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NATCHEZ — As Historic Natchez Foundation Executive Director, “I’ve been involved in a lot of restoration projects trying to breathe new life into historic buildings,” Carter Burns said. But the recent revival of a once-empty historic Main Street business hits closer to home.

His earliest memories inside the old Burns Shoe Store include the distinctive, rich smell of the leather and rubber soles and his father’s office. Burns said that the desk was always cluttered with notes and papers.

Peter Burns Jr., Carter’s father, said when he walked by the store in recent years he could sometimes “smell the same smell from the leather” and believed others could too.

“Our family had it 105 years and it closed in October 1998,” Peter Burns Jr. said. “They’ve had various things in there since then. None seem to last very long. It’d been vacant now a couple of years.”

The Burns family name is on the ground before the threshold of the new home to Kaelor & Co. on Main Street, which had its grand opening Monday after moving from Franklin Street for more space. The metal frame of the Shamrock sign, which was once a working neon sign, still hangs on the building, honoring the Irish ancestry of its first owner Patrick Burns. The building was built for Burns Shoe Store in 1893.

“The first family that bought it sold flags and other things in there to honor the long legacy of Burns Shoe Store,” Peter Burns Jr. said.

“They kept the counter to the left where it was memorabilia of the Burns Shoe Store. We were known for giving out shamrocks on St. Patrick’s Day for our Irish ancestry. … My great-grandfather, Patrick Burns, is from Ireland, was born on St. Patrick’s Day and died on St. Patrick’s Day.”

Carter Burns — the great-great-grandson to Patrick Burns — said Burns Shoe Store was one of the many family-owned businesses that operated in downtown Natchez in the late 19th century through the 20th century. A collection of artifacts from the store, including cabinet doors, stools, old ledgers and many, many shoes are stored at the Historic Natchez Foundation still — handed to the foundation by Burns family descendants after the store closed in 1998.

At that time, Carter Burns was a high school senior, he said.

“It felt like the ending of an era. The few stores left on Main Street closed around the same time. My father and grandfather and great uncle Andrew — we called him “Uncle Doc” — were the last to run the store and so I have a lot of memories growing up there,” he said. “I’m glad to see the space being used again for retail. It’s been exciting to watch the renaissance of downtown the past few years.”

Peter Burns said many Burns family members have worked there in some capacity through the years. There were also many long-term, non-family employees loyal to the store.

His father, Peter Sr., while a part owner and investor in Burns Shoe Store, was less involved with the business side of things, he said. 

“I’ve had many happy years working there, a lot of really fun times. It was a different time back then with lots of family-owned businesses downtown,” Peter Burns said.

Back then, the shopkeepers waited on their customers hand and foot — mostly foot.

They measured their feet and took down the right-sized shoes from the shelf.

It was a “sit down and relax and we’ll take care of you,” kind of place, he said.

Around the time the store closed, several other downtown businesses already had. 

Cole’s department store was at what is now the Locust Alley event space. There was also the Ideal Shop on Commerce Street and Ullman’s, he said.

“It was slowly happening all over town. (Burns Shoe Store) was one of the last holdouts of these family-owned merchants,” Peter Burns said.

Somewhere in Ireland, there is a Burns Shoe Store sticker on a wall in some pub.

“Eleven members of our family made a trip to Ireland. We brought Burns Shoe Store stickers and Natchez pins,” Peter Burns said. “There was this shoe sole on the wall — the pub owners said it was outside when they opened so they stuck it there. We wrote a note with the sticker that said ’Burns Shoe Store, We take care of lost soles.’ ” 

A lot of the storefront was reconfigured after a fire in the 1960s, though much of the building, minus the shoe shelves, is the same, he said.

Other Burns family members celebrated a grand opening with Kaelor & Co. owners Kaelin Daye Russell and Taylor Cooley on Monday — “… having them all stop by today meant so much to us. I think there were moments we were all fighting back tears,” the business owners shared on their social media. “We know this space brings back special memories for them and we look forward to creating more special memories here while doing our best to preserve the stories surrounding the Burns family, and the old Burns Shoe Store. Thank you again, Parnell, Annette, Melanie, and Ann for taking a moment out of your day to pop in and say hi and share stories.”

The new owners paid homage to the old shoe store’s legacy during the grand opening with shamrock decorations and green colors and a picture of the old Burns Shoe Store sign.

While the building has had several other occupants since the ’90s, it was nice to see the honoring of the Burns legacy in this way, Carter Burns said. “It’s a nice touch.”