Bargain Corner Store

Throughout the mid-1900s, Leon (1911-1997) & Ethel Miller Lipman (c.1913-1985) managed at least eight businesses in Charleston. Leon was the oldest of five children born in Charleston to Polish immigrant Hyman (1881-1951) and his first wife, Rachel Finkelstein Lipman (b. 1894). Leon grew up working as a clerk in his father’s grocery store and married Ethel sometime before 1938. Ethel also grew up in the mercantile industry and, following her father Charles Miller (1873-1938), immigrated to the United States from Poland with her mother, Liba Chervonykamen Miller (1873-1938), and four older siblings around the age of five.

After working for his father for several years, Leon opened his own grocery store at 16 America Street around 1935. Within three years, he named this fledgling business Cut Rate Foodland and opened two more groceries: Cut Rate Service at 412 Meeting Street and Bargain Corner Market at 58 Calhoun Street. Operating into the 1960s, the latter would be among his most successful ventures.

Continuing to operate Bargain Corner Market and Lipman Cut Rate Foodland, Leon closed Cut Rate Service around 1940 and briefly managed N.B. Grocery at 62 America Street—his childhood address. By 1942, the Charleston city directory lists Leon as the proprietor of two stores: Bargain Corner Market and Atlantic Neon Sign Service. He initially operated the latter on Amherst and America Streets with his brother-in-law Arthur Seigel (1916-2009) and served as the president and treasurer of the company. Later moving to 153 King Street, Leon and Arthur bought, sold, and repaired neon signs before closing in the mid-1940s. By that time, Ethel had given birth to their oldest child, Charles, and would soon welcome their daughter, Loretta, to the world.

Around 1944, Leon joined another brother-in-law, Meyer Jaffee (1914-1978), in managing White Star Grocery at 430 King Street and then left the store in Meyer’s capable hands by 1948. Still operating Bargain Corner Market on Calhoun, Leon and Ethel opened the Diamond Superette around 1950. There, Ethel took the lead managing the store at 412 Meeting Street, which was formerly home to Leon’s Cut Rate Service. She closed the store sometime before 1955 but continued to play an active and visible role in each of her family’s ventures. In 1957, the Lipmans opened Leon’s 5 Cents, 10 Cents & 1 Dollar Store at 549 King Street, and then, after approximately three decades in business, Leon and Ethel closed Bargain Corner in the mid-1960s. They continued operating Leon’s 5 Cents, 10 Cents & 1 Dollar Store for several years, eventually selling it to Peter Shelbourne around 1979.