David Riff opened Riff’s Department Store in Albemarle on March 3, 1917. The business was one of two stores, along with Snuggs Drug Company, which were located on the ground level of the newly finished A.P. Harris building. This building was at the time the only building in the 100 block on the north side of West Main Street. Riff’s originally sold dry goods along with men’s and women’s clothing. In 1922, Snuggs Drug Company moved to a new building that had been completed next door and Riff’s expanded into its old space. David Riff passed away in November 1931. His wife, Pauline, along with three of their four children, Ida King, Bertie Riff and Pincus Riff, continued to run the business. By the time the business closed in 1964, it was still being managed by Bertie Riff along with Ida King’s daughter Leah and her husband Leslie Feldman. Jewel Box, that had been located on South Second Street, moved into the Riff’s store location. {Today’s first picture shows the A.P. Harris building, when it was occupied by Riff’s, and the second is from the early 2020s.) {Lewis Bramlett – Stanly County Historical Society}