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General stores came into being during the colonial period
for the many pioneers who lived outside urban markets. Early owners of general
stores or mercantiles often began as traveling peddlers who established
permanent locations in settlements where there was a need once they had saved
up enough cash. Others moved west with the specific intent of opening a store
once they got there. This was particularly true in boom towns, such as mining
camps or railroad towns. Frequently, the "peddler" and his
"store" would move along to the next booming community if, and
when, profits declined. In many new settlements, the country store was the
first business established, in which case the town often took its name from
the store or store owner, partly because the store usually stood in as the
local post office. The store owner might also serve as the town clerk,
Justice of the Peace, or undertaker.
The country
store served other roles, as well, such as community center, "exchange
bank", community message center, and as a forum for men in the
community. Somewhere in the premises one might find a sort of bulletin board
for local events, or wanted posters.
Every store was different, but there were similarities from
a front decorated by tin sign advertising that represented tobacco, cigars,
soft drinks, hardware, and more. Most had double doors that opened inward,
and windows filled with notions, jewelry and other women's items to entice customers.
For the men, displays might show tools and boots.
Each visitor was met with dim light, long counters,
rounded glass show cases, and side walls lined with shelves, drawers, and
bins. Buggy whips, horse harnesses, lanterns, pails, ropes and more hung from
the ceiling. Produce, nuts, beans, and nails were stored in bins on the floor
or against a wall. Shelves contained foot stuffs, fabric and sewing notions,
household items, soaps, medicines, spices, crockery and dishes, cartridges
and shells, and small farm implements. Side windows were rare, adding to the
darkness of the interior. The post office, if one existed, stood in a corner
or at the rear of the store.
Stacks of overalls, denim and khaki pants, candy jars,
tobacco, and all manner of other products likely occupied the counter space,
along with the cash register, and possibly a coffee mill, scales and wrapping
paper, leaving barely any space for the customer to set down purchases.
Somewhere inside, usually in the center of the room, a
pot-bellied stove would be surrounded by chairs, a coal bucket and a
spittoon. An empty nail keg might house a checkerboard. Stored along the
narrow aisles would be barrels containing pickles, crackers, potatoes,
candies, etc.
 Since many of the customers were share-croppers and tenant
farmers, one store couldn’t provide credit to all who needed it, resulting in
one small town boasting several stores. In Learned, Mississippi, which never
had a population of over two hundred, there are four general stores still
standing, though only one is still in use.
In 1896, the postal service began to offer Rural Free
Delivery (RFD), cutting down on the number of trips a person had to make to
the post office, and therefore the general store. The ability of residents to
receive mail order catalogues by RFD also took away from the store’s profits
as people would mail in their orders. Some alarmed merchants called the mail
order catalogs “town killers.”
Along with mail delivery to rural areas came improved
government built roads, allowing people who owned cars to travel to larger
cities and bypass the local mercantile.
Today only a fraction of these old stores remain and these
stand mostly as museums, antique shops or tourist attractions.
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