The General Store - Charlene Raddon

“There are more ducks killed around the stoves

on the dry goods boxes at the customary haunts

of local nimrods every evening between seven

and nine-thirty o’clock, than are slain in twenty-

four hours along the Illinois River from source to

mouth. Unless the legislature puts some restriction

on this method of wholesale slaughter, the time

will soon come when there won’t be any duck-shooting

stories to tell -- that anybody will put any confidence in.”

-- Correspondent in news notes to the Carrollton Patriot

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.

Charlene Raddon began her fiction career in the third grade when she announced in Show & Tell that a baby sister she never had was killed by a black widow spider. She often penned stories featuring mistreated young girls whose mother accused of crimes her sister had actually committed. Her first serious attempt at writing fiction came in 1980 when she woke up from a vivid dream that compelled her to drag out a portable typewriter and begin writing. She’s been at it ever since. An early love for romance novels and the Wild West led her to choose the historical romance genre but she also writes contemporary romance. At present, she has five books published in paperback by Kensington Books (one under the pseudonym Rachel Summers), and four eBooks published by Tirgearr Publishing. 

Charlene’s awards include: RWA Golden Heart Finalist, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award Nomination, Affair de Coeur Magazine Reader/Writer Poll for Best Historical of the Year. Her books have won or place in several contests.

Currently, Charlene is working on her next release. 

Charlene's Amazon page