Old-fashioned charm at New England general stores

[cali]

WEST DANVILLE, Vt. — At Hussey's General Store in Windsor, Maine, offbeat merchandise is a specialty. The sign out front says so, in no uncertain terms: "Guns, Wedding Gowns, Cold Beer."

At the Mansfield (Conn.) General Store, it's not just basic groceries, takeout sandwiches and antiques. They have live music twice a week, including flamenco guitarists on Friday afternoons.

At Hastings Store in West Danville, Vt., co-owner Garey Larrabee is also the postmaster and cook, running a full-service post office and cooking up old-fashioned doughnuts for the regulars who come in to catch up on gossip and pick up mail, lingering around the wall of boxes with the three-digit dial combination locks.

His wife, whose family has run the place for almost 100 years, is a justice of the peace. She sometimes marries people, right there in the store.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44570798/ns/travel-destination_travel/

I love the New England general stores. Do most of my shopping at one. (It's the closest grocery store) I can get hardware there and kitchen stuff and winter boots there too.

[TomClash]

1. Memories of my childhood

in the land that time forgot.

[Atman]

2. My favorite is Singletons near Okemo, VT

Guns, liquor, clothing, and the best deli counter ever. They have there smokehouse, and you can anything from game (elk and bear, even) to smoked pepperoni and salmon.

[TlalocW]

3. Being a midwestern boy

I've often been jealous of the old fashioned New England general store, where I imagine old-timers sitting around an old wood-burning stove in rocking chairs saying, "Ah-yup," getting real maple syrup, etc.

TlalocW

[cali]

9. well, they don't really say ay-yup very much

and most rocking chairs tend to be on the porch in summer and fall, and I only know one that has a woodburning stove, but other than that..

[pipi_k]

4. I love this one...

About seven miles from my house

Huntington Country Store, home of the "Wrapple"


http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/waDo_iatl3PqJUur5oDgvQ?select=gg4S2BwWfm-BvwfK8svqpA


Lots of stuff packed into a little space


And about two miles from there is "Gateway Hardware"...other apparel, animal supplies, hardware, garden stuff, toys, and even a stuffed bobcat sitting on the checkout counter.

[david_vincent]

5. The Riverbend store in North Montpelier VT is for sale

so if any DUers are fed up with life in a red state and want to be represented by Bernie Sanders, here's your chance.
And, yes, it does contain the post office for N. Montpelier, too. Needs a fair bit of sprucing up, though (some scratch required for that).

[cali]

10. haven't been in there for years

there's all this road construction going on right there now too. You can't pass by it on 14. kind of a nice place though and good location when there isn't all that road work.

[AlecBGreen]

6. We have a great Mennonite (Amish) grocery next door

Great food, good prices, lots of hard to find stuff for DIY'ers. The people are super friendly and its a good feeling to know the money is staying in the community. Unless of course there is a secret Mennonite/Amish overlord puppetmaste collecting all the income...

edit - i dont spell so gud

[pipi_k]

14. We have a Mennonite bakery

near us.

They sell preserves, ice cream, and (of course) baked goods.

They also sell handmade (great quality!!) furniture but that's in another store...

I love the Mennonites...they are, like you said, very friendly. :)

[Horse with no Name]

18. We have a Mennonite community in our area

their bakes goods are wonderful--I even scored a Mennonite cookbook.:)

Any tragedy in the surrounding communities, you can always guarantee their church is the first one there to help rebuild, clean, work, and do whatever needs to be done.

They are, very simply put, good people. Our community is better off for them and I am thankful they are members of this community.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. I love them too. :^)

[bluedigger]

8. My grandfather ran a variety store in upstate NY.

Fishing tackle, kids toys, tourist crap in the front, fine women's clothing in the back. He even bought ad time on The Today Show...:rofl:

[Codeine]

11. We had a store like that where I grew up in Farson/Eden Wyoming.

I remember our family going in to get groceries, shoes, plastic airplane models, candy bars, ammunition, and hand-dipped ice cream cones.

[cali]

12. "my" country store is

Willey's.

Here are some reviews:



If you can't find it a Willey's you don't need it. You can buy everything from a lawn mower, to a bottle of wine. A great store in the heart of Greensboro, just a short walk from the public beach at Caspian Lake. I'll try and list the sections of the store... Groceries, wine and beer, toys, clothes, footwear, hardware, electronics, hunting and fishing supplies, housewares, office supplies, and movies. They seriously have it all with an amazing amount of Vermont charm.



The best! Willey's has EVERYTHING: from a full selection of food staples at reasonable prices, to an excellent variety of gourmet, specialty, and local Vermont artisanal products, great wine selections, a big display of microbrewery beers, hard ciders, and exotic offerings like mead... and that is just the grocery department. In addition to this, they have a nice selection of local souvenir t-shirts and sweatshirts, cold weather clothing, and more boots than you can shake a stick at in their clothing department. The hardware section could be a store unto itself, with every imaginable type of tool, nail, screw, washer nut, rope, chain, garden supplies, guns, ammo, fishing gear, and snow management tools. There is also an upstairs with kitchen and housekeeping items. As others have said, if Willey's ain't got it, you don't need it! In addition to being a great place to shop, Willey's is a slice of old-time Americana, a throwback to older, simpler days, which makes for an excellent shopping experience.


They Willey's is a sprawling general store catering to the summer-crowd at nearby caspian lake. Its a bit pricey, but for convenience, come on. . . It has a grocery with a butcher. . . (you can get bait from him: same refrigerator) . Decent wine selection, hardware store off to the right and year-round clothing department takes up the entire upstairs (not much for fashion sense though, strictly utilitarian). They dabble in movie rentals. Good cold beverage selection, (Moxie! and Vermont beers). There is a old-school gas pump outside, and bulletin board for community events. Pick up a copy of the Hardwick Gazette and make smalltalk with the clerk.

they really do have an amazing amount of stuff.

[Javaman]

13. If you have never shopped in a real general store, it's a wonderful experience.

When I was a kid, my parents had a cabin in a remote part of Canada. The closest "town" (it's in quotes because the town consisted of 2 buildings at a cross roads), was 7 miles away and consisted of two competing general stores.

The one on the "right" side of the road, was owned by the Mayor/fire chief/postmaster.

The other on the "left" side of the road was owned by the School super/local vet/judge.

Going into either one was an experience. You walked up to a counter and asked for the things you needed. Everything from nails to tomatoes. There was a small spot on the costumers side that post cards, gum, comic books and the like.

The place had a very distinctive smell. Like sawdust, 3 in 1 oil, potatoes and peanuts. (that's my best guess), but it wasn't a bad oder, just the smell of the store.

My dad would chat with Neil (the owner) for the local news and "important" local info aka gossip.

Neil was a big guy with wide blue suspenders and a hardy smile.

We'd get our gas and bait there as well.

This was a long time ago, back in the '60's. I used to buy a comic for a dime and get caramel cubes as a treat. ;)

The best was, he had Crush pop in a bottle. Not just orange, like here in the states, but about 5 other flavors of crush. The "clear" or the cream crush was the best. It tasted like bubble gum. lol.

Damn, I haven't thought about this stuff for years.

[Shagbark Hickory]

15. General stores are not exclusive to New England. n/t

[cali]

16. uh, did anyone say they were?

[Shagbark Hickory]

19. I merely posted that because people may not be awarethey have general stores in their own back yard.

[woo me with science]

17. This is true, but they are increasingly being destroyed by big box stores.

Communities in certain parts of New England have been particularly strong about resisting the takeover of the big box stores, and they deserve credit for that.

[SpiralHawk]

20. Gumby likes Cumbys - as you may already have suspected