Now Open!
The General Store
DCMA Main Gallery

Take a trip down memory lane as you view hundreds of authentic items from a small town general store. This major collection is on loan for 2008, and includes original showcases, period signs and housewares.

“The typical stereotype of the 19^th century Ontario general merchant is an easy-going shopkeeper doing little more than supplying his sleepy community with gossip and staple goods. But in reality the business was more eventful and challenging.” - Pat Zimmer, Canadian Collector, July/August 1986

At one time, dozens of general stores  across Dufferin County served every small village and hamlet. Each supplied its neighbourhood with hundreds of everyday items. Some combined the business with other activities such as the Post Office, or in later days with gasoline and automotive supplies. Large towns had general merchants in their early years, but as the population grew, many of  these retailers were replaced by more specialized stores.

The 2008 exhibit at the Dufferin County Museum and Archives celebrates the role of the General Store in Ontario.  Called simply The General Store, it  proudly showcases many of the items sold in general stores as well as the many fixtures made to display and store the numerous items available. The display ranges from spools of thread to a large cast iron coffee mill and everything in between. Thousands of items collected by Bill and Shirley Little of Wellington County remind us of what the store shelves would have looked like. The entire collection, amassed over 30 years, is on loan to the Dufferin County Museum and Archives for the entire year.

Meet you at the store!