Main Sections

New Benson Village Store Owners Confident In The Small Rural Town's Long-Term Future

Tuesday June 6, 2006

By Ed Barna

The Benson Village Store is back, and it's...yellow?

Well, half yellow, as of early June, and half white, as it had been for the previous 160 years or so. Dennis Clark, who now owns this survivor of the big box era with his wife Loretta Clark,  said the “butter yellow” paint scheme has been the subject of intense interest, with about half of the people who stop to make their views known preferring it the old way and half saying they like the new color.

So, he said, he's been thinking of maybe leaving it just like that, bicolored. “They can drive in from whichever direction they like.”

As anyone knows who has been to the Benson Burdock Festival, this is a town that knows how to have fun--and the Clarks are definitely in tune with that. The gasoline they have arranged for the store to provide is unbranded (from Citgo, so they're confident it's not second-rate, Clark said) but they're looking for an antique “Clark's Petroleum” sign, and if they can't find one immediately may put up a replica, which is available.

But don't make the mistake of thinking this is some city couple having a fling at owning a country business. Clark has spent 35 years in the grocery trade, managing for every kind of operation from big chains to small country stores in Brattleboro and Stratton, so he knows the hard commercial realities of making something work.

In this case, the tourists who regularly travel through Benson between Route 22A and Lake Champlain will be an important potential clientele. Observed Clark, “We're the last stop for beer, ice and gasoline.”

But at the same time, he knows how vital a good country store can be to a small, rural community--which Benson is, being about 1,000 people spread across a landscape where agriculture is still viable. The Clarks plan to stock a wide selection of household necessities so that their neighbors won't have to travel to Fair Haven or Rutland or Middlebury, which would mean subtracting from any discounts on their purchases the 40 cents a mile or so that the Internal Revenue Service estimates it costs to operate a personal vehicle.

Especially, they plan to have a strong, service-oriented meat market. It's a proven strategy: look at the Watrobas' market in Forest Dale, or even Greg's in Middlebury, which has stood the test of being within easy driving distance of two major supermarket chains.

“I'm a butcher, I'm a baker, and she's a candlestick maker,” Clark said. Actually, he said, “she's the better baker.”

Of course in a community where people know each other personally, it matters that people take care of their places. When the Clark's took over the Benson Village Store, they closed it for three days, during which they took all the furnishings outside, gave them a thorough washing, tossed what was shopworn, and brought in new shelving.

“It was probably the best PR (public relations) we could have gotten,” Clark said.

Tourists aside, they are believers in Benson. Somewhat under the radar, it has acquired a nucleus of central businesses--the Wheel Inn with its off-season Town Meetings, the Book Shed (which draws enthusiasts from a very wide area), Ed Pelletier's greenhouse, Sandra Owen's jewelry store, Gloria Lowell's store, and not too far out farm operations providing fresh meat and salad greens (apologies to anyone omitted).

“It's growing,” Clark said of the town. “It will build up,” especially since many people are now bailing out of the big burgs in hope of finding better places to raise their children and decrease their stress levels.

How many towns have both a historical museum and a first-class classical music series? And don't forget Family Day, the original festival onto which the Burdock Festival was grafted.

But people from away shouldn't come to Benson unless they are prepared for “real people,” as Clark put it. “People are genuine. They'll tell you what they think. They're not playing games.”

Buying the country store--a type of business that has appeared frequently in the listings of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Rutland in recent years. “My accountant and everyone else said, 'What the hell are you doing?'” Clark said.

“We talked to people more than six months before we made the decision,” he said. With time, their neighbors have been warming up to the idea of a yellow store--and when you come right down to it, they're believers in the right of someone to do what they want with their own property.

“People are getting the idea we're here to stay.”

Printer Friendly

Top

Advertisements

Search our Archives