times of the demonstrations and the selective buying effort that was going on in Orangeburg. And after that ended, he gave me an opportunity to buy his business," Dean said.

He bought the business and kept it running for six months before closing it down and developing his own business plan.

"I changed the entrance of my business and named it George's Boutique. ... During those times I sold ladies' wear and men's wear, but I only sold in the industry what we call piece goods, and that was bottoms and tops. ... We operated that for some 17 to 18 years. And that's how long we stayed on the Boulevard, on the Railroad Corner," Dean said.

During the recession of the early 1980s, he moved his business to downtown Orangeburg.

"And at that particular point, we changed the name to Deans Ltd. because we had decided to change our marketing strategy from piece goods to men's finer clothing. ... That was a very positive move for us because by that time, your major stories, your Belk's and your (J.C.) Penney's, moved from the downtown to the mall area," Dean said.

Limehouse, Fink's and Rennecker's were the three major men's stores in town, with Deans Ltd. currently located in what used to be the old Rennecker's store.

"Mr. Luther Adden owned this particular building. I bought this building from Mr. Eddie Silcox, who had a shoe store here. So I've been operating here 27 years in this particular space," Dean said.

His objective was to bring fashion to Orangeburg.

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"I grew up in Orangeburg, and only had the basic choices of fashion. We had clothes, no fashion. Sears & Roebuck catalog and Harvey's Bargain Basement was about all we had. So when I opened up my business and reestablished ... with Deans Ltd., my object was to bring name-brand, quality fashion to Orangeburg. And during the time of the journey, I think we did just that. That's how we distinguished ourselves from other competition," Dean said.

Dean said even though the community's average family income was not that high, "we were able to establish ourselves in the marketplace being located between Columbia and Charleston, and we got our market share of the business."

"Our market has always been a broader market than just what we would refer to as the greater Orangeburg area," he said.

"We built a clientele with them. And as we grew in our image and our quality of clothing, more people of the professional status could not ignore us any longer, and they began to shop with us also. But I hold my gratitude for the people who were in the greater Orangeburg area who have patronized us for years. That has made us competitive in the clothing market in this particular area," he said.

The businessman said he initially decided to retire last year, but that was before a downtown blaze in November 2018 that resulted in the first and second floors of his business sustaining damage.

"At that particular time, we were stocked up and ready for Christmas to make our last hurrah. But when the fire came, that held us up. So now we're back in and we're closing out. I would like to have seen someone take this business over," he said.

While his business still has a strong clientele, market changes will make it harder for many small businesses to remain open, including his, he said.

Dean, who described himself as a people person, said his journey in retail has been about providing his customers with quality service because it is what they deserve.

'We're in the people business'

"I always told my employees that we are not in the clothing business, we're in the people business. ... We have served people all up and down the East Coast, and that is from Boston to Miami. With the influx of traffic that comes through here, we would have people who would wait until they come home from the North just to shop with us for years," he said.

Dean thanked his family and his staff for helping to make his business a success, too.

"You have good apples and bad apples, but I can truly say I have enjoyed being with my staff. I've had some very good people. I've enjoyed my journey. It's been a good journey," he said.

Dean and his wife, Gloria, have two sons, Wade and Jason. A son from his first marriage, George R. Dean Jr., is deceased.

He is one of seven children born to the late George W. and Frances Dean and got emotional when talking about them, particularly his father who helped his son start his foray into retail with $2,000 of his own money.

"He co-signed my first note of $2,000," he said. Dean noted that this was after his business plan was turned down by, "this Southern banker who did not share any vision of a person with my pigmentation."

"My father, God bless his soul, told me, "George Robert, I don't know what you're trying to do. All I know is I'm for you.'... You've got believe in yourself because there's a lot of people who won't believe in you.

"But the community has been good, and I'd like to see younger leadership in this community with fresh ideas. As I pass the baton, it's time for others to do the same," Dean said.

He plans to begin his retirement from his Russell Street business by taking six months of rest.

"I'm going to hope to play a lot of golf, hope to do a lot of traveling. But I'm just not a do-nothing type person. I just want to get rid of the routine. I own this property. I'm going to rent this property, lease it out, and I want to set up a consulting firm and some consulting for small business," Dean said.

"I think I have something to offer. ... I often say, 'Luck don't last this long.' You either know what you're doing or you don't. So I want to start affecting young minds to start thinking a little different about your destiny and the difference that you will make in this world," he said.

He also has hopes for downtown.

"My impetus now is to pray and hope that this downtown will thrive again. Everything works in cycles, and I feel as if it will come back. It will not come back in the same form, shape or image, but it will come back," he said.

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Contact the writer: [email protected] or 803-533-5534. Follow "Good News with Gleaton" on Twitter at @DionneTandD

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