Adirondack general stores: The heartbeat of community, commerce

Small-town stores are able to adapt, meet the needs of the places they serve

By Arietta Hallock

Diane Cain wandered aisles of local goods and groceries on an early summer day, giving a tour of her aptly named Adirondack General Store. She paused before a vintage candy display, wiped her hands on her apron, and gestured at the abundance around her.

“We’re a general store, which means we have generally everything,” Cain said. As she was about to elaborate, a wave of customers she called the “lunch crowd” strode through the door.

A group of visiting cyclists perused the camping gear and chalkboard menu. Two boot-clad workers joked with Cain about pie for lunch as they grabbed a quick meal from the cooler. While she rang up their items, she pointed to a well-penned open notebook beside the register of her Schroon Lake business.

“Everybody has a story about the store. Twenty years ago, I remember getting candy at the candy counter,” Cain said, “So I got a journal, and I said, ‘Write your story down in it.'”

While Cain’s store takes the namesake, general stores like hers — and stories about them — are plentiful across the Adirondack Park.

Their storefronts are iconic local landmarks and cornerstones of community commerce. These community hubs are places where weekend leaf-peepers and locals alike can get their fix of groceries, hardware, camping gear or conversation.

Their role is essential, too. With significant gaps between big-box stores in the Adirondacks, family-owned general stores are often the only shopping option for miles —  and no less the favorite.

Long-standing landmarks

Though Adirondack general stores have changed facades and owners, they have been around for generations.

David Robert Lamos has owned the Northern Borne General Store for over 30 years. It is currently the only full-line grocery store in Long Lake, although it is only open seasonally. With docks out back, it was one of the first buildings erected on the lake’s shoreline. 

Hoss’s Country Store is its beloved down-the-street neighbor. Before it was a bear-themed general store and Adirondack landmark, it was an even older storefront called Freeman’s during the 1950s.

The history and tradition of these institutions play a role in their year-round success. Yet there is another driving force behind their ability to stay afloat in a sparsely populated part of the park. The two general stores are among the few overall shopping options.

The nearest Walmart is over an hour away in Ticonderoga, and it is the only one in the Adirondacks. Supermarkets in Lake Placid, Queensbury or Potsdam require long drives.

Meeting community needs

“We have a food desert up here,” said Erica Birchenough, who owns Birch’s Lakeside General store on Cranberry Lake with her husband, PJ.

The nearest option for fresh produce is fellow general store Otto’s Abode in Wanakena, and other household needs can be met with a 30-minute trip to Tupper Lake.

Dollar General has opened locations in Adirondack Park food deserts due to the chain dollar store’s rural-focused corporate strategy. While some may see their arrival as increased competition for family-owned businesses, others are thankful for more options in sleepy towns. 

According to Birchenough, considering a Dollar General as competition to a family-run general store is like comparing apples to oranges.

Or, in the case of Kahlil’s Grocery in Inlet, it’s like comparing fresh loads of local Amish peaches to dollar-store frozen peas. The produce variety at Adirondack general stores like Kahlil’s and Northern Borne stands alone. Meanwhile, chains like Stewart’s Shops and Dollar General are available as an additional resource.

“[Dollar General] is a nice thing to help supply the community,” Birchenough said, “I think we are a totally different market though. We’re an experience.”

Take Crossroads Country Store in Chestertown, for example. There, a store dog named Sam wanders the aisles. On a recent rendition of their summer music series, two young girls set up a lemonade stand out front while locals gathered for live music.

In towns like Cranberry Lake, the general store is “the only man standing business-wise,” according to Birchenough. As a result, the store is a place for groceries and also for gathering.

Summer surges, quiet winters

In Schroon Lake, a popular destination for summer homeowners, Cain says that summer customers swarm the Adirondack General Store. Yet winters are especially quiet– and difficult for business.

Warmer winters have deterred weekend snow-seekers, and without ranks of snowmobilers comparable to summertime visitors, Cain’s store sees fewer customers. The snowmobile trail that once led to the back of her store is no longer maintained. She stays open during parts of the winter but has to reduce her hours.

“What I have to rely on is people coming off the ice,” Cain said. “And if you don’t have a frozen lake, you’re not going to have the snowmobile traffic coming in.”

Other stores run on a seasonal schedule. According to Birchenough, a place like Birch’s needs improved four-season infrastructure and resources to stay open past October. When her family bought it in a late 2022 auction that sparked rumors of real estate development, the community was relieved to see her family’s commitment to serving from the store, if only seasonally.

Continuing tradition

Many Adirondack storefronts have sported “for sale” or “closed” signs in the past few decades, especially in shrinking towns. The COVID-19 pandemic added additional challenges to businesses already operating on the margins. In Stratford, the Southern Adirondack General Store closed for the winter in 2021 and it has yet to reopen.

“Independent grocers, there are not many of us left here,” Lamos said.

Yet thriving family businesses show promise. Charlie Johns, a general store and full-service grocer in Speculator, has been in the Lane family since the 1970s. 

In 2016 after a nearby hardware store closed, they transformed what was once a greenhouse into a full-service hardware wing.

Bentley Lane, the daughter of the store owners, was working that hardware wing on a busy summer weekday. The Lane sisters, the store’s youngest generation, fill shifts at Charlie Johns. Both are pursuing business degrees.

Lane noted the store’s inventory runs from peaches to padlocks. “People say that we have everything, even things that they didn’t think we would,” she said.

General stores take on the functions of lost businesses and continue to act as community lifelines.

Even when family-owned general stores go up for sale, new families buy them. Birch’s and Adirondack General Store were renewed by new owners who loved the operations and shared optimism about their future.

“We put a lot of labor of love into this store,” Cain said, “We’re very proud.”