Store at Five Corners Caters to Community's Needs
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The store is becoming a popular stop with local residents and tourists alike. The structure has hosted an inn or store for 200 years. |
"I had a gentleman come running here and say, 'Do you sell flowers?'" the new proprietor of the Store at Five Corners recalled recently. "I looked him and said, 'What did you do? I know you're in trouble for something.'"
It turns out, the visitor was not in that kind of trouble. But the out-of-towner did need a quick gift solution for a birthday party.
It also happens that while Hassett's store does not sell flowers, it still could fit the bill.
"I said, 'Not a problem. We can take care of it for you,'" Hassett said. "We have jewelry. We have bath salts and candles and all kinds of different things, and the price points on them are very reasonable."
And, best of all, the location can't be beat for someone passing through town in need of a last-minute gift.
"Where else is he going to go?" Hassett said. "There's no place to go to get something in a hurry. Are you going to drive down to Berkshire Mall? Are you going to go to Walmart? Where are you going to go?"
For the first time in more than a year, South Williamstown consumers can return to where they've gone for more than two centuries, the historic store that Hassett and his wife, Heather, reopened on June 18. Hassett, of Bennington, Vt., has a background in marketing and sales ranging from print publishing to direct mail order.
When the Store at Five Corners closed in early 2011, it was believed to be one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in the nation, tracing its lineage back to an 18th-century inn and tavern.
In 1905, the Steele family operated a grocery store and later a gas station on the site at the junction of Routes 43 and 7.
Although the store went through several incarnations with varying fare in recent decades, it was a constant presence until owner Franklin Lewis shuttered the store and adjacent Green River Farm more than a year ago.
"I first moved here in 1980, and they've gone through something like nine different owners of that store in that time," said Sam Edgerton, a retired Williams College professor who co-wrote an article on the history of the Store at Five Corners for the South Williamstown Community Association.
Lewis' vision for the store included an emphasis on high-end, exotic merchandise, Edgerton said. The Hassetts, who are leasing the store from Lewis, have gone a different direction and have benefited from the goodwill of South Williamstown residents who missed the store.
"What they have done, which I think is wonderful, is made it a Vermont country store," Edgerton said. "If you need a bottle of milk in a hurry, you can get it there, and the prices are pretty low.
"After fearing losing [the store] altogether, we're falling all over each other to go in there as much as possible. From what I've seen, it's become a great success. Tourists are stopping there. Locals who never went there in recent years are going in."
 Ryan Hassett helps a customer. Hassett and his wife, Heather, reopened the store in June. |
"I didn't want to fill the store with everything and then force people to do what I wanted them to do," he said. "We came with an adequate inventory, but then we kept asking people when they came in, 'What is it you're looking for?'
"We filled the store with what people were looking for – tourists and locals. We have locals, some of them, who are coming in two or three times a day for different things. Those are the ones we want to make sure we have what they're looking for."
And Hassett has crammed a lot of variety into the location. Visitors can find the milk Edgerton mentioned along with a modest selection of fresh produce, deli meats, fresh-baked bread, soft drinks, dry goods and a selection of wines.
"People are not going to do all their grocery shopping here, but they'll go to Price Chopper or Stop & Shop and they'll do their weekly grocery shopping, and they'll come home and say, 'Shoot, I forgot to get a can of tuna fish,'" Hassett said. "So they'll come here and get some tuna fish. Or they'll get some pasta."
Or they'll pick up some freshly brewed coffee, a gourmet salad, pies or pastries baked on the premises or a sandwich.
Among the renovations the Hassetts made when they took over the lease was a complete renovation to the kitchen, Hassett said.
"We're also a nut-free kitchen, so if people are allergic to nuts, they can know that everything we make in the kitchen and everything behind the counter is all nut-free," he said. "We have quite a few people in the area who have severe nut allergies."
And to meet the other dietary needs, the store carries gluten-free breads, bagels and cookies.
"I could never do a gluten-free kitchen, but people ask for things, and we've found them," Hassett said.
And customers are rediscovering a neighborhood institution.
"This store is a huge part of this community," Hassett said. "This is a central location for South Williamstown. People will come here and have meetings about ... the farmer's market or about water issues or whatever it happens to be. People come here to meet all the time.
"It's very important for the community to have a place like this to be able to do that."
Tags: reopening, Store at Five Corners,
