"Oh, if I could go back again,
back to the days of yore,
I'd spend an afternoon or two
down at the general store."
No matter how old we are, we all have memories of "the good ol' days." But those of us who can remember back to the general store are indeed fortunate.
Nearly every small town or neighborhood had at least one.
This is where we were sent to buy some sugar, a spool of thread and some three-penny nails; where our mothers went to catch up on the local gossip; where our fathers went to play checkers and find out what was going on around town (it was the same information Mom got, but Dad didn't call it "gossip!").
General stores had a little of this, a little of that and not a whole lot of anything. One North Carolina general store used the motto, "If we dont have it ... you don't need it!"
However, the old general store was often more about the people you saw there than about the goods you purchased. It was the game of checkers in the corner, that morning cup of coffee with "the girls," the sharing of lives and the camaraderie of friends.
Although national-chain mega-marts have swallowed up most old general stores, some do still exist. Many such general stores have been doing business here in the Amish Heartland for longer than anyone alive can remember.
Olivesburg General Store, at the intersection of State Routes 545 603, west of Ashland (www.olivesburg.com), has been a mainstay in this small community on the Ashland/Richland County border since 1840. Owners Mike and Connie Crossen enjoy being part of the small-town atmosphere.
"We cater to the needs here," Connie said. "We offer groceries, of course, as well as antiques, Amish baked goods and furniture, bulk chocolates and candy supplies, pottery, hardware and Watkins products. We brought back 'penny candy,' and we have a gas pump out front. If someone asks for something we don't have, we try to get it."
At Olivesburg General Store, with it's old, time-worn wooden floors, ice cream is still hand-dipped behind an 83-year-old marble counter, and customers sit on the old ice-cream-parlor stools to eat it. This is a favorite respite for many bike riders, since most bikers love ice cream!
"And we have a group of guys that come in here every morning for coffee," Connie said. "They're here seven days a week usually more of them on the weekends and they have a good ol' time."
The morning I went to Olivesburg, only a few of the "regulars" showed up. They figured the others were home, trying to get their mowing done before the rain came (or finishing their "honey-do" lists). When I asked the guys how long it took them each morning to solve the problems of the world, one gentleman said, "It depends on what the president's done lately!"
For the past 70-plus years, Beck's Mills General Store has been providing goods of all sorts to the folks in this off-the-beaten-path southern Holmes County community. Beck's Mills is located where county roads 68 and 19 meet.
An employee told me the general store is "kind of a meeting place for the local folks, although a few tourists do come in." The store sells not only groceries, but shoes, dry goods, hardware and horse feed, as well.
In Loudonville, McKay's General Store has been under the ownership of Larry and Linda Ziegler for 13 years, but has been serving the community for more than a hundred.
I asked Larry what the store had to offer, and he replied, "What do we sell? You name it, we sell it!"
He then rattled off a list that was sort of from "soup to nuts," and no doubt includes both.
"Oh, there's meat, cheese, diapers and milk," he said. "Then there are fishing and hunting supplies, ice cream, flowers in the spring and pumpkins in the fall. And propane ... the Amish community uses a lot of propane, and we sell that, too."
He went on to say a lot of local folks come in to visit while they shop or wait for their propane tanks to be filled.
"The local guys come in here to beat on one another," Larry said. "It's all in fun, of course!"
The Polk Grocery and Hardware is "a nice little town store where 'everybody knows your name,'" says Brenda Beard, who co-owns the store with her mom.
For more than 100 years, the Polk store has been serving this northern Ashland County village. Brenda says they sell "deli meats, pop, chips, hardware and ... a little bit of everything."
Here, too, a group of men congregate every mornings at a little table in the corner to "have coffee and decide what they're going to do that day."
Six years ago, Lee Kohli purchased Whitmer's Store in Winesburg from the Whitmer/Horrisberger family, the third generation of owners of the general store.
"We're an honest-to-goodness working store," Lee said. "We truly are the old neighborhood store. We sell groceries, we have a deli, a little hardware, pet food, bird feed, and we even have a pizza shop in the back.
"We're small," Lee explained, "so we have to keep a finger on what people need. What they don't buy, we don't keep!"
Winesburg is a charming small town in northeastern Holmes County, and Lee admits he knows nearly everybody who comes into the store.
"We serve our town and have very few tourists in the store," Lee said. "Everybody knows everybody ... sometimes it nearly takes an hour and a half just to cross the street here because everyone stops and talks!"
For the past 76 years, Kidron Town and Country Store (www.kidrontc.com) has been serving the residents of Kidron and the surrounding area. It also has been serving the many tourists who come to visit Amish Country. The store is located right in front of the well-known Kidron Auction.
Max Gerber, owner, said his general store is many things to many people.
"To the tourist, we're the bathroom," he chuckled. "We also sell Amish clothes and hats, which the tourists like, plus normal tourist knickknacks, interesting crafts and quilt supplies. We have bulk food, too, and both the tourists and the locals buy it."
"For the local folk," he continued, "we also serve as a grocery store. We carry a full line of groceries, milk, produce and meat. Our meat is great, and the price is great; people come from all around to buy it. And we rent videos and DVDs, too."
Downstairs in Kidron Town and Country, you'll find things for the working people: hats, work gloves, work clothes and work boots.
There is also a very nice restaurant there, catering to both the locals and the tourists.
Since 1966, Kidron Town and Country has delivered groceries to its customers. Now that's a service you don't see much any more!
"Even though we do deliver and this is very beneficial to our Amish customers and to those who have trouble getting out we found people like to come in to the store," Max said. "They miss the social activity when we deliver. They get used to seeing the same clerks, the same people behind the meat counter, the same other shoppers. They all become friends."
General stores may be a thing of the past, but may be a thing of the future, as well. Folks who patronize these stores get used to the personalized service, the availability of the items they want and the social event that a trip to the store brings.
Make it a point to find an old-time general store and spend some time looking around. Relax and enjoy all it has to offer. You may find yourself hooked!