How Long Island's general stores are evolving

I rolled off Route 25A in St. James and followed the town signs to the St. James General Store. Dating back to 1857 and commonly thought to be the oldest continuously operating general store in the country, it appeared like a background set for Disney’s "Country Bear Jamboree," a salute to a simpler time — that of "Little House" and Laura Ingalls Wilder, "Green Acres" and Sam Drucker, "Sesame Street" and Mr. Hooper, even "Schitt’s Creek" and David Rose.

Dictionary publisher Oxford Languages defines the general store as "a store, typically in a small town, selling a wide variety of goods." Popularized in the 1800s, general stores sold everything from candy, writing paper, newspapers and books to hardware and twine; pantry items to fresh groceries; clothing, toiletries and housewares to medicine and tobacco. Often doubling as a post office, the general store served as the social hub of the community. That convenient centrality was slowly replaced by the rise of both specialized shops and the expansion of department stores in the 1900s. But in a hearkening back to something I can’t quite put my finger on just yet — nostalgia? interaction? simplicity? — general stores are experiencing a revival, often centering around an already established social connector, food. 

Owned by Ebenezer Smith — a descendant of "Bull" Smith, founder of Smithtown — the St. James General Store is the Long Island embodiment of the late 1800s model. A bell rings as you push the heavy wooden door open into a multilevel wonderland of themed Long Island, New York State, nautical and beach housewares; candles in every imaginable fragrance; serving dishes and aprons; jewelry, hats, scarves and shirts; flags, kites, fans and toys; a vast selection of candy and chocolate. Baked goods tantalize the nose while the eyes adjust to the color, chaos and charm. 

Site of the first telephone and post office in the village, this emporium boasts a gathering space for parties and celebrations on the second floor, and as I creaked up the stairs, I could smell the original wood paneling, hear the stories in the bones. In 1940, on Smith’s death, it passed down to his son Everett, whose father-in-law, Karl Ericson, ran it until he was 90 years old. In 1990, Suffolk County and New York State purchased the store in a joint preservation effort. 

I think that people are looking for nostalgia and connection and a way to just be live and present with a sensory experience.

- Stephanie Rink, manager of St. James General Store

Five years after the pandemic, we seem to crave the intention and interaction that used to accompany everyday activities like shopping. And the fact that general stores are making a resurgence is welcome news to Stephanie Rink, manager of St. James General, who witnesses the public’s fascination daily. “I think that people are looking for nostalgia and connection and a way to just be live and present with a sensory experience," she said. A whole wall’s worth of candies, from old-fashioned hard candies to today’s gummy varieties, for instance, is essentially a time capsule for sale. "You kind of just get a feel for how things were way back then," Rink said. "You kind of forget everything happening outside for a minute to just be in our store.”

TODAY'S GENERAL STORES

Modern-day general stores are a nod to this old model, but today’s incarnations are upscale and well edited. Along with selling an imitable aesthetic, they still strive to be community hubs for quality, often luxe, products and provisions (including prepared foods) as well as chatter. I set out to experience this new guard.

The line of cars headed to the beach slowed on Sagg Main Street as I neared Sagaponack General Store, the village’s latest jewel. Built in 1878 by Thaddeus Edwards, it began as a farming supplier, grocery and post office to support the growing Sagaponack community. It was purchased in 1898 by the Hildreth family, who owned it for the next century; by the late 1990s, "Sagg Main" was where young 20-somethings picked up their summer BECs and iced coffee, beach hero sandwiches and chips, the Sunday Times (for the Style section) and the Post (for Page Six) alongside generations-older locals who had been doing so for decades. 

As I tried to park, a fluffy white dog darted past my car, followed by screams of "Louie, Louie!" from the owner, distracted by a conversation on the (new) sweeping porch. An elderly couple sat there in the shade, hands clasped, equally concerned for Louie. It was a Norman Rockwell painting on the outside, a Nancy Meyers movie within.  

"Sold out of breakfast sandwiches for today," read a sign on the door, letting late sleepers know they had missed an Instagram food trend. No matter — as soon you step into the retail vision of owner Mindy Gray, you can feel yourself relax as you take in the lush, meticulously styled space graced by soaring ceilings, plenty of natural light and refurbished wood.

The inventory is a virtual kaleidoscope of flowers, penny candy sold out of vintage post office boxes (a nod to the store’s original occupants), the old-fashioned register. Beyond, an abbreviated selection of Sagaponack merch, apothecary goods, frozen yogurt and baked treats, fresh rotisserie chickens — while even farther back lies an expansive wall of bread and coffee opposite local produce, the rainbow-hued bounty bathed in sunlight from the floor-to-ceiling windows at the back of the store.  

When Gray read that the historic store was up for sale, a casualty of the pandemic, she paused. Having raised her family in Sagaponack on summer weekends, she described the store as "The first place they [her children] could kind of have independence." They biked alone, then walked, then drove, to "this destination and happy place where they got their sweatshirts and their sandwiches and their muffins and their drinks and, you know, went on their merry way." The thought of the impending sale made Gray wonder what the Sagaponack community would look like without it — and she considered buying it.  

We were all starved for community and connection. ... A lot of my focus was on how to become a place where people can really feel comfortable gathering.

- Mindy Gray, owner of Sagaponack General Store

With the encouragement of her kids and husband, she followed through. "The genesis was at that time [post-COVID], we were all starved for community and connection. I think a lot of my focus was on how to become a place where people can really feel comfortable gathering," Gray said.  Working with architect Frank Greenwald, of Sag Harbor, she moved the building back 15 feet, creating that generous porch where people could congregate. She brightened the back space, where the larder and pantry essentials are: peppers and zucchini, lettuce and onions arranged in baskets; pastas, sauces, vinegars and oils on shelves; cookies, chips, crackers in piles. 

"The barn window was to bring the fields in because this is a community that’s all about farming and all about the land," she said. As I claimed my perfectly swirled cinnamon roll and a fragrant La Colombe coffee, my eyes caught flowers swaying against the red backdrop of the barn, vibrant green fields beyond.

It was equally important for Gray to partner with local businesses. For bread, Alpina Swiss Bakery in Watermill is one of their biggest providers, as well as Il Buco al Mare in Amagansett and Big Fresh Bakery in Southampton. Linens and bags, as well as Sagaponack General Store aprons, come from Orient Linen Co., over on the North Fork. Fruits, vegetables and flowers are sourced from nearby farms.

Gray attributes the store’s success to a longing "for a time where people actually walked into a space and talked to each other, had serendipitous meetings and interactions, engaged with the history of the places that they were in.” She gives the same credit to the appeal of the store’s artisanal $13 egg sandwich, a delectable morning offering (well, until they sell out) consisting of a fluffy Southern-style biscuit, souffleed eggs and farmhouse Cheddar, a recipe from chef Daniel Eddy. 

"There’s a lot of labor that goes into it," Gray said. "I think people are appreciating craftsmanship, and I think what they do is true craftsmanship. Simple ingredients, but high-quality, made with love and care.” Indeed. Even though they make 600 egg sandwiches on peak-season weekend days, it took me three visits to secure a taste of the fabled creation. Four words: Annoyingly. Worth. The. Wait.  

HISTORY-MEETS-MODERN GENERAL STORE

It’s about an hour’s drive west from Sagaponack to Bellport, one of the more idyllic sea towns on Long Island’s South Shore. Surrounded by farmland and the Great South Bay, full of independently owned shops and cafes, Bellport has more than 80 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Within one of them — the former Comet Theater, a vaudeville venue that later became Wallen’s Market, a village staple that shuttered in 2012 — lives Copper Beech By The Sea, which overflows with housewares, furnishings, cookware, antiques, pantry items and a beloved prepared food section.

From tins of spices to artisanal Martelli pasta, serving plates of all shapes and sizes, to woven beach hats, high thread-count linens, plush robes, framed vintage photos and alphabet calligraphy, every item has been chosen by Copper Beech’s owners, designers Thomas O’Brien and Dan Fink, who named their endeavor for the 300-year-old tree under which the couple were married in 2015.

"We actually found two tickets in the walls, up front," said O’Brien, as he shared details of the renovation he and Fink undertook before reopening the store in 2017. A successful showing as a pop-up in 2016 convinced the pair that their country store had found its niche, which is just a brisk walk from The Academy, their schoolhouse summer home (circa 1833) and muse for all things Copper Beech. 

"First of all, there was this charming, wonderful old grocery store ... all the high-school kids worked there, the people in town had accounts, that kind of thing," O’Brien explained about keeping the store’s iconic history and community spirit alive. Added inspiration came from places like "the old Dean & DeLuca, Joan’s on Third in L.A., Zabar’s, Citarella." The owner of Aero, a design studio and shop in Manhattan, O’Brien knows about esthetics. Together, the designers love cooking, traveling, uncovering culture — with an emphasis on French and Italian influences — and it’s through these experiences they find the many treasures and flavors that wind up in Copper Beech’s aisles.

And, just like St. James and Sagaponack, it was easy to get lost within Copper Beech. A recent homeowner, I wanted everything. No, really ... everything. From place mats to vases, salt and pepper shakers to throws, umbrellas to serving pieces to bath soaps. Each item was more exquisite and interesting than the next. There’s even a bedroom on display, in a nook O’Brien and Fink "took back from the stockroom.”  And just beyond a table of chic home and hostess gifts, is a large, neon-lit refrigerated provisions section that stocks essentials such as milk, eggs and frozen bites like the kitchen’s mushroom pierogies. In the back of the building is their prepared food display, which draws a cult following. 

Though the offerings change daily, mainstays include kale salad ($17 for a half pound), turkey salad ($12 a half pound; curried or with apples, grapes and tarragon), roasted salmon ($18 for six ounces) and chicken Milanese ($18 a half pound) that sells out. (It’s beyond delicious.) Stacey Schulz, the head chef at Copper Beech, arrived a year after the store opened and sources from local farms such as Early Girl and H.O.G. Farm, which began almost 30 years ago as the Hamlet Organic Garden.

"We start with the regular items, and the rest of the menu kind of gets wrapped around that," she said after the lunch rush one Friday afternoon. "We usually have quiche [$64, serving eight to 10; slices $8] and a frittata [$48, serving six to eight; slices $8]. I had different stuff this morning than I have right now." She gestured to a tuna salad with white beans, avocado, capers and lemon, and a soba noodle salad made with Early Girl’s Napa cabbage and edamame and dressed with a soy-lime vinaigrette. Schulz also oversees the store’s baked goods. Scones, baked throughout the day, are offered in sweet and savory versions. Try them plain or in season bedazzled into a strawberry shortcake. There are sandwiches, gooey brownies, cookies and cakes, which can be ordered in advance. 

As we spoke, customers swirled around with oversize wicker shopping baskets, piling in hostess gifts for summer barbecues and to-go containers from the kitchen. Schulz answered the common question — "What do you have today?" — by sharing her latest farm haul and what she’s created with it. "They’ve come to trust this is what we have. It’s good, because then we’re not stuck to a set menu." So much trust that there’s usually a line out front on Saturday mornings. "People going to the ferry, to get gas, getting their food from us.” 

Less glossy than Sagaponack General, less saturated than Copper Beach is Provisions Market in Oyster Bay. With terra-cotta from Sicily, handmade white oak cabinets, Venetian plaster on the ceiling and a limestone coffee bar with oversize leather stools (and Queens’ For Five coffee), the overall effect is minimalist, almost Nordic. Provisions Market was the logical outgrowth of Provisions Bread & Cheese, a wholesale operation owned by Oyster Bay restaurateur Jesse Schenker and his partner, Claudia Taglich. Like Sagaponack General and Copper Beech, it has been reborn in a historic building. There was once a general store of the same name that existed in the village storefront presently inhabited by Wild Honey, but today’s market is now in what was once Snouder’s Drug Store, established in 1884 and until 2010, the longest-running business in town. The duo, who are also partners at Four, 2 Spring, Gioia and Gimme Burger — designed the shop to be a "well-curated, smaller version of Dean & DeLuca meets Williams-Sonoma," Schenker said.  

The store is flooded in natural light. Patrons can sit with a glass of wine or beer while waiting for a takeaway sandwich, a cooked-to-order FreeBird rotisserie chicken ($10) or one of the many prepared salads ($10 to $15 for a pound). There are Allen Brothers steaks from Chicago, Marcelli Formaggi oils from Abruzzo, Rancho Gordo beans out of Napa, die-cut pastas, chops, daily fish selections and prepped chicken cutlets with sourdough breadcrumbs ($15 a pound) from Gioia. Shelves of imported boxed and bottled products sit alongside local seasonal produce from purveyors like Oregon Road Organics in Cutchogue. Corn, potatoes and berries, as well as bread, are displayed in baskets, like something out of a French indie movie starring Juliette Binoche. 

"This town needs a market where people can shop," Schenker said. Pantry staples include rice, polenta, all different kinds of flours, sugar, Asian products like citrusy yuzu and yuzu salt [$8]. Specialties like foie gras and wild mushrooms are represented, but also milk, eggs and other basics. For the renovation of the building, Taglich hired award-winning architect Thomas Schlesser, responsible for Manhattan restaurants such as DGBG and Bar Boulud, in addition to Schenker’s former spot, The Gander.

She has also put together a tight selection of gift-worthy housewares from blankets to kitchen utensils, copper pots, plates, Scarlette Ateliers pajamas and linens, candles, a very cool mah-jongg set — mostly sourced from French trade shows. It’s a one-stop shop for everything from housewarming gifts to coffee beans to nut butter for making school lunches, while also grabbing a nice cut of meat for dinner — grilled and finished with a sprinkle of yuzu salt, perhaps.

"We want this to be a community spot where you can come and get all your stuff when you need it," said Schenker. "Between the restaurants and the two shops, you know, it all kind of works in harmony.” 

The idea of shopping at a place that embodies small town charm — of finding everything you need and then some — runs deep in this culture of faceless shopping, door-to-door delivery and automated customer service. Dairy Barns are reappearing, farmers markets are thriving, local artisans and producers remain important to small communities.

In a landscape of big-box stores and hyper-consumerism, these next-gen general stores may be more elevated than their predecessors, but what they all share is convenience, simplicity and a creative, purposeful mix with enduring appeal and easy camaraderie. Laura Ingalls Wilder would feel right at home.