By Bob Bumcrot

“Even if everything isn’t in place, we will open in July,” said Miriam Briggs, the new proprietor of the Colebrook Store. Some refreshments will certainly be available for the Independence Day long weekend.

Briggs and her sons, Quentin,14, and Francis,12, frequently drove from their former home in Saint Johnsbury, Vt., to her hometown of Winsted to visit her father, Dr. Harry Briggs. Their route never took them through Colebrook, until last summer when she took the boys to Tanglewood. She passed by the Colebrook Store for the first time in 20 years and was shocked to find it closed, run-down and available for lease.

Motivated by fond memories of the formerly bustling, happy establishment, and some desire to return home, she quickly set about leasing the property and began its rehabilitation.

Designed in 1812 by the same architect who did the Solomon Packard house in Winsted, and built by Captain William Smith of Goshen, the store first opened in 1813. The Greek revival structure operated as a classic general store for over a century and a half. Hay, straw and seed was stored on the upper level. The main floor, heated by a wood stove, offered prepared food, various odds and ends and some equipment. The post office was housed in an adjoining room.

For many decades, another store across the street offered direct competition to the Colebrook Store. Early deeds contain prohibitions for one store to hire workers from the other. As the twentieth century unfolded, gasoline pumps appeared in front of the Colebrook Store, along with a free standing phone booth. “I’d like to get the phone booth back,” said Briggs, “since cell phones don’t work in Colebrook.”

More recent decades have seen modifications and then closings of many general stores throughout New England. A few have become museums, some have been repurposed as other businesses and some have been torn down, but the Colebrook Store has never strayed too far from its’ original business model. Several welcome features from olden days remain unchanged, including the old wood stove, a large wood cider press and a pristine tin ceiling. In an improvement for which Briggs is grateful, the former owner replaced the old home-grade kitchen with a commercial level one.

During her decades in Vermont, Briggs owned and operated a yarn shop, billed as “the oldest and most complete in the Northeast Kingdom”. She plans to eventually open a yarn shop in the room that held the old post office.

The full inventory of the store itself will be determined by popular demand, but is sure to include Pepsi and Snapple products, a deli, dark chocolate, homemade muffins, sourdough bread, croissants, éclairs, ice cream and toys.

A lengthening list of good wishes from Colebrook citizens can be found written on a pad near the front entrance. “There’s a lot of community spirit,” said North Colebrook resident Jonathan Blum. “Everyone really wants this place to be great.”

For more information, visit www.colebrookstore.com, or call 860-379-5030.