James Luther "J.L." Turner (February 28, 1891 - April 19, 1964) was the founder of J.L. Turner and Son, the predecessor of Dollar General.

Early life

James Turner was born on February 28, 1891 to Johnnie and Nancy Turner. His father died in an accident in 1902, resulting in Turner leaving school and finding a job. James never returned to school, and did not learn how to read.

Career

Turner married in 1908 to Josephine Marcum. He decided to get into retail by opening a bridal shop with Josephine. The bridal shop lasted one year and they moved to Kentucky where he opened a country store. After four years the country store closed. After his country store closed down, Turner worked as a salesman for a wholesale grocery company and then a dry goods retailer in Nashville. During the Great Depression, Turner was a traveling salesman and liquidated merchandise of bankrupt general stores. The liquidated merchandise from these stores became part of Turners' own general store J.L. Turner and Son established in 1939 with his son,

Cal Turner Hurley Calister "Cal" Turner (May 28, 1915 – November 20, 2000) was an American businessman. He was the co-founder of Dollar General alongside his father. Early life Cal Turner was born on May 28, 1915, in Macon County, Tennessee. His father, J ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, dry goods wholesaling declined leading James to shift his business to retail. The shift to retail led to J.L. Turner and Son reaching annual sales of over $2 million by the 1950s. J.L. Turner and Son grew to 35 department stores in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. On June 1, 1955 James and Cal opened the first Dollar General store in

Scottsville, Kentucky Scottsville is a home rule-class city in Allen County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 4,226 during the 2010 U.S. Census. History The site along Bays Fork was settled in 1797 and developed into ...

Death

In 1964 James died at the age of 73. J.L. Turner and Son turned into Dollar General Corporation in 1968 under his son Cal Turner. His grandson, Cal Turner Jr., established the Dollar General Literacy Foundation in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Luther James 20th-century American businesspeople 1891 births 1964 deaths People from Macon County, Tennessee Businesspeople from Tennessee American businesspeople in retailing American company founders Turner family Dollar General