Cornish Flat
“I retired 20 years ago,” Reed said, “but I came down and they gave me an application. They said ‘We (think) you’re over-qualified,’ ” he chuckled in the retelling, “but I like to keep busy. I like Cornish. Nice people. And I get all the local gossip.”
Over-qualified perhaps. Yet Reed was exactly the kind of person store owners Mark Abrams and Maureen Jenks wanted on their crew when they finally realized their ambition to own and run their own general store.
“Will is just what the store needs,” Abrams said. “He’s open, warm, friendly and knows everyone in town.”
A friendly face, along with homemade sandwiches, shelves and refrigerators stocked to the brim with convenience items, a keg master to draw cold-brewed coffee, a relaxed sitting area with tables and free Wi-Fi for electronic devices — not to mention the opportunity to catch up on town happenings — is all available once again for residents and travelers along Route 120 between Lebanon and Claremont now that the Cornish General Store is back after closing nearly four years ago.
Reopening the Cornish General Store runs counter to long-time trends in rural New England, where the local country stores that once could be found in every town have been struggling and closing as convenience store chains, with their often lower prices, move in.
Around the Twin States, both the Shaftsbury Country Store, near Bennington, Vt., and the Underhill Country Store, outside Burlington, closed, briefly reopened, and then closed again within months. The Brick Store, in Bath, N.H., which bills itself as “America’s Oldest General Store,” closed in 2015 and was sold a year later to a couple who said they were going to reopen it, but it remains closed.
In the Upper Valley, the Grafton Country Store closed in July 2014, was sold at auction a few months later and was reopened by an owner of Wendy’s franchises. Last month, the Brownsville Country Store, which had been sold to a new owner in 2014, abruptly closed. Along Vermont’s Route 110, the North Tunbridge General Store, Flanders Market in Chelsea and Chelsea Pizza House all closed because of tax-related issues. The owner of the three stores has said he plans to reopen his businesses.
Building a New Brand
“We probably lose two to three stores annually,” estimated Jack Garvin, owner of The Warren Store in Vermont’s Mad River Valley and chairman of the Vermont Alliance of Independent Country Stores, whose membership is down to 72 from “in the 80s” five years ago.
“Between online and large franchise stores and the challenge of living in a resort state with the vagaries of winter, it’s difficult,” Garvin said.
In response, some general store owners, in order to carve out a new niche, are rebranding themselves as “country stores” and highlighting their food and craft beer selection, rather than trying to compete with the offerings of a typical mini-mart, which is always good for a can of SpaghettiOs, lottery tickets and a six pack.
“Food is where it’s at now, and meals-to-go, having your own bakery and deli where you make everything,” said Garvin, who has operated The Warren Store for 37 years. “The Vermont artisanal beer movement has been a huge plus for us.”
For Abrams and Jenks, reopening the Cornish General Store began as a casual idea that picked up steam and then became reality when planning crossed with luck.
In 2015, Abrams, a former manager at the Concord Food Co-Op in New London, and Jenks, an emergency room nurse at Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, had bought a home on 5 acres in Cornish Flat within sight of the store. They soon found themselves in the right place at the right time.
Former Cornish General Store owner Shirley Bladen closed the store in 2013 and put the property on the market.
“Oh, look, honey, the Cornish Store is for sale,” Jenks recalled telling Abrams when she saw the “for sale” sign. “Now you can have that store you’ve talked about.”
As a New England sales manager for a food distribution company, Abrams was familiar with the general stores throughout the Twin States and said he had always entertained the idea of owning one someday. Jenks said she, too, had had the idea “in the back of my mind” and likens the work of serving community members with things they need to her career in health care. “We both like people a lot,” Jenks said.
Getting Started
To prepare themselves to become storekeepers, Jenks and Abrams took a class at SCORE, the Upper Valley nonprofit that assists people in business planning. It was through SCORE that they met Colleen O’Neill, who was also taking a class there. O’Neill, a Cornish philanthropist and preservationist, and widow of novelist J.D. Salinger, had also been eying the store property in the hope of reopening it for the community. The three set to talking and hammered out a plan whereby O’Neill purchased the property from Bladen for $288,000 and Abrams and Jenks leased the building from O’Neill.
The past eight months have been busy — getting everything in order, repainting the outside barn red, refurbishing the inside, buying kitchen equipment, updating the electrical system, making sure the site was in compliance with water and sewer permits and establishing relationships with area farmers and suppliers to ensure that as many provisions as possible are locally sourced.
Abrams declined to specify exactly how much he and Jenks spent to get the store up and running, but said that, after the necessary repairs to the property, building renovations and permitting, it ran into the low-six figures — “partially our money, partially financed,” he said.
Although the Cornish General Store carries convenience store staples such as pastas, cereals, canned beans, cleaning agents, snacks and candies, Abrams said a lot of effort is being put into preparing fresh food and meals from local and quality suppliers: eggs from Cornish’s Stone Farm; milk from Plainfield’s McNamara Dairy; ground beef, lamb, pork and bacon from Cornish Center’s Many Summers Farm. There’s also an on-tap beverage from Austin, Texas, called Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee, which is dispensed from a refrigerated keg; and Stubborn Soda, imported from Ireland, that features flavors such as orange hibiscus and black cherry with tarragon.
Of course, Abrams noted, the store also carries the usual salty snack foods, soda and sugary fruit drinks. “I’ve got Frito-Lays and Slim Jims, too,” he said. “I call it both side of the aisles.”
In fact, Cornish resident Ryan Hall, who was at the store twice on the same day last week, said he has been “stopping in just about every day” to get his “morning coffee, a couple scratch tickets and a Slim Jim” for his dog. Hall said he lives three miles away and appreciates that he no longer has to drive 8 miles to Claremont or 11 miles to West Lebanon for the few things he needs, “not that those places weren’t doing a good job,” he clarified.
All Kinds of Country
The label “country store” and “general store” in the context of rural Vermont and New Hampshire communities can encompass everything from the Manchester Center, Vt.-based retail marketing emporium Vermont Country Store to gift-and-treat shops like Gilford Country Store in Gilford, N.H., bistro-cafes and cheese monger Falls General Store in Northfield, Vt., and convenience stops with beer, wine, food and gas like the Thetford Center Village Store and Baker’s General Store in Post Mills.
Rarer today is the traditional New England general store, such as Dan & Whit’s in Norwich, whose motto “if we don’t have it you don’t need it” reflects the store’s inventory: everything from groceries to toys, hardware to hamburgers, chardonnay to Carhartts (but no lottery tickets or tobacco products).
To a great degree, the function of the general store as a supplier of everyday household needs has been overtaken by retail giant Dollar General, which has about 30 stores in Vermont and 26 stores in New Hampshire, and convenience store and gas station chains Maplefields and Cumberland Farms.
Although it may sound idyllic — a perfect Plan B for the overworked couple seeking the peace and charm of small-town life — owning and operating a general store is a demanding business with minimal financial rewards, according to John Beal, president of Vermont Business Brokers in Burlington.
Beal, who specializes in finding buyers for mom-and-pop businesses, said a general store that generates $1 million in sales annually can expect a gross profit margin of about 30 percent. Coming out of that $300,000 would be worker wages, payroll tax, insurance, utilities, general and administrative expenses, property taxes, maintenance and other operating expenses, all which leaves little left over for the owners. On top of that, there are grueling hours — typically 60 hours a week or more — since most stores are open at least 12 hours a day.
“Nothing is easy about it,” said Beal, who has listed for sale Rutland County’s Benson Village Store and Orleans County’s Morgan Country Store. “It’s more of a lifestyle decision than an I’m-going-to-get-rich decision.”
In many cases, Beal said, the local general store can no longer compete by sticking to its traditional role as a purveyor of light groceries, canned and frozen foods and basic household necessities like pet food, cleaners and toilet paper. “Ultimately, for any of these stores to become a success, they have to make themselves into a destination. They can’t rely on the community anymore,” he said.
That means upping their game in the food department, Beal suggested. Whether it’s a “significantly good sandwich,” a panini for lunch, or “a chicken dinner to go on Thursday night and a meat loaf on Friday night,” Beal said, the menu items should reflect choices that entice customers away from the default options of pizza or a ham-and-cheese in cellophane.
Crafting a New Direction
That’s just the recipe that Amber and Josh Enright followed when they reopened Robie’s Country Store in Hooksett, N.H., which had operated for 110 years until it closed in 1997 after the fourth generation of the Robie family retired. The store, a customary photo op stop for presidential candidates traipsing through New Hampshire during primary season, was taken over by the nonprofit Robie’s Country Store Historic Preservation Trust and run by a succession of tenants until 2013, when it closed again.
Last March, the Enrights, who previously owned a restaurant in Manchester, took out a five-year lease to occupy Robie’s and opened a 48-seat cafe and catering business. Menu items include a veggie skillet, a homemade pork pie, a dill lemon tuna sandwich and falfafel wraps.
But the Enrights have combined their cafe with a gallery that sells products from artists and crafters affiliated with the League of New Hampshire Craftsman and a line of hand-crafted chocolates. The couple attended the Made in NH Expo and make rounds at farmers markets to scout crafts to stock in the store.
“We don’t really sell convenience items anymore,” Amber Enright said. “We tried that in the beginning, but besides cigarettes and scratch tickets, people aren’t looking for that anymore. There are so many gas stations where they can get that.”
Back at the Cornish General Store, Sanbornton N.H., electrical contractor Andy Sanborn and his apprentice, Rob Richardson, are on lunch break and standing in front of the kitchen counter waiting for their sandwiches to be made.
“I’m getting special treatment here,” said Sanborn, a vegetarian who had ordered a sandwich that wasn’t on the menu. It’s his second visit to the store since beginning a job in the area. He said he stopped in the first time because “I saw the sign outside and it looked good.”
Richardson, of Gilmanton, N.H., had ordered the honey maple turkey on a bulkie roll. He takes a sip from the cup of coffee he’s holding and his face brightens. “This tastes like coffee’s supposed to taste.”
Abrams, the owner of the Cornish General Store, said one of the biggest challenges is setting prices. He doesn’t want to push customers away to West Lebanon or Claremont, but at the same time he can’t afford to undersell like the chains.
“I can’t sell at Wal-Mart prices,” he said. But, alluding to the common practice of convenience stores setting prices higher than regular markets, he added, “I’m not selling at convenience stores prices either.”
Abrams said goodwill is a critical component in getting a community to support its general store.
“They are my neighbors,” Abrams said of his customers. “I have to look them in the face every day.”
John Lippman can be reached at 603-727-3219 or jlippman@vnews.com.
