02/05/2026
Dear Friends, Neighbors, & Customers of T. Sappington & Co.,
We want to thank you all for your support and for your patience. In the weeks following our mother’s passing, we have taken turns talking and praying and then talking and praying some more. With that said, we do have an announcement:
T. Sappington & Co., which most of you still lovingly call Sappington’s, has been a rock in our lives. However, all of the prayer and consideration has led us close our store, with the help of another dedicated New Albany retailer, Joni McLarty and her store, Muddy Mallard. The inventory that was remaining in Sappington’s, as well as future offerings from our great brands and lines, will be available at Muddy Mallard, on W. Main St. Joni has also agreed to honor any outstanding T. Sappington & Co. gift cards that you may still have. We encourage you all to support Joni, just as you supported our family for all the years.
To all of those who have supported our family business, through two generations and three different primary operators, we want to say THANK YOU. Thank you for supporting our family and for allowing us to be a part of yours. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your Homecoming weekends, proms, college formals, and big game weekends. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your engagement dinners, bridal showers, wedding parties, weddings, baby showers, and children’s big days. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of first dates and golden anniversaries. For 70 years, you’ve allowed Sappington’s to live under your Christmas trees and in your Easter baskets. You’ve made us a part of your birthdays, graduations, first jobs, and retirement parties. We hope you know that because you allowed us to be a part of your big days and every days, you were also supporting ours. We are blessed and we are grateful.
For the last 70 years, Sappington’s and its customers have grown together. New Albany, MS is a special town, full of special people. It has been an honor for our family’s business to become synonymous with downtown New Albany, along with other long time New Albany retailers. Not all of the times were easy, but we got through them together. That’s what special places do. Perhaps the best illustration, of our family’s faith in New Albany and New Albany’s support for our
family business, occurred when plans were being made for the mall, in Tupelo. As the story goes, a man came into the store and approached our dad, Tommy, about moving into the new mall. The man drew a dot on a piece of paper and then drew a large circle around it. The dot represented the mall. The man explained that any retailer that remained inside the circle, in competition with the mall, would be put out of business. The man then alerted Tommy that his second generation store was in that circle. Tommy believed in his T. Sappington & Co. and he believed in New Albany. The rest of that story was written by Tommy Sappington and by the people of New Albany, as well as our many faithful customers from out of town.
The story ends, over 35 years later, where it began – with a local retailer named Sappington and faithful customers that continued to support that downtown New Albany business. The man that drew the circle was wrong.
That man was wrong about Tommy Sappington.
That man was wrong about New Albany.
Sappington’s, which our dad later renamed as T. Sappington & Co., began in 1956, with our grandfather, Roy Harold. Our father, Tommy, bought the store in 1986 and ran it until the day that he passed, in August of 2021. Our mother, Martha Carolyn, took Sappington’s on her shoulders and carried it until her passing, on Jan. 1st of this year.
Although our family is exiting the retail business, we do have some exciting plans for our space. We look forward to sharing more about that, as we work through some of the details and challenges that are yet to be determined.
After 70 years of business, we leave you a couple of thoughts. The first is a quote from Joni McLarty, that perfectly describes our dad, Tommy, and his passion for being a neighbor and a friend. The second is the quote we found written on our mother’s notepad, in her bedroom:
“Anytime we needed anything, he dropped what he was doing and came over to help, not minding at all how messy the job was or how nice of clothes he was wearing, he was there to help.” – Joni McLarty, on her memory of Tommy Sappington.
“Don’t save anything for a special occasion. LIFE is a special occasion!”
With Love and Gratitude,
The Sappingtons
