CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/9341
store in North Carolina and one of the few in the nation of its kind. Marilyn continues to manage the store with her son, Michael, and is proud that the dream she and her husband envisioned has become a reality. “We started (with) people who had a lot of faith in us,” Michael said. “They took a chance and really enabled us to begin. We’re very fortunate this store just happened to grow up as Fayetteville grew over the years.” “It’s our second home,” Marilyn said. Tiny Town has survived a fire and economic struggles to receive its third generation of customers. Today, the store carries children’s furniture, clothing, shoes and, of course, toys. Younger customers get a thrill out of the arranged tool sets, railroad tracks and building blocks, but just as significant are the toys that are missing. “The toys that have really endured over time aren’t run by batteries,” Michael said, “but are powered by the imagination.” M.J. Soffe When Milton James Soffe began distributing wholesale foreign and domestic tobacco pipes from his home garage in 1946, he had no way of knowing how successful his company would become. Sixty-three years later, Soffe is the leading distributor in sales for T-shirts, shorts and fleece wear that can be seen around the globe – in college bookstores, various department and sporting goods stores and military exchanges. If you bought a T-shirt celebrating the Tar Heels’ win this spring in the NCAA tournament, it most likely came from Soffe. The radical transition from pipes to clothing began through the manufacturing of laundry bags and draperies for the military. After relocating and opening numerous warehouses and buildings in downtown Fayetteville, M.J. Soffe sold a line of products that included bicycles and binoculars, and later added textiles to that list in 1968. But it wasn’t until Soffe’s son Jim became president of 40|June/July • 2009 Top | Michael Fleishman continues the family tradition at Tiny Town children’s store. Above | Jim Soffe expanded the company that bears his family name.