TAFTSVILLE — What does Charlene Leonard miss most about the Taftsville Country Store since it closed in late spring?
The retired teacher from Hartland kept counting the ways on Tuesday afternoon, while conducting a transaction in the village post office that shares a corner of the store’s 179-year-old brick building. On a temporary barrier at the indoor entrance, a handwritten sign announced that the store will open over the three days after Fourth of July, for a “big sale” of remaining inventory.
“It’s the pick-up place,” Leonard said. “They always had the best of Vermont-made products, like cheese and syrup. I would send these kinds of things to the people whose houses we caretake, and to our kids who live out of Vermont.”
After buying the historic structure from longtime owner Charlie Wilson in 2010, Victoria and Courtney Brooks also sold Christmas trees at yuletide, offered fresh fish and dry-cleaning services, and held wine- and cheese-tasting parties.
“They were always finding different ways of bringing people in,” Leonard said. “And on top of it all, you could call up and ask, ‘Do you have cream-of-mushroom soup?’ ”
A call nowadays is answered by a voice message offering little more information than: “The store is closed indefinitely.”
On her Facebook page, Victoria Brooks posted a notice on Sunday announcing the clearance sale.
Another post, on June 9, read: “Historic Building Space for Lease” at $1,650 a month for use of the first floor.
Victoria Brooks last week told a Valley News reporter, “We are actually not interested in (participating in) a story right now. I think we might when we know what the next step will be — which we are working on now.”
The closing follows recent shutterings of two other stores along U.S. Route 4: Singleton’s Market uphill from downtown Quechee in May, and the Route 4 Country Store and Deli near the Interstate 89 intersection in Quechee, which has been closed since early this year, and currently has chains with orange flags blocking both its entrances.
Singleton’s owners, who run a flagship store in Proctorsville, Vt., noted that they did well in summer but struggled in winter. Leonard said on Tuesday that customers in Taftsville also started to worry this past winter.
“They were only open so many days a week,” Leonard said. “Everything seemed to diminish.”
Seasonal swings in business are just one of many obstacles for owners of country and general stores in Vermont, according to the leaders of organizations that consult with and lobby for the owners of country and general stores.
“It’s really a challenge,” said Jack Garvin, who has run the Warren (Vt.) Country Store in the Mad River Valley for almost 40 years and is president of the Vermont Alliance of Independent Country Stores. “You have to be endlessly adaptable, differentiate yourself from other retailers. It’s hard to sustain, with online shopping and box stores.”
Then-Gov. Peter Shumlin was at the Taftsville General Store in August 2013, when he was touring landmarks that had been revived following damage during Tropical Storm Irene two years prior — including the store and nearby Taftsville Covered Bridge. Shumlin led a proclamation announcing September 2013 was “country store month” in Vermont, acknowledging the central roles that independent country stores play in the state’s culture and everyday life.
Yet according to Erin Sigrist, president of and chief lobbyist for the Vermont Retail & Grocers Association, more longtime proprietors have been calling in recent years for advice on possible “exit strategies” than young people have been calling for advice on how to start country stores or to stay afloat.
“It’s a shifting landscape,” Sigrist said. “We did some research a couple of months ago that showed that in 2008-2009, there were 245 country stores, general stores and village stores in Vermont. Today, we’re down to about 180 of these rural stores, and about 70 to 75 (of the 180) were country stores in the traditional sense.”
So far, Garvin doesn’t foresee forsaking his calling.
“I love it, because every day is different,” he said. “And even with all the problems and challenges, you get to see all your friends. You’re the hub of your community.”
At the Taftsville post office, which the U.S. Postal Service confirms will continue to operate during its regu lar hours for the near future, Charlene Leonard expressed hope that someone will come along, so oner than later, to take t he proprietary torch from the Brooks family.
“People will really miss it,” she said. “It’s always been here for the older people who didn’t want to drive into Woodstock or Quechee.”
David Corriveau can be reached at 603-727-3304.