The Smithey Hotel

One of the largest historical buildings in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, is the Smithey Hotel building. Sitting on the corner of Main and Broad Streets beside the Old Courthouse grounds, the red brick, three story building is hard to miss. 

Built in 1891, it first served as a prominent hotel for the county seat of Wilkes County, as well as the first store in the Smithey chain of multi-million dollar department stores. N. B. (Nikeard Bruce) Smithey purchased the Wilkesboro Hotel and continued operating a hotel on the second and third floors, but he established a dry goods business on the first floor.

Smithey liked to buy large quantities of goods directly from the manufacturer or from liquidations, so he could sell them at lower prices. This system worked so well that he managed to always show a profit, even during the Depression years. Harvard's business school even sent a representative to Wilkesboro during the late 1930's or early 1940's to learn Smithey's practices.

Although Smithey's first department store opened in Wilkesboro, in 1928, he opened up another one in nearby North Wilkesboro and soon in other locations. By the time of his death in 1953, he had opened 17 successful stores across Northwestern North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. When opening a new store, he liked to rent a building for three years, and if the store was successful, then he would build his own building.

Not only were his stores a success, however, but people flocked to his hotel, especially around dinnertime, when the court recessed for lunch. One of the local lawyers is said to have remarked that the Smithey Hotel had become an institution in itself.

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