Note from Our Founders: Week of Feb. 24, 2025

Lunchtime at The Genny

The beginning of this newsletter has made us reflect on our time as owners of both of our stores. What a gift to be a part of all of your lives…The very fabric of these places is woven with all of you into this story.  

Early on in Craftsbury, many of you will recall the iconic checker table (seen in the photo above!) that sat in the store so that folks could sit and eat a sandwich, or have a cup of coffee. No one held court at that table more than Katherine Hadden. Katherine was a spitfire from Pelham, New York. She had bought a house in Craftsbury, site unseen, and moved her family here. She was in her later years of life when we met, and her movements had slowed. But, she was always determined to come to The Genny. Her ability to drive was clearly declining, and so we would try to avoid having her reversing into traffic when leaving the store. Our ritual was to have one person back her car into the road pointing the direction she needed to go, while another person would walk her out, halting traffic while she got into the car.

She was devastated to lose her ability to drive, but she remained steadfast on coming to The Genny… Katherine lived ¾ of a mile from the store, and while that might seem relatively close, this was an incredibly long journey to walk for her in her 90’s. But, she would. She would begin her walk to the store, sometimes picked up and delivered, and sometimes having gotten herself there on her own two feet. She would tell us stories of her life in New York working at “Lawd and Tayla”, she would weep with us, still grieving the loss of her husband who had passed several years prior. She had a kinship with nearly all who came through the doors. Folks from out of town would sit with her and she would tell them “There are twelve hundred people in this town, and I like all of them except for one.”  

We hope to once again have seating in the next year after we undergo a construction project, and we very much hope to bring back the age of holding court at The Genny.