A bit of Alabama history: Yeilding’s Department Store was founded by F.B. Yeilding of Birmingham. He acquired the first store that would become Yeilding’s from William Hood when Hood married Frank’s sister Vilanta. Yeilding sent his six sons to Birmingham Southern College, and a chapel on campus is named for him.
I suppose this button may have come into my collection via their store in Birmingham’s Eastwood Mall. Lynne’s mother worked for an architect who had an office in Birmingham as well as the small city closest to our hometown. Sometimes she’d have to work in the Birmingham office, and when she did, she’d take Lynne and me and drop us for the day at Eastwood Mall. Eastwood wasn’t large by later mall standards, but it was larger than anything we had, so it was a big time for two early-teen girls. It was the state’s first indoor, air-conditioned mall. In its early days, it didn’t have what came to be called “anchor stores,” but later it boasted Pizitz (which became McRae’s), Parisian, JC Penney, and Yeilding’s department stores. I can also remember, at various times, Service Merchandise, S.S. Kresge (which would later become K Mart), Orange Julius, a cafeteria, Pasquale’s Pizza, Hallmark, a record store (where we could pick up the list of top songs being played on WVOK), a bookstore, and several shoe stores. There were also stores that sold pianos and organs, and we could always hear the sounds of someone playing mixed with splashing from the fountains. Just across from the mall was Eastwood Plaza, and Lynne and I would go there, too, mainly because of a store–World Bazaar?–where we could find odd items within our meager price range. And coming or going, there was always a stop at Krispy Kreme for donuts.
Eastwood Mall began to struggle when Century Plaza Mall was built just across the street. Ultimately, Eastwood was razed and a super Walmart is on the site now. And Century Plaza closed the last of its stores in 2009. These days, as retailers struggle and cut back on staff, the concept of “extra service” seems like as quaint a part of our past as early malls.