Bill Massalon
Bill Massalon was a retail grocery man from the Charleston, SC area who had run several stores at a young age. When an opportunity presented itself to open a store of his own he jumped at the chance and bought his first store, the Shell Point Red & White. The store was destroyed by a fire and Massalon opened Bill’s Lady’s Island Red & White on Lady’s Island, SC.
Massalon opened the store early one morning back in the 1980’s to find that his refrigeration system had failed over the night and he had melted ice cream flowing from his freezers onto the floor and waiting to be mopped up. Over the years many of Massalon’s customers had been asking him if he would consider opening a liquor store so they could do all their shopping at one place. He never put much thought into this idea.
After the last freezer incident Massalon started thinking that nuisances like this probably did not occur in liquor stores. So in 1980, Massalon opened a small attached liquor store next door to the Red & White just to see how it would go. He installed a door bell outside the liquor store customers could ring for service. Grocery store manager Woody Dantzler would then walk next door to sell a bottle or two of liquor, lock up, then return to the grocery store.
But eventually, Dantzler seemed to be spending all of his time in the liquor store. Massalon took notice, sold the grocery stores and concentrated on expanding his liquor business. Not long after, Massalon relocated to a larger store in Port Royal, near the Piggly Wiggly shopping center. Then came a second store across town off of U.S. 21, and then a third on Lady’s Island, where he built an 11,000-square-foot, freestanding store in the Winn Dixie shopping center to help warehouse his inventory.
A few years later a fire within the shopping center in Port Royal did severe damage to the store there so Massalon decided to move the license from there(closing that store) to a new location in Summerville. This is the second freestanding store with a large warehouse. This store has helped reach out to expand the wholesale business from the Summerville and Charleston area all the way through Walterboro and back to Beaufort. Again, a few years later in 2001, Massalon moved his other license from Beaufort to the Bluffton area and opened a new store in Kitties Crossing Shopping Center. This expanded the wholesale business from Beaufort to Hilton Head and all the way to the Georgia state line.
At Massalon’s Lady’s Island store, neighboring businesses have come and gone, including a Winn Dixie supermarket in a space now occupied by another longtime local staple, Grayco Home Center. South Carolina law was changed in 2006 to allow free pour in restaurants and bars, displacing mini bottles, and changing inventory and pricing practices for wholesalers like Bill’s Liquors. On the retail side, product lines are more diverse than ever. That means more choices for customers but more challenges for sellers — once distillers began infusing flavors into vodka, for example, Massalon had to find shelf space for dozens of varieties in a niche once devoted to only four or five.
Despite new laws and new technology, Massalon says Bill’s Liquors and Fine Wine still wins and retains customers the old-fashioned way — through a combination of convenient locations, low prices and great customer service. “You know the saying — the customer is always right,” Massalon said. “It’s true, so everything we do is aimed at putting them first.” Massalon said rumors of his retirement are greatly exaggerated. Now that sons Doug and Alton own shares of the business, Bill has cut back on his work hours … but only a bit. Most days, he can be found on the floor engaging customers, or poring over inventory figures in the upstairs office.
“Our father has taught us many things in this business and life in general,” Doug Massalon said. “It will be hard when the day comes and he fully retires. It is nice having his help and knowledge.” When asked “What was the most important thing about these stores that Bill has taught you?” Douglas Massalon stated, “It would have to be to be fair, genuine, courteous, and most important treat all of our customers, employees and the community exactly how we would like to be treated.”