Filling a hole in the heart of town (Community isn't as dead as you may think)

[cali]

Globe Staff / December 13, 2009


PUTNEY, Vt. - It wasn’t a kitschy tourist spot, or a boutique stocked with artisanal cheeses. The Putney General Store was a workhorse, a 215-year-old dowager in this riverfront town, with dependably dusty floor boards, walls obscured by drawers of Phillips screws and sacks of flour, and a lunch counter rounded out each morning with old-timers who called themselves the Viagra Club.
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But big box stores had opened across the highway and when a fire ripped through the ceiling in May 2008, the owner decided he could not afford to reopen. The store sat shuttered, a waterlogged hull, until townspeople decided it was too small to fail.

Yes, it was just a store. But it was the bedrock of Main Street. If no angel investor was going to rescue it, they would, by pooling their money - much as they had, a few months earlier, moved to revive the town’s defunct bookstore.

“These are the hearts of our town,’’ said Tim Cowles, a landscape artist who recently wrote a $1,000 check for the Save the Putney General Store fund. “There has to be a conscious effort to save them.’’

As icons of New England merchandising disappear, towns across the region are mounting efforts to subsidize them, and in some cases, recreate them. In Greenfield, Mass., when a department store left town, residents purchased shares to help fund the start-up of a new store. In Cundy’s Harbor, Maine, residents spearheaded a 500-donor effort to buy a working wharf and village store that they feared could become a private residence. In Hardwick, Vt., 50 residents ponied up $10,000 to start a restaurant after years of going without one.

“It’s about a community understanding that there are certain businesses that are crucial to the success of their community,’’ said Paul Bruhn, executive director of the Preservation Trust of Vermont, a group that has aided a host of so-called “community-supported enterprises.’’

Bruhn and others say the shoring-up is necessary as the Internet and megachains have leeched business from local outfits. The challenge was compounded during the years of real estate frenzy as wealthy outsiders paid high prices and then quickly unloaded businesses after discovering that the profit margins could be slim and the hours long. The frequent turnover saddled businesses with high debt burdens that a single owner could not carry.


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http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2009/12/13/new_englanders_pool_resources_to_save_small_town_icons/

[OneGrassRoot]

1. Love this. Thanks. K&R n/t

[cali]

2. I live in Hardwick- well, in a village 4 miles outside of it

and in addition to the Claire's community funding, we have a slow money lending circle and cooperative business ventures. Hardwick is a tiny town of about 3,000 and the median income is lower than the VT average but not only do we manage to support a good restaurant, we also have a great independent bookstore and a wonderful coop.

[OneGrassRoot]

3. I want to move there.

Seriously. I love New England in general, and what you describe about your community is so attractive to me.

Perhaps one day......

In the meantime, best wishes to you and your neighbors, and may this type of practice catch on across the country. I think this is awesome.

Thanks for sharing this, Cali.

:)

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. I've often thought I might retire north, once my retirement is secure.

It would be nice to live in a place that has a sense of community, and a relatively liberal base.

Just 11 more years.

[OneGrassRoot]

5. And we live in the same city...lol.

I'm a Yankee at heart. ;)

:hi:

[niyad]

6. k and r--a real community there. even I knew of the putney general store. so glad it is saved

[Hannah Bell]

7. this i think is a good strategy for lots of old main streets -- better than

chasing non-existent tourist dollars with flower baskets or building "convention centers" which is what lots of small towns are doing -- (like tons of people want to go to a convention in podunk, idaho.)

in a small town near me, the new development manager's focus is keeping local dollars in town & keeping the storefronts (& their jobs) alive -- not geegaw shops, but basic business -- small grocery, motel, etc. -- looking at different methods, e.g. non-profit corp, co-ops, etc.

i should also say that such solutions veer dangerously close to socialism -- yet on this platform, the manager won election to his position by a significant margin in a red-neck logging town.

[Union Yes]

8. Very heartwarming example of local civic pride. knr

Gives me hope.

:patriot:

[JCMach1]

9. Love to hear this...