Sharon and Leonard Richey. photo by Cindy Steele
Before opening, the couple painted and added lighting, but did not change much else.
“ We wanted to keep the character of the store,” Sharon said.“ People asked if we were going to change the sign or replace the rusted freezer, but those are the things that make it memorable. Those things tell the history of the store, so we’ re going to leave them just the way they are.”
In April, a year and a half after seeing the“ for sale” sign, the Richeys opened the store, not knowing what to expect.
“ We didn’ t have much inventory because we had no idea what people would want,” Sharon said.“ So, we asked, and literally everything on the shelves is the result of people telling us what they wanted.”
Two months after opening, and after hearing an overwhelming number of requests, the store began offering cooked-to-order pizza and lottery tickets.
The small store is now packed from top to bottom with nearly everything you might need. The back room is full of local craft beer and wine( and other alcohol), a refrigerator filled with bait( including neon night crawlers), and various fishing and camping gear. The front room houses everything from snacks and cold drinks to household goods and healthcare items. Grocery items include everything you need to cook a quick meal.
There is even frozen ground beef and sausage.
“ We put a whole lot of thought into everything we put on the shelf,” Sharon said.“ If it’ s a reasonable request, we usually add it to the shelf.”
The busiest times are lunch and Friday evenings, Sharon said.
“ The pizza has been a huge draw,” she said.“ And a lot of times people will just come in to talk to us or to catch up with each other.”
That neighborly feeling is exactly what Leonard was hoping to achieve.
“ The neat part is that the people that keep coming back are local,” he said.“ Most of them come in just to visit. That’ s what’ s so cool.”
Leonard and Sharon, and their four children, live in Indianapolis, but Leonard said he looks forward to retiring from his construction company in a few years so the family can move to Helmsburg and he can work full time at the store.
“ I am from a small town and that small-town feeling is just nice. I’ m looking forward to getting back to that,” he said.“ The people here are great. I enjoy sitting around talking to everyone. It’ s just a fun, enjoyable, relaxing atmosphere.”
The store is open from 8 a. m. to 7 p. m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m. Fridays and Saturdays. For more information, visit the store’ s website at < helmsburggeneral. com > or search for the store on Facebook.
Sadly, Karen Sooy did not get a chance to enjoy her retirement. She passed away on the last day of September. Folks gathered at the
store on a Sunday in October for her memorial.
• photo by Paige Langenderfer
Nov./ Dec. 2017 • Our Brown County 39