JACKSON, MS (AP) — George S. Mori plans to close the business his father opened in Jackson in 1928.
Mori Luggage & Gifts recently posted a sign out front that reads "store closing sale."
May 31 will be the last day of operation for the store that made a name for itself by selling premium luggage, leather goods, handbags, travel accessories and gifts.
"I've enjoyed it," said Mori, who is 85 years old and works at the store along with his wife Brigitte and five employees. "To be honest, retailing isn't fun anymore because of online shoppers and social media, which we're not part of. All of our suppliers are on the Internet themselves."
The growth of shopping centers in Madison, Flowood and Pearl means customers have more options in the metro area and aren't just limited to Jackson, he said.
Mori said his daughter Karen Mori Bonner and his son Mark A. Mori have at times operated the business but they're pursuing other careers. Bonner owns the building, he said, and plans to put it up for sale.
Mori's father, George Mori, came to the U.S. from Germany in 1917 and ended up in New Orleans, where his uncle was in the luggage and trunk business. He got his start there but decided to move to Jackson because his uncle had a son-in-law in the business.
George Mori and his wife Katherine Schaaf Mori struck out on their own when they purchased Walthall Luggage Store located a few doors east of the Mayflower restaurant in downtown Jackson. Back then, the store sold saddles and trunks.
The store has had several locations in Jackson.
At various times, there were also stores in Louisiana in Shreveport and Monroe, in Arkansas in Little Rock, in Tennessee in Memphis, in Alabama in Mobile and in Florida in Pensacola.
Outside the current store, a trailer that looks like an oversized suitcase is parked; it was used to transport merchandise between the stores and is now for sale.
Mori thought about pursuing a career as a lawyer but he took a different path after he graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1951 and served for two years as a lieutenant in the Air Force.
"I'll never forget the night I called home and told my dad I wanted to go to law school," he said. "He said, 'Son, you've got to come to the business.' I knew he was serious. I had watched my dad struggle and thought being a lawyer would be cool. Once I got in the business, he shared everything with me, and I made a decent living."
Mori served for four years during the 1990s as president of the National Luggage Dealers Association, which could leverage its power and buy better merchandise than department stores.
In his younger years, Mori liked to open a suitcase and sell a customer on its virtues. In his later years, he enjoyed making deals on merchandise for the store. "Negotiating was lots of fun," he said.
He once bought a 20-foot section of an airplane fuselage so he could add the passenger seats and overhead bins as a display in the store. It's still a mystery as to how someone hauled away from the store parking lot the remaining fuselage one night, he said.
Through the years, the store has sold top-of-the-line brands such as Tumi and also Hartmann as well as $100 suitcases, he said, in order to have something for all of its customers. The store was the only authorized Swiss Army luggage retailer in the state of Mississippi.
The introduction of luggage with wheels was a huge boost to business and now it's common for luggage to have four wheels, he said.
Many customers have become friends through the years, Mori said, and it's been an honor and privilege to serve the Jackson area.
Mori's brother Jean Mori of Atlanta will continue to operate Mori Luggage & Gifts stores in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina as well as a moriluggage.com, but all of that is owned by Jean Mori.
– by AP/ Reporter Nell Luter Floyd with The Clarion-Ledger
