Edna Hipps Hamrick

GAFFNEY, S.C. (AP) – Edna Hipps Hamrick, who founded the Hamrick's Inc. clothing store chain with her husband, has died at her home. She was 89.

Hamrick died Monday, said Mary Martin with the Blakely Funeral Home.

Until the past year when failing health kept her home, the Haywood County, N.C., native continued working six days a week at the original store in Gaffney.

"She's going to be sorely missed in this community," said state Rep. Olin Phillips, who has known the Hamrick family all his life. "She was still an influence in this community."

The family business, which started out in 1945 as a grocery store in a mill community, grew to include 20 clothing stores in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, according to the company.

"They had a good line of everything," said Phillips, D-Gaffney. "They were the first people I knew that would deliver groceries. A lot of people didn't have transportation. They helped a lot of people, let them have credit."

The Hamricks eventually began selling remnants of cloth, he said, and even later knit pants. "It just blossomed into manufacturing and the stores," he said.

Hamrick's makes its own lines of ladies' clothes under several brand names, including Links, N Touch, Southern Lady, Company Collection and Nikki.

In recent years, the company has closed mills in the Carolinas, moving that production to plants outside the United States. Hamrick's children continue to run the company, which has about 1,500 employees, with son Barry serving as president.

Edna Hamrick is survived by six children, 14 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. Her funeral will be held Thursday at East Gaffney Baptist Church.
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press