Cotton’s Department Store –Strange Alabama

On August 19, 1922, Mitchell Cotton and his wife Ida opened Cotton's Department Store in downtown Ensley despite only being married a few days.

Mitchell immigrated to the United States from Estonia as a small child and together with Ida, ran the store until just after the second world war.

In 1949, their children, Bert Cotton Sr. and Merle ran the store along with Merle's husband Howard Schultz until around 1980 before handing the reins over to daughter Rhonda and husband Harry Weinberg. Sadly, after 90 years of offering the finest hats and dresses for miles around and earning a reputation for extending credit to those who needed a little forgiveness, the family-owned business shut its doors in 2012.

Upon hearing the news of its closure, one customer said, 'Easter Sunday in Birmingham, woman strolling around town in those great hats, will never be the same'.