Shamis Retires to the Good Life

"Hollywood Shop Closes after 55 years"

When George Shamis told his wife to get packed and ready to move from Los Angeles to the small-town South, her knee-jerk reaction was, "Oh, dear God, not Mississippi. "

That was in 1934, and the half-century success story that followed has since changed Adele Shamis' mind about McComb.

"I love this town," she said. "I have always loved this town, the greenery, the clean yards, the people are so friendly. And, thank God, we are prosperous and we did well. I couldn't have asked for any better life. "

The Shamises, who found their way to McComb quite by accident, operated The Hollywood Shop, a fixture on Main Street and Delaware Avenue, for 55 years until they closed it in September. Mrs. Shamis' husband died in 1972 and in recent years their son, George Ellis Shamis, operated the store with his mother."

I'm 74 years old and I felt like I was working harder than I ever was in my life," Mrs. Shamis explained "Times weren't as easy and you had to work harder to get the money.

"We decided, 'Let's do something else with the building. Let's sell out while we can hold our head up high.' "

Hard work or not, she confessed that it hasn't been easy to shake off years of going to market to buy the latest in women's clothing and accessories. "

I miss my customers. I miss fashion," she said. "I went to market five times a year for 55 years and when you do that you know you're going to miss it. "She is a native of what's now Lebanon and arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. Her husband also had strong Lebanese roots.

Her family's experience in the U.S. began in 1905, when her uncles brought her father to Dublin, GA., as a young boy. In the 192OS, seeking a wife, he returned to the Middle East and met his bride, but her parents forbade them from marrying unless they stayed home.

The couple did, but headed back to America in 1921. A brief history lesson: Lebanon, which takes its name from a mountain range in its territory, was part of Syria until Turkey seized it in the early part of this century. It became a colony of France after Turkey was on the losing side of World War I, then gained independence in 1942.

Mrs. Shamis' father prospered by opening a dry-goods store in Malvern, Ark. In 1925 he moved the family to Miami, but a hurricane the next year destroyed their home and business. He went back to Malvern and reopened his store, but died in1927.

His death brought 25-year-old George Shamis from Miami to Malvern to run the store, where he met 12-year-old Adele Naklie. They fell in love from the start and married five years later. She attended her first market as a 17 -year-old honeymooner.

The couple moved to California, where they operated a wholesale dress manufacturing business for two years. Shamis, on a trip to Louisiana to see his ailing father, passed through McComb, where he met Mayor X.A. Kramer. The mayor, who owned several downtown buildings, offered to put Shamis in one of them, and The Hollywood Shop, named for the family's fond memories of California, was in business.

The family kept an annex on Main Street after opening their 8,000 square-foot building on Delaware Avenue in 1975. The store's most interesting feature was an elevated, mirrored area in the middle of the sales floor where customers could admire the garments they tried on. It also happened to be strategically placed so everyone in the store would~ the customer and maybe spend a little more on themselves.

Mrs. Shamis said she learned things like that from her husband, whom she believes was the best marketer around. He once told an employee that good salesmanship was not just selling customers what they wanted, but selling them what they didn't know they wanted.

"My favorite is selling and dressing people up to make their eyes look bright," she added. And I love putting clothes together, accessorizing them from head to toe."

She said the store, through word-of mouth, gained quite a following from people in larger towns.

"We had more out-of-town customers than in-town, that's what made it wonderful, "she said. "Once people came to The Hollywood Shop, they never forgot. I've never seen a store of the type we had, where people would help you and be nice to you."

Despite the out-of-town following, especially from people who would return to visit local relatives and stop by, Mrs. Shamis said the family has never thought of moving the store to a larger city.

"I didn't ever love to live in a big city," she said. "I preferred it here because I was closer to all the big cities. I wanted to raise my children in a small town where there are better schools and everything. Once you live in a California or New York, where people are cold, you appreciate that. "

Mrs. Shamis plans to stay busy in retirement. A sister-in-law who has a clothing store in Gulf port wants to take her to market. She likes to travel, read, work in her garden and play "cards of any description."

"There's plenty for me to do. I'm not one to be idle," she remarked. One item not on the agenda is a return to her native land. She and her husband visited relatives there in1971, two years before Lebanon's civil war broke out. Cousins and aunts continue to reside in the Beirut area.

She regrets the country's troubles, particularly the destruction in Beirut, which she described as similar to Los Angeles in climate and topography -sea on one side, mountains on the other. "It's too dangerous. You think I'd go over there now? No way, shape or form," she said. "I think a person can make a home wherever they are.[ will never leave here. This is my home."