Shop Local in Lafayette

Macon Department Store is a treasured landmark

In the early 1960s, Terry Hudson’s parents, Adonal Calvin and Zetta “Inez” Hudson, opened Macon Department Store on the historic courthouse square in Lafayette. Just across the square, they later added a shop, known locally as The Annex, where they sold discounted merchandise. In Red Boiling Springs, the couple owned Hudson’s Department Store.

After Adonal’s death in 1979 and the closing of The Annex and the Red Boiling Springs store in the 1990s, Terry and his mother continued to run the Macon Department Store. In the early 2000s, Terry bought Inez’s share of the business and became the sole owner.

RAISED IN RETAIL

Heather Day was a high school student when she started working part time at Macon Department Store in 1993. She couldn’t have imagined that 33 years later she would still be working there, but under very different circumstances.

Heather got married a few years after taking the job and soon started a family. Her daughter, Mackinzie, was born in 1999, followed by a sister, Morgan, in 2004. Since the girls’ grandmothers both worked, Heather needed help with her young children. That’s when Terry stepped in, welcoming the girls into the store whenever Heather was working. But his help went well beyond that of an understanding boss.

“Terry would spoil them on a daily basis,” Heather says. “As they got a little older, he would take them to Walmart to buy them toys and take them on school trips, so I could work in the store.” It is a time Mackinzie remembers fondly. “Mom would give Terry and me a talking-to about no more toys,” she says. “That rule we never listened to.”

CONTINUING THE LEGACY

In early 2019, Terry, who never married and didn’t have children of his own, asked Heather and her daughters to keep the store going after his death. He spent the next few months teaching them more about the business. When Terry passed away that November, he left his estate— including the store—to Mackinzie and Morgan.

“He loved them as they did him,” Heather says.

Today the work of running the store is shared among the three. Heather serves as general manager and is in the store most days. Mackinzie and Morgan join her on their days off from their other jobs. Mackinzie works part time at Macon Community Hospital, while Morgan works part time at Westmoreland Pharmacy.

Heather handles most of the paperwork, and Mackinzie and Morgan take care of marketing and online sales. All three buy merchandise. They have a support system of family and friends to help with larger needs like maintenance.

Moving forward after Terry’s death was a difficult time compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were trying to learn to move forward without Terry,” Morgan says. “Then the pandemic hit, and we had to try new ways to reach our customers. By trial and error, we made it through.”

FOCUSED ON COMMUNITY

Now seven years into their roles as owners, Mackinzie and Morgan know their success depends on support from the local community. “Owning our business is a big deal,” Morgan says. “Trying to buy merchandise that our customers will like and purchase can be stressful.”

That stress is balanced with the reward of knowing their customers personally. “We have more one-on-one time with our customers,” Mackinzie says. “When someone comes in and asks for help, we have a better understanding of how to help because we know them.”

While local customers are crucial, the store also welcomes shoppers from other areas. “We couldn’t keep the doors open if the community didn’t support us,” Heather says. “It is also important that we have out-of-town customers too.”

To serve their customers, Heather, Mackinzie and Morgan rely on phone and internet service from NCTC. “We make our online purchases from companies, answer questions from customers on the phone and post on our Facebook page,” Heather says.

Customers can look forward to specials during Black Friday sales in the store. Shoppers are also invited to stop by and check out the Macon Department Store booth at A Southern Marketplace at Acres of Grace Farms in Red Boiling Springs, Nov. 19-21, 2026.

SHOPPING FOR SHOPPERS

Step inside Macon Department Store or browse its posts on Facebook, and you’ll notice a carefully curated selection of clothing and accessories.

Each year in February and again in August, store owners Heather, Morgan and Mackinzie Day travel to Atlanta to attend apparel and shoe markets. It is an important part of the business that their friend and predecessor, Terry Hudson, taught them how to do.

Months before they can place merchandise on the racks, they have to make decisions about what to buy at the markets. “We usually walk about 3 miles a day and have appointments all day long,” Heather says. “We have to have a game plan, or it would be overwhelming.”