By Michael Butler

The Tiger Paw has been a downtown institution in Tallassee since it opened under the ownership of Diane Weldon in August of 1985.

“Cathy Stonaker came up with (the name) Tiger Paw and we liked it,” Weldon said after she sold the business to Stephen Webster in 2016. “The connection was with the school, but we started out with Converse shoes, Levi’s jeans, suit jackets, etcetera. The customer target was young men since I had two teenage boys at that time.”

Webster sold the business to Brent Tennyson in 2021. Now Tennyson is stepping away for new owners, Josh and Katie Rigsby and Jake and Jennifer Crain.

“Brent approached Jake,” Josh Rigsby said. “Jake called me. We felt like it was an opportunity to do something else downtown. We like being a part of downtown. Downtown is growing. There’s a lot of life there.”

The Rigsbys and Crains own the Mill Collective next to the Tiger Paw. The Rigsbys and Kami and Joey Scarborough are co-owners of the Suites on Sistrunk in the downtown district. Josh and Katie also own and operate the Zone on Kent Road and Dexter Coin Laundry on Gilmer Avenue.

“I’m easily talked into things,” Rigsby said jokingly. “We have some great partners.”

There have been some changes with the aesthetics of the Tiger Paw already.

“For 40 years, that store has looked identical – had the green carpet. I reminisce going in there getting fitted for my baseball uniforms. We just did a complete renovation. We’ve opened it up.”

With those updates, still much of the staple products visitors have become accustomed to will remain.

“We still offer athletic gear, sportwear, team shirts – Eclectic, Reeltown, Tallassee. We have all that merchandise. You want customized embroidery and screen printing; we can do all of that. We’re going to have comfort color shirts and mock neck sweatshirts.

“The high school is doing spirit weeks. This week is neon week. We have a load of neon shirts that came in yesterday. Come in and get a press put on it with a design. We’re going to try our best to correlate and have that stuff in the store.”

Located at 101 South Ann Avenue, the Tiger Paw is open from 8-5 weekdays, closing at noon on Wednesdays.