General stores meet high tech

By Carol Trapani
Poughkeepsie Journal

They didn’t call them general stores for nothing. The idea was to have some of this and some of that, a little bit beyond the basics to help you get by until you could get to the city to do the big shopping. Or until you realized you could get by nicely, thanks, without much of anything from the city.

There are a few general stores left, a remarkable feat considering fierce competition from the malls, mega-stores and convenience stores.

‘‘Everybody’s got a car today,’’ said Philip Terni, owner of Terni’s Store in Millerton in northeastern Dutchess at the Connecticut border. Twenty-five miles one way is not too far for people to travel to shop, he said. ‘‘So many people here shop at the Poughkeepsie Galleria’’ — about 40 miles away.

So what’s a general store owner got to do to stay in business, especially if they’re like Terni?

‘‘You know your customers well, and you cater to them. You build a customer base, and you solicit that kind of relationship and expand on it as much as you can.’’

‘Some things don’t change’

John Hermans, who owns Duxbury and Hermans Insurance in Millerton, considered his nearly 30-year relationship with Terni’s. ‘‘I think that one of the calming influences in life is some things just don’t change. Here we are with e-commerce and dot com this, you go to Philip’s you know where the shoes are, where the Woolrich shirts are, you get to talk to the same guy. ... I mean, he holds the newspapers for me. He’s like the lighthouse on the river. I can count the number of days he’s missed in 10 years on one hand.’’

Terni, who took over the store from his father, who took over the store from his father, walks just under two miles to work most days from his home in Connecticut.

‘‘I like it here very much,’’ Terni said of Millerton, population 884.

‘‘I wouldn’t know what else to do. I’ve got to thrive. I’ve got to do this,’’ he said.

John Kading owns the The Corner News Store in Millbrook. He’s cutting back on inventory. All the other stores sell newspapers and tobacco and candy bars, Kading said. ‘‘I’m going to go heavier into service.’’ One of his ideas is to install those tiny batteries in customers’ watches and cameras. ‘‘Service is the only thing that we as small business people’’ can offer, said Kading. ‘‘Since I’ve been in business I had one smart man tell me, ‘find a need and fill it.’ I listen to people and what they’re looking for. I think that’s going to be our only survival as far as counteracting the Wal-Marts and the Internet. We have loyal customers.’’

Store keeps basics in stock

At the Rhinebeck Department Store, owner Barbara Schreiber said she keeps her eyes on the inventory. ‘‘We make sure we’ve got the socks, underwear, plenty of the basics.’’

Customers used to shopping at the malls are always looking for sales, Schreiber and other general store owners said. What customers don’t know, they say, is that if a big store offers a 30 percent off sale, often that 30 percent is built into the price for which the merchandise was originally listed.

What customers also will often get in a general store is help and courtesy, the owners said. Schreiber talked about a customer who came in for a small item and bought a coat. ‘‘He said he came in for socks and ended up with a $300 rain coat. I said, ‘Here, the socks are on me.’ ’’

Caroline Dolfi, owner of Pleasant Valley Department Store and Millbrook Department Store, said the one word she would use to describe how she stays in business is ‘‘adapt.’’

Like Terni’s in Millerton, the Pleasant Valley Department Store started out as a soda fountain with general items. Today it sells men’s and women’s apparel, footwear, sporting goods, among other items.

‘‘There are some things you can’t compete with, but in many cases you can. But I think people like to come in because it’s relaxed, people talk to you, the service is good and what they’re buying is in good condition. We wrap, we ship. We try to provide a lot of customer service.’’

Computers and the Internet are or soon will be playing a role with a number of these general stores.

Dolfi is considering a Web site for both stores and selling over the Internet; Schreiber’s inventory is computerized and she said the store has gotten some interesting hits on the Web. Terni is resisting the computer age, but knows he won’t be able to much longer.

‘‘Business is getting to the point where we’re going to have to do it,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m not really happy about it.’’

Still, he can’t imagine doing something else. Terni took over the store when his father died in 1971.

‘‘This is the most natural thing for me to be doing. My father passed away suddenly, and I came in to run it for awhile and it just went like that.’’