General stores in rural areas during the nineteenth century were important structures for the livelihood of communities. They served as one-stop shops for essential items for men, women, and children, such as farm tools, sewing equipment, shoes, food, and household accessories. General stores also sold medicine, tobacco, cand
y, and toys, as well as offered catalogs full of goods that customers could order from. The owners and operators of the stores would be responsible for stocking merchandise, organizing products, cleaning, managing finances, and being friendly and helpful to all who entered.
Aside from selling goods, general stores functioned as meeting places for townspeople. In a world where news did not travel extremely fast, people sought areas to gather to discuss the latest news and gossip. Some people would spend hours at gener
al stores to socialize and make sure they had everything they needed until they next time they were able to make the trek into town.
Children were especially excited to go to general stores because it usually meant that they were going to receive a special treat of some kind if the family could afford it. They could run around and play games with other children until it was time to go home.
People also came to general stores to pick up and send mail as post offices were not constructed in every town during this time. Post riders and trains brought the news and mail to the general stores and left with out-going mail.
As time went on, towns became larger and the demand for more and different goods increased, causing multiple stores to be built. Thus competitive markets effectively ended the days of the existence of one general store.