Vermont's Country Stores Organize to Face Threats
By KATIE ZEZIMA
Published: November 28, 2004
BRIDGEWATER CORNERS, Vt. - With its ample selection of Australian wines and shelves
filled with DVD's and garlic-flavored chips, the country store in this tiny south-central Vermont
town might appear to have come a long way since it opened in 1839.
But its creaky wood-plank floor, its wall of 19th-century mailboxes suggest that it has not really
changed much.
Independent country stores like this one, the Bridgewater Corners Country Store, where
customers are urged to sit outside at the wooden tables with a cup of coffee from a bottomless
urn and where regulars run tabs, have long been a Vermont way of life. Now, threatened by the
supermarkets and large grocery chains that have driven some of them out of business in recent
years, they have been banding together to help protect themselves.
Of the 100 independent country stores in the state, 55 have become members of the Vermont
Alliance of Independent Country Stores. The organization, founded about two years ago, serves
primarily as a support network, a sounding board and a marketing tool for owners. It promotes
both the vitality and the history of the stores, limiting membership to those built before 1927,
when the Winooski River flooded, decimating the state and killing 88 people.
"It's strength in numbers," said Charlie Wilson, owner of the Taftsville Country Store, which
opened in 1840.
The alliance, started with state grant money and sustained by annual dues of $50, holds meetings
every few months and is supported by the Vermont Grocers Association, a lobbying group. It is
urging its members to market themselves with a detailed Web page on the alliance's site,
www.vaics.org, and is working toward selling its own brand of products like jams.
"They represent, both in terms of the present and past, Vermont's communities," Dennis
Bathory-Kitsz, executive director of the alliance, said of the stores. "They contain things that
people want to buy, and they are a place that people want to go talk and meet friends. They are
just a real example of those traditions in Vermont that survive not because they're cute but
because they're necessary."
But the key to surviving in the market, members of the group say, is being able to adapt to
changing times and falling prices with new products and amenities while retaining old-fashioned
charm and friendly service.
Mr. Wilson's red brick store, where his two dogs, Emily and Annie, greet customers, is a
hodgepodge of tourist knickknacks, maple sugar candy, goat cheeses and basic sundries. The
post office serving his town's 283 residents is in the back, past the ice cream freezer and beyond
the substantial high-end wine collection.
"What we've become is a convenience store," Mr. Wilson said. "I carry all this stuff out of
convenience for people. If someone runs out of flour or sugar or milk, they can come pick it up
here."
Not that he is entirely happy about it. "I can't keep the store open and pay the light bills just to
sell one box of sugar."
Still, Mr. Wilson said that with the creation of the alliance, owners were now able to help one
another in ways that were earlier unheard of, as when one owner lost his milk contract because
his store was too small and another member of the group put him in touch with a distributor who
was willing to deliver only a few gallons at a time. That, members say, would never have
happened before the alliance, whose stores are sprinkled throughout the state.
To customers like Sandy Sawyer, who shopped at the Bridgewater Corners store with her 8-year-
old daughter the other day, convenience trumped all. The store is right around the corner from
her house, and she needed to pick up some things for dinner.
But Pete Oldenburg, who stopped in on a work break for a cup of coffee, enjoyed the personal
touch.
"You come in a little country store and you know all the people," Mr. Oldenburg said. "You try
to keep the money local. It's not the fast-paced in and out of a big chain."
ample – богатый, изобильный
creaky - скрипучий
urge – подгонять, подстегивать, надоедать, приставать
urn - кофейник
band – связывать, соединять
sound – звучать, провозглашать, облекать в форму слова
promote – способствовать, помогать, содействовать, побуждать, стимулировать
decimate – уничтожать, опустошать
amenity – приятность, любезность, вежливое обхождение
hodgepodge – мешанина, смесь, всякая всячина
knickknack – безделушка, украшение, обед, прием, банкет
maple - клен
sundry – всякая всячина
substantial – крепкий, прочный, солидный, основной, главный
convenience store – магазинчик, работающий допоздна
sprinkle – брызгать
trump - козырь
По материалам сайта www.nytimes.com.