General Stores

[Diesel]

Kind wish things were still like this

[flight or fight]

Kind wish things were still like this

Let the economy get a few degrees worse and you might get your wish.

[Zombie Axe]

Back a few years I ago I spent a week living on Portsmouth Island. Portsmouth (town) is now a ghost town and you can walk through it and it is maintained by volunteers and the National Park Service (Part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore)...

The old General Store is still standing and it also served as the post office as well. The shelves are empty, but one can imagine all that went on in there.

I do recall several General Stores in my AO that were still in Business in the late 1970's...

Stamey's General Store in Fallston was the Super Wallmart of its day and was 10 times better. I wish this store was still in business.

Come to think of it, there is STILL at least one general store located in the High Country and that is Mast General Store... Last time I went there, it had that old timey feel... Been in business since 1883 IIRC :)

http://www.mastgeneralstore.com/destinations_landing.cfm

Thanks for the trip down memory lane :)

[Big_Saw]

Kind wish things were still like this

You and me both.

[Visinedrops]

That photo almost brings tears to my eyes knowing that the world is not like that anymore. The casual feeling of buying a poke of salt, some lantern kerosene, and a 5lb bag of flour in a store that is not corrupted by corporate BS.

There is not "electronics department" or a light on at register 17. No "Express Checkout" or humanless, touch-screen, self-serve checkout computer. There's Bill, Fred, Jackie, and Ernest casually standing around conversing about the latest gossip in town. I can imagine the barber shop might be right next door, with the tavern and inn just across the street. Everyone knows everyone else, and people are more apt to lend a helping hand. A place you see traffic as the number of people going in and out of the door, where crime is someone stealing an apple or a screwdriver.

I'd like to be a blacksmith/machinist in this little town. Thanks for the picture, it's very sentimental, even though I've never lived there.

[Diesel]

that lats pic u posted is really cool

and yeah i meant to stop by mast the last time i was up in the mountains but i went the wrong way haha oh well

Back a few years I ago I spent a week living on Portsmouth Island. Portsmouth (town) is now a ghost town and you can walk through it and it is maintained by volunteers and the National Park Service (Part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore)...

The old General Store is still standing and it also served as the post office as well. The shelves are empty, but one can imagine all that went on in there.

I do recall several General Stores in my AO that were still in Business in the late 1970's...

Stamey's General Store in Fallston was the Super Wallmart of its day and was 10 times better. I wish this store was still in business.

Come to think of it, there is STILL at least one general store located in the High Country and that is Mast General Store... Last time I went there, it had that old timey feel... Been in business since 1883 IIRC :)

http://www.mastgeneralstore.com/destinations_landing.cfm

Thanks for the trip down memory lane :)

[Diesel]

Man you get it!!

It how simple things used to be!

And all that mattered were things to get you through your day,week or month.

Supplies

Now we are so reliant on bs, and spend so much time and effort in luxuries it's sad.

But the idea of a local owned and operated general store where everyone knows your name and u stop in once a week for supplies that you NEED brings a smile to my face...

Go in pick up some flour, maybe some salt, a pack of ammo, and some kerosene. Yup.. that would be a much simpler life..

That photo almost brings tears to my eyes knowing that the world is not like that anymore. The casual feeling of buying a poke of salt, some lantern kerosene, and a 5lb bag of flour in a store that is not corrupted by corporate BS.

There is not "electronics department" or a light on at register 17. No "Express Checkout" or humanless, touch-screen, self-serve checkout computer. There's Bill, Fred, Jackie, and Ernest casually standing around conversing about the latest gossip in town. I can imagine the barber shop might be right next door, with the tavern and inn just across the street. Everyone knows everyone else, and people are more apt to lend a helping hand. A place you see traffic as the number of people going in and out of the door, where crime is someone stealing an apple or a screwdriver.

I'd like to be a blacksmith/machinist in this little town. Thanks for the picture, it's very sentimental, even though I've never lived there.

[Big_Saw]

Man you get it!!

It how simple things used to be!

And all that mattered were things to get you through your day,week or month.

Supplies

Now we are so reliant on bs, and spend so much time and effort in luxuries it's sad.

But the idea of a local owned and operated general store where everyone knows your name and u stop in once a week for supplies that you NEED brings a smile to my face...

Go in pick up some flour, maybe some salt, a pack of ammo, and some kerosene. Yup.. that would be a much simpler life..

And cheaper....lol....;)

[lazer128]

Kool pic. Thanks for the memories. Rural SC had stores like that in the late 50s - early 60s. Was a much simplier time. I want it back..........

[TheUnboundOne]

Diesel and Zombie Axe,

Mast's General Store was always great to visit when I was in college. I loved their sugar crystal hard rock candy in all kinds of flavors and their local honey brands. If I get up that way again, I'll love visiting them!

They also made a hilarious commercial on the local cable network when I was in college. The commercial had a fast Bluegrass ditty and the owner came out in a hillbilly hat and over-alls a' aimin' his squirrelie rifle at the camera and he sang: "...And if ye mess 'round wit' my wimmen-folk, you'll have ta mess wit' me!" *BOOM!*

:D :D :D :D

Here's another neat example of an ol' timey general store that has gone into the modern age and takes orders online:

Cumberland General Store "Good in Endless Variety for Man and Beast"

http://www.cumberlandgeneral.com/

As a delicious irony, the wired-in Cumberland General Store deals in a lot of hand-made items made by and for the Amish. It's enough to make ol' Jakob scratch the hair on his chin and say: "Not bad fer English types!"

:)

I think that the ol' timey general store can still have a place in the modern world, but as with any other business, it has to offer value-for-value and do it in a uniquely marketed way that distinguishes it from the big-box stores.

For example, general stores could get added business by doubling as a venue for local bands or with book-signings from local authors or with sections devoted exclusively to locally-made or regionally-made products. The number of BBQ sauces, honeys, chow-chows, slaws, and meat snacks in our area alone could fill massive shelves. General stores could also have mini-courses in local crafts, everything from quilting to corn-husking to winemaking. The possibilities are limitless for the creative.

[kenno]

I went to town last month to buy a Wazzit that I needed to fix a lamp at the Hardware store, both hardware stores went out of business thanks to Wal-Mart! My local General Store was everything to all PPL (soda fountain, butchershop, dry goods) when it was in business but unfortunately the building was never placed on a foundation and so it was condemed. The old grocery store next to the abandoned Tavern has a new owner and he is putting in dry goods and hardware!

[Red]

Just so you all know... there's still a few of those types of stores up here in the north east. G o to upstate Vermont and you can find some... I know of a couple of small ones here in NH... there's an awesome "hardware" store in Antrim nh that has most everything but the food... it takes me at least an hour every time I go in there just cuz I have to look around...

[Mean Gene]

I'll have to take a road trip out to Lancaster.We might still have a few in the Amish country out that way.I always thought the Amish were way ahead of us when it came to self reliance any way.
Has anyone thought of them as post collapse barter sources?When Y2K was looming on the horizon still I told a friend of mine we should head toward them and try to work something out if it got bad.

[teach]

I miss dime stores too.

[herbalpagan]

My great grandfather had a store like that, and there was one in the village when I was young. It's a shame, but it's also a natural progression. Maybe they will make a come back in the future.