Some afternoons, when things are at their quietest, someone will drift through the front doors and pick up a guitar.

Bradley Bates has plenty of guitars behind the counter in Bates & Thigpen, the men's store his grandfather opened 100 years ago.

Musically inclined customers usually ask permission to use the instruments, then pick a tune or two.

"There was a guy who came in who was in his 20s," Bates said. "And he said, 'I just need a pair of socks.' I went behind the counter and wrote them up, and he looked over and said, 'Is that your guitar?' I said, 'Yeah, would you like to play it?'"

"Yes sir," the young man answered, already reaching for the instrument, strumming the strings. He gazed at the guitar in the same awe he would a love interest. And he played the music, as Bates would l

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