Retiring from retail: Rogers Trading closing

Rogers Trading Company has been on a journey through the last 70 years. It has moved from Second Avenue to First Avenue in downtown Birmingham, traveled down U.S. 280 behind Full Moon BBQ to its current — and final — location behind Logan’s Roadhouse.

And now, after 70 years in the metro Birmingham area, Rogers Trading Company is closing its doors.

“This is not a bankruptcy sale. At the end of the day, it’s just time to go,” owner Lee Rogoff said. “I’ve got two grandkids, and I want to spend time with them.”

The store’s retirement sale kicked off Nov. 17, just shy of the 10-year mark on Resource Center Parkway. The sale will continue for an indefinite amount of time, Rogoff said, which is one of the benefits of owning the store’s building. 

Rogers Trading Company’s history in the Birmingham area was ever changing, whether it was in location or in inventory.

Rogoff’s father, Louis Rogoff, opened the store after World War II in a building at Second Avenue and 24th Street North.

“He started his business after the war — 1946,” Rogoff said. “Everybody came out of the war and started probably 100 Army/Navy stores because that’s just what they did.”

The store continued to specialize in Army/Navy surplus for several years, even after Rogoff joined his father in 1971. He had just graduated college and worked alongside his father until 1977, when he died.

“I only had about six years [working] with him,” Rogoff said. About three years later, Rogoff bought the old O.Z. Hall Ford building on First Avenue, now the location of Intermark Advertising, and expanded the store. He also worked on establishing a good marketing strategy for the store, Rogoff said.

“What I did is I camouflaged the entire building,” Rogoff said. “I painted the outside just to be like the military, and we nicknamed it, from a marketing standpoint. We called it the ugliest building in town, and it worked.”

For years after that, Rogoff said people would make comments like, “Oh, are you that ugly building downtown?”

Victor Lightfoot has worked at Rogers for nearly 24 years, and he recalls stopping by the Army surplus store, and then hunting and fishing store, with his dad, “never knowing that one day I would end up working there.” Lightfoot was hired in 1993 after his former employer was planning to move out of state.

“It’s been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” Lightfoot said. “If I like a job, I’m a longtime person at that job.”

The move to First Avenue also brought a change in inventory. The store started selling lifestyle clothing and hunting and fishing gear, but Rogoff said they eventually transitioned to outdoor clothing because of the other strong hunting and fishing stores in the area.

“It’s been very exciting because for him [Rogoff] to transition this place from an Army/Navy store to what it is now, it’s amazing to me,” Lightfoot said. “It’s a totally different atmosphere.”

In the early 2000s, however, retail was changing. More stores were opening in the suburbs, and Rogoff said they realized they needed to move out that way, too.

“The Summit changed the landscape for retail in metro Birmingham everywhere, and we felt the effects of it, too,” he said, “because The Summit was way out here [down U.S. 280], and we’re way up here [in downtown]. So we went looking for a different location to add to, and what we found is the building behind Full Moon BBQ.”

That location opened, and a little while later, in 2001, the downtown store closed. 

“When we came out here, across the street, we got into the women’s contemporary business, and we found that to just be incredibly challenging,” Rogoff said. They stuck with women’s contemporary for about five years, he said, and then returned to their outdoor clothing model.

While the first location on U.S. 280 immediately saw interest from residents along the U.S. 280 corridor, Rogoff said he was ready to go back to owning his own building.

“At the end of eight years, I wanted to be back in control of my destiny,” he said. “And you can’t be in control of your destiny when you have a landlord.” 

That’s when Rogoff purchased the location behind Logan’s Roadhouse. Even though they are not directly on the highway, Rogoff said the store has been a “destination store.” Once people know where they are, they will continue to come back. And when it comes to return customers, he said the key is customer service.

“We call ourselves ‘mom and pop’ stores, and the key to our success is service,” he said. “We really take pride in that we’ll know you by name when you come in; we’ll treat you right. We don’t have multiple stores. We talk to you, ‘What are you looking for? What do you need?’”

The family atmosphere of the store applies to both the employees and the customers, Lightfoot said.

“Ever since it started, it’s like all the customers that have come here are longtime customers,” he said. “They’re generational customers.”

For the last 45 years, seven days a week, Rogoff said service and the customers at Rogers Trading Company have been his focus. But after 45 years, he said he just felt like it was time to step away.

“It really does, it controls you,” he said. “It owns you. Seven days a week, retail. The only thing worse than this is food.”

The retail landscape is also changing once again, with a greater focus on online stores and online shopping — something Rogers has decided not to do. Deciding to leave now, Rogoff said, feels like the perfect time and the right decision.

Once they close up, Rogoff also plans to lease out the building.

“All I can say is I’ve enjoyed working around [the customers] and providing a service for them,” Lightfoot said. “We’ve got a great group of honest, likable, friendly customers here, and I’m going to miss them just about how much I’m going to miss working at Rogers.”

There is no end date on the store’s retirement sale; it will continue until they’ve sold their inventory. And at the end of the sale, they’ll raffle off an iconic part of the store — their jeep. The jeep has been parked at the store for several years, and it has always been a conversation piece.

“All these kids would come in and say, ‘Oh, I got to sit in the jeep,’ and their grandfathers would come in and say, ‘I drove that jeep in World War II,’” Rogoff said. 

Rogers Trading Company has seen several changes in its history, and Rogoff said he hopes to see their customers come back one last time.

“We’re very appreciative for everything, and hope some of these people will come to say goodbye,” he said.