John Ganz Wins The Internet, But Also Fails Some Basic History

Ganz on the Cracker Barrel nontroversy:

Now, most well-adjusted adults would probably look at this and say, 'This is all totally ridiculous,' but the United States is not made up of well-adjusted adults; it’s made up of Americans.

Damn, I wish I'd written that (here's what I did write on the same subject).

But then, by way of making a reasonable point, Ganz gets the real history wrong:

Cracker Barrel, of course, is not a real old country store or restaurant; It’s a replica of an old country store, an institution which had already gone the way of the dodo by the time the chain was founded in 1969.

I was born in 1966, and I can honestly attest to having shopped at "old country stores" into at least the late 1970s and probably until the mid-1980s.

I guess definitions are important, so I'll describe the three I have in mind:

1. They were "old." At least two of them were Depression-era or older; the third may have been from as late as the mid-1950s.
2. They were in "the country." They were all at least five miles from the nearest town that didn't have a one, two- or very-low-three figure popualtion, and probably at least 50 miles from the nearest city of, say, 10,000 or more.
3. They were single/family proprietorships, not chain stores.

When I was growing up in Eldridge, Missouri, two of the three were in or near Eldridge (supposed population of about 100, but everyone there liked to wonder where the other 80 people were), and one was in Dove (supposed population, according to the sign, 28).

Dove was about halfway between Eldridge and Lebanon, the nearest town of any great size (I think about 2,000 during that time period).

The trip to town from our farm was a little bit of dirt road, then 15 miles of two-lane highway, and back in the 1970s, going into Lebanon every couple of weeks to the "real" grocery store was kind of a big deal (even though I rode a bus there and back five days a week, nine months a year, for school).

If my mom suddenly needed sugar, flour, etc. and it wasn't time to go "to town" yet, she sent me on foot to one of those "old country stores."

If my dad was out of cigarettes, same thing until he was "in town" (he eventually started working "in town," and we eventually moved "to town"). And yes, the "old country store" sold me cigarettes without asking me if I was 18.

If I had a dime burning a hole in my pocket, I could usually talk my mom out of a penny for the tax on a 10-cent candy bar from one of those old country stores (if I asked my dad, I got the lecture about how when he was growing up, candy bars were a nickel; some time around this period, the price went up to 15 cents).

I will say that if Cracker Barrel really was a replica of one of those "old country stores," I wouldn't expect it to be successful. Other than carrying some older/retro candy brands, Cracker Barrel's "country store" section is basically a tourist gift shop. It's a lot cleaner than those "old country stores," the cash registers are electronic, and there aren't always a bunch of geezers leaning over the counter exchanging gossip with the owner/cashier.

I suspect that the further south you got, the longer the "old country store" lasted. I remember seeing a few in rural Mississippi in the late 1990s.

Why are they pretty much gone now?

For one thing, 15 miles "to town" ain't what it used to be. Cars are more reliable, and more people are moving to "bedroom towns" anywhere from 10 to 50 miles from the towns/cities where they work, making the drive daily, and being able to stop'n'shop during their commutes. Not as many people live/work on farms "in the country" and only "go to town" occasionally these days.

For another, chain "convenience stores" have expanded into the hinterlands. They're still more expensive than Walmart or Aldi, but they can under-price Mom and Pop because the chain can do larger product buys for a bunch of stores. In my area, there's a Circle K at every wide spot in the road, which outside of Gainesville means every 5-10 miles except for one stretch of 30 miles or so between Bronson and Cedar Key.

But I'd still classify one store near me as kinda sorta an "old country store." I don't know how long it's been there. It looked pretty old when we arrived here 12 1/2 years ago. Then the previous owners sold it to a family who spiffed it up, but kept some of the previous employees. We just call it "the Chevron" because that's the kind of gas it sells.

It's a lot like a "modern convenience store," but without the constant staff turnover; I guess I've known a couple of those employees for longer than I've known anyone else in the area that Tamara doesn't work with. I usually gas up my motorcycle there, and if I happen to feel like running out for a soda pop or a candy bar, that's usually where I (and sometimes my son) go. It's at the very far end of easy walking distance, but it's an easy bicycle ride, and on the bike it means I'm heading away from, instead of toward, "town" and town traffic.

Anyway, poor marks on history, but still a great quote.