Portrait Of The General Store Cafe

It's a Wonderful Life!

Sitting at my favorite vintage table in the corner window of the General Store Café, I reminisce over the good times and even the hard times we've experienced over the years spent here and wonder what life would be without the General Store Café. In this daunting economy, we are just holding on. We wanted to reach out to you, our customers, to ask for your help and share with you a little glimpse of life here at the cafe. Erin, our daughter, has put this video together in the hopes that you will see how much we all love the GSC and hope that it will continue bringing joy and comfort to those who pass through.

You can't miss the GSC with its vintage red bike leaning against the front window, and flower boxes overflowing with colorful blossoms cascading over the edge of each box. As one enters the café, local art and shelves overflowing with one-of-a-kind treasures offer eye candy, and even the butterflies hanging above the door seem to welcome you in. The General Store is part restaurant, part art gallery and part town hall. It's one of the few places where developers, artists and local politicians dine under one roof. Folks come in to experience food made with local, organic ingredients. Audiences enjoy the intimate concerts and our artists love the quiet, attentive crowd that always seems to "get it". The sense of community at the heart of the GSC is thick in the room, and that community is the main reason we have survived. When musicians play, we become an intimate listening experience that's part of a community. The bucket is passed and by the time it makes it back to the stage, it's filled with enough crumpled bills to keep the band's costs down, everything from gas to living expenses. The heart of Pittsboro continues to beat within the walls of this old Buick dealership, the General Store café. Thanks for your patronage, and please continue to support us so that we can continue living "a wonderful life" here at the General Store Café!

Here are several ways to help support and save the GSC;

1. Purchase a General store prepaid food card and save up to 10% on your food purchases. Cards available from $500.00 to $5,000.00 just see Vance.

2. Talk us up with all your friends and family. An extra night out per month is the extra help we need to get the sales back up.

3. Become an owner and purchase stock. The GSC board has set aside about 15% of its stock for sale at about 1/3 the selling price of one year ago.

4. Help educate your friends and family on the community and the part the GSC plays.

5. We always welcome suggestions and your thoughts.

6. Support local business if our community gets stronger we all get stronger.

7. Keep us in your thoughts.

Contact Vance Remick at vance@remick.com or drop by the café to talk with him in person.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• restaurant
• Pittsboro
• North Carolina
• community
• burrito bash
• service
• food
• live music
• coffee
• gathering place
• small town

[dreamrebel]

@trogalicious... I just find your comments to lack compassion. Many many people's lives are now changed because they have lost their job and/or place they love. The GSC has done so much for the community regardless of what you thought about the service. I just don't understand why you find it necessary to boast "I told you so" in such a nonchalant way when this is clearly a tough time for so many employees etc. It's just heartless and bullying to me.

[trogalicious]

@dreamrebel for 10 years, I've made it a point to talk everyone I know into going to the GSC. It was a destination for us, for the experience alone. For me, my friends, family, and business associates. After the expansion, the fire was gone. The service suffered greatly. Scolding people or resisting change that everyone (check yelp/urbanspoon) asked for is part of what sunk this place into the situation that it is now in. Also, scold Jorgi/Vance/whoever for not listening and fixing the problems.

[trogalicious]

@dreamrebel Yes, really. I do realize EXACTLY how much this place meant to people. I had been going to GSC since at least 2002. If you'd really be interested, I'd be more than glad to pull up bank statements showing how much I had spent there myself - no including gas to get there from an hour away. What's hurtful is the fact that after offering CONSTRUCTIVE criticism time and time again and being met with absolutely, positively NO change in the experience, the shame is their lack to improve.

[dreamrebel]

@trogalicious ... really? I guess you don't realize how much this place meant to people and the fact that so many worked incredibly hard and long hours to keep it going and bring something positive into the community. I do not understand this negative energy/commentary, especially after they had to close the doors, don't you think they've all been through enough? This is just hurtful, you should be ashamed.

[trogalicious]

This place used to be wonderful, but everything went all to hell after they expanded a few years back. I'll miss the General Store Cafe, but not as it has been recently.. as it was years ago. Make no mistake, it used to be wonderful, but Vance either needed to fix the staff/service/food, or close the doors. This is the smartest decision he's made since the expansion that ruined the cafe and turned it into something it couldn't live up to.

[jamminfarmgirl]

Can't we get people together to buy this place and keep it going!?

[stephenhait]

Sorry to see the General Store go.

[mjlexus24]

This looks like my absolute dream place! If only I lived closer (Milwaukee is too far of a commute). Thank you for your commitment to local, sustainable and humane, real food choices and for your support of community and art. I wish you all the best in not surviving but thriving. Next time I'm passing through, I will be there.

[blogel1]

What a wonderful video. We are definitely going to come visit and dine. We are new to Chatam/Orange county.

[gwennie163]

Looking forward to visiting with you next week. Duke of Wellington Chapter

Daughters of the British Empire

Pinehurst, NC 28374