Our History - Discover Harris

THE HARRIS HISTORY

When you’re the fifth generation of a successful Anderson retail family,
you have quite a foundation to stand on…and quite a reputation to uphold.

1902

George Bailes opens The Bee Hive, a small clothing store in Anderson, SC.

1922

Bailes moves The Bee Hive into a new location at 107 South Main often called "Granite Row" and the building undergoes major renovations to become Bailes Department Store. It was a four-story retail store with escalators, which was ahead of its time. George Bailes retires shortly after renovations and George Jr, takes ownership.

1947

Thomas Bailes, George Jr.’s brother, partners with Lawrence Harris to start a flooring and carpet store in the basement of Bailes Department Store called Harris Carpets. Harris eventually sells his share to Thomas and his daughter, Beverly Bailes Geiger.

1956

Harris Carpets moves to a 12,000 square foot warehouse on West River Street

1967

Beverly’s daughter, Essie Geiger, started as a sales person and a few years later her future husband, Mike Junkins, worked as an installer.

1995

Mike and Essie purchase the business from Beverly Geiger.

1998

Mike and Essie’s oldest son, Scott, joins the company and helps expand the company’s offerings to include Hardwood and Tile

2005

Harris enters into the commercial flooring segment and completes first large project

2006

Harris Carpets joins Flooring America and becomes Harris Flooring America

2008

The 5th generation, Scott and Russell Junkins, decides to move and build a new 6,500 square foot showroom on 51 Civic Center Boulevard Ext

2016

Secured the state contract for Clemson University

2018

Secured the state contract for the University of South Carolina

2020

Harris Flooring America rebrands as Harris Home, expanding their services to include room and full home renovation. Harris Commercial continues to build a strong reputation across the Southeast.

As president of Harris, Scott Junkins knows all about foundations—and how to cover them beautifully.

His client list includes Clemson University, BMW and Greenville’s Fluor Field, along with thousands of homes and businesses throughout the area. Ironically, the pathway to today’s flooring company began on the basement floor of a legendary department store owned by Scott’s ancestor, George Bailes.

Escaping poverty with a third-grade education, George Bailes took a sales job in Charlotte in the 1890s and opened a small retail clothing store in Anderson called “The Bee Hive” in 1902. The shop grew and eventually became the Bailes Department Store. It was a four-story retail palace, complete with unusually rare escalators. George, Jr. later ran the store. His brother, Thomas Bailes, eventually partnered with Lawrence Harris to run a flooring and carpet store in the basement. After a horrible auto accident, Harris sold his share of the flooring business to Thomas Bailes and his daughter, Beverly Bailes Geiger.

As decorating styles evolved, the store thrived. Wall-to-wall and shag carpet became a staple in most homes, and flooring options multiplied. While various family members enjoyed employment with Bailes and with Harris Flooring, Beverly Geiger’s daughter, Essie Geiger Junkins, who had played in the store as a child, took over operations. Today, Essie’s sons, Scott and Russell Junkins run Harris on Civic Center Boulevard Extension in Anderson. Since 2008, they quadrupled their staff, partnering with builders and businesses to supply flooring throughout Upstate South Carolina.

For Scott Junkins, the next logical step was to expand beyond flooring to manage complete interior renovations. Thus, Harris Home was born. He has assembled an expert team that completely manages every step of any redesign project, from ideas to finishing touches. The goal of Harris Home is to deliver breathtaking renovation results beyond the customer’s wildest expectations. George Bailes would be mighty proud of what his fifth-generation has developed on the foundation he built.

Weiss Architecture Studio