Webb's City - St. Petersburg, Florida

Webb's City opened in 1926 by Doc Webb, a patent medicine salesman. His theory was "stack it high and sell it cheap" and it worked successfully for many years. During the depression Webb's thrived while other businesses went bankrupt. Webb started buying out neighboring businesses and eventually owned more than 70 stores that spanned seven blocks. Almost everything was available at Webb's in its heyday - drugs, hardware, groceries, furniture, haircuts, plants, clothing, dry cleaning, citrus, and ground coffee. An Arthur Murray studio taught dancing - on the roof. At its height, Webb employed about 1,200 employees to serve an average of 60,000 customers a day. Doc Webb sold dollar bills for 95 cents; he shot the Flying Zacchinis out of a cannon in the parking lot; he exhibited mermaids, chimp acts, and baseball playing ducks; he sold breakfasts for two cents. Eventually the neighborhood around Webb's City began to deteriorate and the customers dwindled off. The company was bankrupt by 1979 and "The World's Most Unusual Drug Store" closed its doors forever.