[fintstone]

My Great Grandparents (on my Mom's side) had a similar store in VA. They built the house in 1917, so I assume the store was built around the same time. I didn't know him, (he died pretty young). I did know my Great Grandmother. She ran it alone with the kids (until most went off to war in the 40s). She was also the Postmaster and folks got their mail there.

The thing that intrigued me is that if you bought meat, they slaughtered it themselves...killed and dressed a chicken on the spot if you ordered it. If you did not want to wait, you ordered in advance (when you passed by in the morning) and it was ready when you came back). Largely the same with milk/butter and vegetables that they could go pick during the day (they had an adjoining farm to supplement what they bought for resale).