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Country store opens Saturday
By MARK THOMAS/Altavista Journal Editor
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 12:05 PM EST
Through the front door, food, cast-iron cookware, clothing, toys, artwork, soap and bluegrass music await. It's displayed in a way that calls back years gone by, complete with antiques, custom shelving, a board floor and original counters.
The General Store & Inn offers a variety of goods.
"It's an old-fashioned store that has a little bit of everything," said Lisa Moore, who, along with husband Dale, has converted the building into an eye-catching attraction on Main Street in Altavista.
The new store will open Saturday, Dec. 6, at 9 a.m. There will be live bluegrass music, something that will be featured every Saturday. The upstairs, three-room inn won't open for another three months.
"We've worked hard at selecting our stock so that it doesn't compete with other area businesses," Dale Moore said Monday afternoon.
Moore said they tried to select the very best products for the store. It's not a grocery, but there's a lot of tasty treats, including Edwards Country Hams, shelves of jars filled with jelly, apple butter, salsa and other things from the Amish in Pennsylvania, pasta and sauce, biscuit and cobbler mixes, funnel cake kits, Watkins flavoring products, sorghum and barrels of candy.
Many of the products come from Virginia.
Other merchandise includes Case knives, Woolrich clothing, Melissa & Doug wood toys, Lincoln Logs, natural soaps, country art and bluegrass CDs. The Moores plan to add a used book section later.
At the back of the store is a sitting area for checkers. A rooster perched near the ceiling keeps an eye on what's happening. Wooden front counters came from a Goode store that was open in the 1920s.
"It's just fun, the old-fashioned store," Lisa Moore said. "It's just a fun place to come. I love coming in here myself."
It's another effort by the Moores toward revitalizing downtown. Lisa Moore said the store is part of making Altavista a destination point for visitors.
"We want to be part of turning the downtown around," Dale Moore said earlier.
The building goes back 70 years and was last used as Betty's Kitchen.
The store will employ four.
The General Store & Inn will be open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
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