preview

Publix History

Decent Essays

What is your favorite place to go and get anything you need? Is it Walmart, Target, or Publix? If so, you’ve probably never referred to either of those as a general store. In all actuality, Walmart, Target, and Publix are all predecessors of the 19th and early 20th century general store. With large display windows for all to see the brand new item the store had to offer to the community, a general store was a necessity for all towns. In fact, some towns were even built around the general store. It was such an essential for the community that in 1866 the Cape Cod town of Brewster, Massachusetts converted a church into a general store that is still going today (Fox News, 2012). The general store offered a variety of things to the community––and …show more content…

The general store offered a huge variety of merchandise that people normally couldn’t get. Whether it was something they couldn’t make, or something that didn’t come from around the town (Hays, “The General Store”, 2012), it was always interesting to people to see just what the general store had. They would get things like medicines, candies, smoking tobacco, and even toiletries like soaps. After a busy week of working on the farm, the mom would pack lunch, and the dad and kids would get ready to head to the general store. They didn’t only go to get what they needed for the week, but they also went because it was a special occasion! The kids would walk in and see toys and candies and all sorts of things that, if they were lucky, they might walk out with. Candy was a delicacy, and though it didn’t really cost a lot, it wasn’t a necessity, thus normally overlooked by the parents. As the mom and the dad would walk around, of course they would see some things that they wanted. Like how the father might want some new tools or the mother would look at glassware (Iowa Pathways, “The General

Get Access