If you have watched enough Westerns, you have likely seen a scene or two play out in a general store. In the small towns of the American West, the general store played an important role in everyday life.
As a fan of old Westerns, I find one of the most memorable general-store scenes in the 1953 classic Shane, starring Alan Ladd. Much of the conflict between a powerful rancher and struggling homesteaders unfolds at Grafton’s General Store and adjoining saloon, which serves as the town’s commercial and social center.
Like so many things in history, the general store occupied a particular slice of time that is now gone. It was eventually replaced by stores that were bigger, broader, and supposedly better—but maybe not.
The closest thing to a general store in my world is the Little Burro Country Store, located about an hour south of Alpine in the Big Bend Valley, just north of Study Butte and Big Bend National Park. Our cabin is only a few miles away, and whenever we need something to get us through, this is the place we shop.
The Little Burro carries just enough essential goods to keep locals from making the hour-long drive to the grocery store in Alpine. More than once, however, what I expected to be a quick visit has turned into a much longer stay. I have enjoyed my share of conversations on the store’s front porch—a reminder that a good country store is still more than simply a place to shop.
The Little Burro is a small surviving example of the role general stores played in the history of the American frontier. It provides essential supplies and serves as a gathering place, with plenty of seating where locals and visitors can pass the time.
Old general stores were important for several reasons, not the least of which is that they helped the local economy. Farmers and ranchers bought supplies there. They also sold or traded their own goods. These stores connected small, isolated communities to the outside world, often acting as post offices, telegraph offices, and stagecoach stops.
Genuine general stores are a thing of the past. What remains are some really cool General Stores around the Lone Star State that, once you walk through the doors, revive nostalgic feelings and take you back to a simpler time. Some of these old stores occupy the same piece of real estate that housed them from their beginnings. Others are housed in old buildings that look and feel like an old-time general store.
Cheryl and I hope to visit as many of the remaining general store locations in Texas as we can on upcoming road trips. I have written about a couple of these stores and will follow up with posts on the others as we visit them. I hope you will come along for the ride.
Here is our General Stores Bucket List. Leave a comment with info about any missing from our list.
Hill Country and Central Texas
Camp Verde General Store — Camp Verde, near Kerrville
Gruene General Store — Gruene Historic District, New Braunfels
Luckenbach General Store — Luckenbach
Bandera General Store — Bandera
Fischer Store — Fischer
Kendalia General Store — Kendalia
Garven Store — near Vanderpool
Welcome General Store — Welcome, near Brenham
East Texas
Jefferson General Store — Jefferson
T. C. Lindsey & Co. General Store — Jonesville
Edge General Store — Edge, near Hearne
General Mercantile and Old-Time String Shop — Nacogdoches
North Texas
The General Store — Fort Worth Stockyards
Texas General Store — Grapevine
Martin General Store — Granbury
West Texas
Eggemeyer’s General Store — San Angelo
Gulf Coast and South Texas
Girouard’s General Store — Freeport
Morales Store — Morales, near Edna
Explore Texas 