Saxapahaw General Store: Your Local Five Star Gas Station

Saxapahaw General Store: Your Local Five Star Gas Station

Our Story

The Saxapahaw General Store as it now exists began in June 2008 when Jeff Barney, butcher(ˈbo͝oCHər) and self-taught chef(SHef), and Cameron(ˈkamərən) Ratliff(ə), teacher and self-taught biscuit(ˈbiskit) maker, worked with former owner and mill town visionary(ˈviZHəˌnerē) Mac Jordan(ˈjôrdən) to begin a new life for the convenience store and gas station that had served the community for several years.

They imagined a spot where a village could gather for food, drink and provisions(prəˈviZHən), run by folks whose varied backgrounds have each taught them they can influence their world by collaborating(kəˈlabəˌrāt) with their neighbors. They hoped to serve the residents(ˈrez(ə)dənt) of Saxapahaw with a range of products that could allow everyone to feel welcome. They wanted to be stewards(ˈst(y)o͞oərd) of local foods, good wine and beer(bir), nutritious(n(y)o͞oˈtriSHəs) snacks, and eco-conscious dry goods, and they hoped to participate in a new kind of local economy that would strengthen(ˈstreNG(k)THən) fellow small businesses, promote conscious farming(ˈfärmiNG), and become part of a network of small communities finding a better way to live and to do business together.

Pursuing this mission turned out to be about much more than selling food. The next several years would find them watching—and participating—as the old mill, whose bricks(brik) were crumbling(ˈkrəmbliNG) and whose beams sagged around the edges, was bought by new investors and restored carefully into a Ballroom(ˈbôlˌro͞om), a pub, and a series of high-end residences. The spaces, ever tinged(tinj) with their former selves, have become—once again—a village center. With the burgeoning(ˈbərjəniNG) economy, and some new residents, came change. Other businesses joined the village and seek to make their place in the community.

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https://saxgenstore.com/our-story/https://www.ft.com/content/a583d084-4b61-4527-85dd-ef5324ec0158