One of Northeast Tennessee’s oldest food and beverage businesses turns 90 this year. The Shamrock in Johnson City opened on St. Patrick’s Day in 1929. Two years later, as the Great Depression was gripping the country, Lafe Cox bought the business. His son Jack Cox runs it today, along with Jack’s wife Sheila. Lafe had worked for Liggett’s, a drugstore on the corner of Main and Roan in Johnson City.