W.K.T.B.
W.K.T.B. (short for We Keep The Best) was a large grocery store founded by R. Rochester in 1886 and operating from the Hood Building at the corner of 20th Street and 3rd Avenue North beginning in 1888.
The store occupied a 50 foot by 100 double store on the ground floor of the newly-constructed building and was considered one of the largest of its kind in the South. Its stock of provisions, teas and coffees, canned goods, sugar, butter, flour, hams, dried and smoked meats, and domestic and imported fancy groceries and table delicacies, was displayed on shelves and counters designed for convenience. In keeping with the name of the store, only the highest quality goods were sold. Large windows and electrical lighting kept the store brightly lit, and "a large force of polite and attentive assistants," packaged orders for delivery by wagon to customers across the city.
References
- "W.K.T.B." (1888) in North Alabama (Illustrated) Birmingham: Southern Commercial Publishing Co., p. 92