Opening a general store

Jacqueline Hannah—assistant director at the Food Co-op Initiative—shares how you can start a neighborhood grocery co-op in your town, including how to pitch the vision to community members and elected officials, how to translate your enthusiasm into action, and how the Food Co-op initiative can help

A step-by-step guide to opening a retail store.

The first Mast General Store opened in 1883 and sold everything from cradles to caskets. Today, the store has 11 locations across the South that strike a clever balance between old and new, nostalgia and utility. Here's why Mast General belongs on your next road trip route!

​This nostalgic little shop will take you back in time as you step inside. Mr. Kouwenhoven originally opened a shop on the Verwersdijk in Delft in 1867, selling coal and painting supplies. Mr. Herstel took over in the 1930s and built a complete paint factory behind the store, and also began selling drugstore items.

When our Oakland-based architect friend Ian Read of Medium Plenty told us about his firm's latest project, Neighbor, we went shopping. How could we no

A fresh take on an old-fashioned general store enlivens a local community.

Starting this weekend, the tiny town of Bluffton in far southwest Georgia will have something that it has lacked for more than 40 years: a place to spend money. The Harrises of White Oak Pastures have purchased an abandoned general store, renovated and stocked it, and will open it Saturday.

Switching gears a bit ... This is the first of what I hope will be an occasional series of photoessays, mostly of America off the beaten track: small towns, general stores, curios, forgotten history. I love finding these in my travels, and I love meeting the people connected to them. I hope you enjoy these shots as much as I did taking them. First up: Boyce General Store, the center of a speck-on-the-map town called Alvaton, Kentucky. I love the front view of the store: sittin' porch…

♦ By Stephanie Bateman Sweet ♦ It’s always a joy to come across a neighbourhood grocery store selling seasonal, local, and artisan specialities, and owned by shopkeepers with a passion for the provenance of their produce. General Store in Peckham, South London, ticks all those boxes and some. The delightful owners, Merlin and Genevieve, seemed to have fallen into the role of ‘shopkeepers’ without it being part of their initial grand plan. “We were looking to move into this area and wanted a…