Nikeard Bruce Smithey was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, on August 11, 1880. Smithey opened a store in Wilkesboro in 1899. By the time of his death, his company, N. B. Smithey Co., had grown into a chain of department and grocery stores with seventeen locations in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. He was also the owner of the Smithey Hotel in Wilkesboro and the director of Northwestern Bank. He died in Wilkesboro on September 3, 1953.