TOP PHOTO: The building that housed Lyons’ Super Trading Center and its huge parking lot still sits at the corner of West Central Avenue and South 13th Street at Stop Light Five.

By Charlie Hutson

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – This Throwback Thursday image is a look inside Lyons’ Super Trading Center on West Central Avenue. Owner Walter Lyons and wife Wilcher opened the store in the mid-1940s. This was the largest grocery store in Campbell County and one of the largest in Tennessee back in the day.

This image shows only a small section of the store. Here, they sold several flavors of hand dipped ice cream and their famous Downyflake Donuts. As you can see, this section handled all types of tobacco products including pipes, lighters and lighter fluid and much more.

Lyons’ wasn’t just a grocery store, it was a modern day general store. Here you could by feed and grain and hardware items, and coal miners could buy their supplies like helmets and the lamp also the carbide it used. I can remember we had a blower fan go out on the transmitter at the radio station (WLAF) on a Sunday afternoon, and Bill (Waddell) and I went to Lyons’ and bought a new one to replace it. Yep, Walt had one that worked.

Until the end, Lyons’ was always a modern day general store. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 12/07/2023-6AM)

Related