Downtown Trading Company

Location on Greensboro Avenue in December 2009.

Downtown Trading Co. (formerly Injun John's, Mr Bill's Incorporated, and Big Cigar Co.) was a tobacco shop, news stand and arts and crafts dealer that operated from 1970 to 2008, on Greensboro Avenue in downtown Tuscaloosa.

The store was founded by John McGaugh, who sold books, tobacco and pipe products. The store moved a few doors down to 617 Greensboro Avenue in 1977 and McGaugh constructed a walk-in humidor. During the late 1970s he also ran a moped dealership out of the store.

Bill Gipson purchased Injun John's in 1983 and changed the name to "Mr Bill's". His basset hounds, Bo and Bee, became fixtures. Rod Walker joined Gibson as a partner in 1996, renaming the business "Big Cigar Co." to stake a claim on the resurgence of cigar smoking. When Gipson died in 2000, Walker purchased his share of the business. In 2001 he renamed the store the "Downtown Trading Company" and expanded the inventory with gift items and, later, wines.

Downtown Trading displayed the famed Sistine Chukker mural from The Chukker after the legendary bar closed in 2003. The store closed in the summer of 2008. The mural was removed to storage.

References

• Stevenson, Tommy (July 23, 2008) "Nearly 40-year-old downtown shop shutters its doors." Tuscaloosa News

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