Thomas Henry “Tea” Edmonds Jr. drew attention when he began waiting on white customers at the Spotless store on Hull Street.

While it’s no big deal these days, black retail clerks were still extremely rare in 1964 in Richmond, particularly in white-owned stores in the then bustling business district near the Manchester Courthouse.

Then 19, Mr. Edmonds got his shot when the Spotless store manager took a liking to the friendly, outgoing, well-dressed young man, his sister, Deborah Green, said.

“The manager taught my brother about selling,” Ms. Green said, and “he was a natural.”

Mr. Edmonds’ pioneering role in Richmond retail history is being remembered after he succumbed to illness Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. He was 68.

His life was celebrated Tuesday, Aug. 19, in the chapel of Watkins Funeral Home on North Side.

Mr. Edmonds went on to sell clothing at Fine’s Men’s Shop. When people found out that he sewed and tailored his own clothes, his customers asked him to tailor their clothes, Ms. Green said.

He sold men’s clothing at Fine’s and other stores before joining the staff at Standard Furniture in the late 1970s.

Mr. Edmonds collected weekly and monthly payments from customers for more than 32 years before he retired two years ago, said Wayne Mason, co-owner of Standard.

“We have three generations of families who have been our customers, and he knew many of them,” Mr. Mason said.

Mr. Edmonds’ survivors also include Brenda Farrow-Edmonds, his wife of 44 years, six children, two brothers, two other sisters, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.