Exhibit 8.1



                                 June 24, 1997



Heilig-Meyers Company
2235 Staples Mill Road
Richmond, Virginia 23230

MacSaver Financial Services, Inc.
2 Reads Ways, Suite 224
New Castle, Delaware 19720

                    Re:  Registration Statement on Form S-3
                        $400,000,000 Aggregate Principal
                              Amount of Securities

Ladies and Gentlemen:

         We have been requested, as your special tax counsel, to render federal
tax advice in connection with the registration of $400,000,000 aggregate
principal amount of (i) common stock, par value $2.00 per share (the "Common
Stock"), of Heilig-Meyers Company, a Virginia corporation ("Heilig-Meyers"),
(ii) warrants to purchase the Common Stock of Heilig-Meyers (the "Warrants"),
(iii) debt securities (the "Debt Securities") of MacSaver Financial Services,
Inc., a Delaware corporation ("MacSaver"), and (iv) the guarantees of the Debt
Securities (the "Guarantees" and, collectively with the Common Stock, Warrants
and Debt Securities, the "Securities") by Heilig-Meyers, under the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act"), on Form S-3 to be filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") on the date hereof (the "Registration
Statement"), and the offering of such Securities from time to time, as set forth
in the prospectus contained in the Registration Statement (the "Prospectus") and
as to be set forth in one or more supplements to the Prospectus (each a
"Prospectus Supplement").

         We have reviewed the statements set forth in the Registration Statement
under the heading "United States Taxation" and hereby advise you that such
statements, insofar as they are or refer to statements of United States law or
legal conclusions relating thereto, are accurate in all material respects.






Heilig-Meyers Company
MacSaver Financial Services, Inc.
June 19, 1997
Page 2

         We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the
Registration Statement and to the reference to us under the heading "United
States Taxation" in the Registration Statement. We do not admit by giving this
consent that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under
Section 7 of the Securities Act.

                                    Very truly yours,

                                    /s/ McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe, L.L.P.