The long-awaited rebirth of Albany’s general store is set for this week.
The new store on Main Street — christened The Genny — is scheduled to open June 3, about a month shy of the eight-year anniversary of a fire that destroyed the Albany General Store.
“We’re really just trying to walk in with open ears and (are) excited to meet our new neighbors and find out what we can do to serve them,” said Emily Maclure, part of the three-person team operating the new business.
Toward the end of 2017, townspeople began talking about how they could bring back the store, which had been a hub for this Orleans County town of about 1,000 people.
Its owners weren’t able to reopen after the fire.
So a group of residents bought the place in 2018, began raising money for a rebuilding effort, and received federal nonprofit status in early 2019 as the Albany Community Trust.
Maclure, Kit Basom and Jana Smart — who own the nearby Craftsbury General Store — partnered with the nonprofit to run the new Albany venture.
“It’s really exciting,” said Hannah Pearce, the trust’s board president. “It’s been a long road, so it feels kind of surreal to finally be looking at the opening.”
The nonprofit raised about $800,000 for the effort over the years, Pearce said. About half of that amount came from local individuals and events, she said, an indicator of how much residents wanted the store to return.
Pearce said the group has less than $10,000 left to raise to meet its final goal, but she expects to reach that number by summer’s end.
The group had wanted to open with minimal debt. “And six months ago, we weren’t sure if that was going to be possible,” Pearce said. That the trust is so close to doing so is a huge achievement, she said.
The new store will offer staples such as groceries, deli food and coffee. Maclure teased a few of the upcoming menu items: a “pretty insane” breakfast burrito with housemade chorizo, Jamaican jerk dishes, maple milkshakes and buckets of fried chicken on Fridays.
A sit-down area will let visitors meet over coffee or food.
And The Genny will have a fryer, a highly anticipated feature for some.
“The nearest place to here (with one) is either Hardwick or Newport,” former Albany Selectboard member Chris Jacobs said. “None of the other local stores have french fries.”
It’s a small but exciting offering, he said.
Jacobs collaborated with other volunteers on the project over the years. He’s nervous, and hopeful, about the opening.
When he moved to Vermont three decades ago, he was told to avoid Albany, that there was nothing there.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve built a new school in Albany; we’ve built a new town hall in Albany; we’ve built a new fire station in Albany,” he said. “And now we’ve built a new store in Albany.”
Jacobs said the store will have a more festive opening event later in the summer. But for now, come Thursday, its doors will open at 7 a.m.
