Few storefronts on Beale Street have stayed in business as long as A. Schwab, a Memphis institution that has weathered the street’s many transformations, from its early days as a working class dry goods store to its current role as a living museum of Memphis culture that still rings up sales at the register. Walk in today and the range of merchandise on the shelves reads like an inventory built across generations rather than assembled by a single buyer for a single season: cast iron skillets, wooden stick horses, old fashioned penny candy, and ukuleles share space with vinyl records and music memorabilia, Elvis and Johnny Cash merchandise, Beale Street and Memphis souvenirs, clothing, jewelry, toys, tin lunch boxes, books, and art. That eclectic mix is not an accident of poor curation but the store’s entire identity, an intentionally old-school and quirky collection meant to reflect the Mississippi Delta, the city’s deep music history, and the store’s own long-running place within it.
Beyond the retail floor, A. Schwab operates a working soda fountain on site, letting visitors pause for a fountain drink or a scoop of ice cream in surroundings that feel closer to a mid-century five and dime than a modern souvenir shop. The building is also home to the HooDoo Museum, a small, unconventional exhibit space dedicated to the folk magic and spiritual traditions long associated with the Mississippi Delta and Memphis’s Black cultural history, giving shoppers a reason to linger well beyond a typical browse and purchase visit. Together the merchandise, the soda fountain, and the museum turn a stop at A. Schwab into something closer to a walk through Memphis history than an ordinary shopping trip, which is part of why the store remains a fixture on nearly every list of must see Beale Street attractions alongside the area’s famous music clubs and restaurants.
Located directly on Beale Street in downtown Memphis, the heart of the city’s blues and entertainment district, A. Schwab keeps long hours that match the street’s round-the-clock energy: open from 11 in the morning to 5 in the evening Sunday through Thursday, and staying open later, until 7 on Friday and 8 on Saturday, to catch the weekend crowds drawn to Beale Street’s live music and nightlife. That schedule makes the shop a natural stop before or after a night out on the street, whether a visitor is looking for a retro candy fix, a piece of Elvis or Johnny Cash memorabilia to take home, or simply a break from the crowds with a fountain soda in hand.
For travelers and locals alike searching for historic Beale Street shopping, only in Memphis souvenirs, or a genuine slice of Delta culture and music history under one roof, A. Schwab answers plainly: it is Beale Street’s long-standing general store turned only-in-Memphis attraction, stocking everything from cast iron skillets to ukuleles to Elvis memorabilia, complete with an old-fashioned soda fountain and the HooDoo Museum, and it remains one of the most distinctive, deeply rooted retail experiences left on Beale Street today.
