Elvis' economic legacy lives on in Tupelo
By Zack Orsborn
Daily Journal
TUPELO, MS
Tupelo Hardware Store changed forever in 1946 when a young boy named Elvis Aaron Presley walked in to the store with his mother looking for a gun and walked out with a guitar.
That event brought the humble hardware store into the historic timeline of one of the most influential artists and cultural icons of our time.
And even 81 years after his birth, tourists from all over the world continue to walk on the aged hardwood floors of the store to see where history was made.
“We love having tourists in from everywhere,” said George Booth III, manager of Tupelo Hardware Store. “It brings something we wouldn’t have, of course, which is diversity in clientele. Who else gets to interact with fans from all over the world on a pretty regular basis?”
Raised in his father and grandfather’s store, Booth got the opportunity to meet tourists from Europe, Asia, Canada, South America and Japan. When tourists came to the store, they wanted to hear the Elvis story but not without buying souvenirs.
“We have a tourism department with souvenirs from T-shirts, guitars, yo-yos and things people can fit in their bags to take back home,” Booth said. “Starting this year, I’ll be able to track the sales. Maybe it’s a larger margin of business than I thought.”
Eventually, Tupelo Hardware connected with the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau, an organization that takes the Elvis story seriously in terms of economic impact.
“CVB sends tourists here, and they connect us with tour guides,” Booth said. “They connect us with the media, filmmakers, musicians. We were in Popular Science last year. We had USA Today this year. We’ve been on national television news spots.”
Not only has Elvis impacted local businesses like Tupelo Hardware Store, but his legacy has had a lasting impact on the economics of Tupelo and Lee County.
“They want to experience (Southern culture),” Booth said. “It has to do with a more honest time and just a simpler time.”
The Elvis Presley Birthplace Foundation also recognized this need to experience a simpler time and began formulating a marketing strategy to capitalize on Presley’s humble beginnings.
Marketing Elvis the boy
Since the Elvis Presley Birthplace Foundation began tracking visitors to the birthplace 15 years ago, they’ve seen more than one million visitors explore the history of the first 13 years of Elvis.
Adam Robison | Buy at photos.djournal.com Linda Whyte has her picture taken by her friend Sharon Stevenson, both from Scotland, as she sits on the front porch swing at the Elvis Presley Birthplace on Friday afternoon, Elvis’ 81st birthday.
When Elvis visited Tupelo in 1957, he drove by his birthplace and saw a for sale sign.
He met with city leaders to see if they could buy the property using proceeds from his homecoming concert.
Presley wanted to build a recreational center with a pool and tennis courts so people on the east side of Tupelo could experience the facilities they were not able to enjoy.
The children on the east side didn’t have much, and Elvis knew that. The board agreed to the recreation center, opening the facilities in 1963.
When Elvis died in 1977, fans wanted to donate money to form an Elvis Presley memorial fund. The foundation was created the next day to memorialize his legacy, his birth home and memorabilia.
In 2001, the board of the foundation recognized the economic power of tourism and developed a master plan.
In 15 years, the foundation has raised and spent more than $6 million to expand the birthplace with three symbolic statues, an interactive chapel, a $1 million theatre and renovations to Elvis’s birth home.
Henry Dodge, president of the EPBF, said in order to understand “Elvis the Entertainer,” fans must understand “Elvis the Boy.”
Dodge and a number of other officials spoke Friday at the Birthplace to commemorate the King’s 81st birthday during a Wake Up! Tupelo event sponsored by the Community Development Foundation.
“The idea was if we can develop a uniqueness like Elvis the Boy to create a brand around that, we can drive a lot of tourism as a destination for people to come,” Dodge said. “We threw this idea around with Neal McCoy from CVB.”
What they hoped was to get tourists to have two meals and an overnight stay in Tupelo in order to experience activities promoted by the CVB.
“We go from just a singular 1,000 square-foot home to a product to hold the people in Tupelo for a couple of hours,” said McCoy, CVB executive director. “From there, it’s our job at the CVB to get them out into the community, to get them to Tupelo Hardware, to get them on the Elvis driving tour. Once they experience Elvis here on the grounds, we have to get them out into the community.”
Adam Robison | Buy at photos.djournal.com Mary Pye of England takes a picture of the bronze statue of Elvis at the age of 13 on Friday afternoon at the Birthplace in Tupelo.
McCoy and the CVB began working with Graceland in Memphis to see if they could make Tupelo a part of the Graceland journey. Graceland agreed and began putting up billboards and backlit posters to emphasis that Tupelo is only 90 minutes away from Memphis.
Then, McCoy and the CVB conducted a research study that analyzed the visitors to the Tupelo market, looking at where they were coming from, why they came here, how long they were staying and how much money they were spending.
“If visitors stopped coming to Tupelo and didn’t have anybody stay in our hotels, every household would have to pay an additional $604 dollars in taxes,” McCoy said.
If tax receipts are showing a rising trend, McCoy knows more people are visiting Tupelo and spending money.
“In the fiscal year 2015, the 2 percent collection surpassed $4 million in tax receipts,” McCoy said. “In that fiscal year, that was over $200 million spent on hotels and restaurants. I would say that tourism economy is a big deal in the city of Tupelo and Lee County.”
40 Years
There are three dates the CVB looks at when talking about the Elvis consumer: Jan. 8 on Elvis’s birthday, Aug. 16 on his death anniversary and in June when the Elvis Fest is hosted in Tupelo.
According to Debbie Brangenberg, director of the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association, visitors from 29 states and five foreign countries have attended the Elvis Fest.
“The money raises varies from year to year,” Brangenberg said. “Two years we lost money, but it’s been anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 a year. It all goes back into downtown into tangible products and quality of life events.”
McCoy said the community has embraced Elvis because they understand his economic impact on Tupelo.
“Elvis has been dead for almost 40 years, and he’s still relevant to the economy in Tupelo, Memphis and Las Vegas,” he said. “I think there’s always a concern about keeping him relevant, but I think for the next generation or two, he’ll be still relevant to the Tupelo economy.”
zack.orsborn@journalinc.com
Twitter: @thedaily_zack
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