By Andra Moss

As the Northwest Corner continues to experience a distressing decline in local businesses, there is good news from the east. The Colebrook Store, recently closed, is not lost. Far from it, in fact. 

Listed on the National Register of Historical Places, the store has stood just off of the town’s village green for over two centuries. A beloved community cornerstone, the building is owned by the Colebrook Preservation Society (CPS), which is fundraising to finance a much-needed interior renovation of the classic space. Concurrently, a new operator is being sought, and the general store should reopen.

The Colebrook Store had held the record as the longest continuously operating general store in Connecticut from its opening in 1792 until 2007, when its then-owner lost it to the bank. The store closed, and the building sat vacant for several years before the non-profit CPS purchased it in 2013 via a donation from Colebrook residents Edward and Carol Lord. 

Ed Lord, president of the society, said that CPS then set its sights on finding the necessary funding to “secure, restore and save the building.” 

The success of the subsequent 2014 fundraising effort revealed just how much the community valued the Colebrook Store. “We received tremendous support from individuals in Colebrook, Norfolk and throughout the area,” Lord recalled, “as well as grants from the Northwest CT Community Foundation Draper Foundation Fund, a bequeath of Colebrook residents Jim and Shirley Draper.” 

Initial funding in hand, the CPS immediately set about securing the shell of the centuries-old structure. It received new siding, windows, furnace, septic tank and a rehab of the apartment above the store. New proprietor Jodi Marinelli moved there with her family in late 2014 and officially reopened the store. 

Marinelli ran the Colebrook Store for five years, followed by another operator, Dann Wilcox, for roughly the same period. When Wilcox shuttered operations at the end of 2024, the CPS recognized that it was an opportune time for a substantial interior upgrade.

The renovation plans include refurbishing the old tin ceiling and globe lights. The worn floor, trod by generations, will be replaced with fresh hardwood. The front doors will be rebuilt and the kitchen modernized. Additional lighting will brighten the space on future dark winter mornings. The pot belly stove isn’t going anywhere.

In preparation for this next-phase fundraising effort, Lord and Tom Redington, a CPS board member, said they “had a lot of discussions with a lot of people.”  Whether in-person or via a community survey, one message came through especially clearly: the general store was sorely missed as a community gathering place.

The CPS is working hard to return that special space to local residents, but also hopes to position the Colebrook Store as a Northwest Corner destination. “In some ways we’re on a sort of culinary Silk Road up here,” noted Redington, as he listed several popular area eateries. “There’s Cantina, Old Inn on the Green, the Southfield Store and Norbrook. We feel we’re the southern anchor.” 

The CPS believes that the substantial new interior work will attract a certain level of potential operator. As Lord observed, “There is a good market opportunity here, as long as the operator has something interesting to draw people in.”  

With a plan in place, all that remains is the raising of funds—to begin imminently—and the ringing of hammers. The renovation is scheduled to begin by mid-May, and the society hopes all work will be completed by September or October. 

“We’re trying to use local people on the project first and foremost,” said Lord. “In fact, some are donating a portion of their labor or materials. Putting that all together, we’re really hoping to be able to do a good job of restoring and upgrading.

“Then, to the extent we can find a good operator, we will lease it to someone who can provide something to the community. Not just for Colebrook, but also the surrounding towns. This has proven to be doable. We now have almost 10 years of experience with operators, and we think we can succeed.”