Mary Alice Shand often jokes that she knows every floorboard inside Mast General Store in downtown Greenville.
It wouldn’t be a surprise. She has spent decades working in the same building, since she was 16 years old.
Shand, 88, grew up along Augusta Road and attended Greenville High School. In 1951, she applied for a part-time job at Meyers-Arnold Department Store — the previous storefront at 111 N. Main St.
Most of her afternoons and weekends were spent working across the store’s wide variety of departments. Her favorite tasks were assisting customers in the sportswear and clothing departments.
“You helped people more back then,” Shand said. “That customer service … I liked that part.”
She earned 60 cents an hour, which was enough money for her to buy the things she wanted as a teenager.
“I could go to the movies,” Shand said. “I would buy 1 yard of material and mother would make a skirt for me.”
Shand continued working at Meyers-Arnold for the remainder of her time in high school and throughout her year studying at Furman University. She began working full-time at the department store the summer after her freshman year of college.
“I decided I wanted a career instead of college,” Shand said. “I started in the office immediately and I went to comptometer school.”
(A comptometer is a type of mechanical calculator.)
Her love for mathematics grew as she became a sales auditor for Meyers-Arnold. Shand jokes that when she started out, she didn’t even know what the word computer was.
“I did sales daily, week-to-date, month-to-date — all by hand,” Shand said. “I loved it because it had to balance. Anything that has to balance I love.”
Shand advanced from the sales team to management, later becoming the department store’s accounts payable manager. She continued working at Meyers-Arnold when the department store relocated from downtown to McAlister Square in 1968.
After 25 years with the company, Shand decided to take a new step in her career and started working for Belk department store in 1977. She spent another 25 years as the store’s accounts payable manager and later as the office and operations manager.
Shand retired in 2002. It only lasted a few months.
“I did not like retirement at all,” Shand said. “I couldn’t see me just washing windows, sweeping floors all the time.”
It was an easy decision for her to take a new job offer at Mast General Store in 2003. The store coincidently moved into the old Meyers-Arnold building downtown. The job was a golden opportunity, she said.
Shand was in charge of the store’s deposit for 16 years and walked to Wells Fargo every day to drop off the money. She later transitioned to working the cash register and assisting with customers.
“I really love people,” Shand said. “We have so many out-of-town people. You’d be surprised. I would say probably half of our customers are often (from) out of town and they love Greenville.”
Walking through the store now, Shand can still picture what the building once looked like when she was a teenager. She points out little details that have changed or remained over the years. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the feeling that all the employees are part of a family, Shand said.
“(Meyers-Arnold) was a big family and I kept friends for years and of course, I was such a kid when I was there,” Shand said. “I’m so glad Mast (General) is the same.”
Family first
Mary Alice Shand had two children, Ann and Rusty, with her first husband, Eugene Hayes. She married her second husband, Robert Shand, in 1983. Today, she has four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She also is the mother to three cats named Miss Priss, Patches and Scooter.
A teacher at heart
Growing up, Shand wanted to become a schoolteacher. Her mother taught first grade and she loved how education is a dedicated field.
“After I started working (at Meyers-Arnold), I just loved it and changed my mind,” Shand said. “I taught Sunday school, so I got to teach a little bit.”
Retail history
Meyers-Arnold Department Store was a family-owned retail enterprise that opened in 1903 at 111 N. Main St. It included a variety of departments including gloves and scarves, cosmetics, jewelry, handbags, fine china, housewares, fashion, and shoes. The department store was a staple in downtown Greenville for decades until it moved to McAlister Square in 1968. It was eventually bought out by Upton’s, a chain that closed in 1999. Mast General Store opened in downtown Greenville in 2003 in the former Meyers-Arnold spot on Main Street.
Making change
Meyers-Arnold Department Store used an intricate tube system that would send cash from the retail departments to the sales floor.
“That’s how we made change,” Shand said. “It was in little containers. They would put the money and the little ticket in it. Then we would send the change back to their register.”
