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Harvard General Store

The Harvard General Store is a country store located at 1 Still River Road in the historic town center of Harvard, Massachusetts. The establishment serves as a beacon of the community, saying on its website “It’s a grocery and gifts market. It’s a bakery and coffee shop. It’s a restaurant. It’s a package store. It’s an event space. It’s the place that brings you back to your hometown.”

Products and Purpose

The Harvard General Store is a multipurpose retail and event space. The first floor alone is home to a grocery, gift, and convenience store, offering an assortment of “specialty cheeses, teas, meats, and other products, including many local brands, such as Taza Chocolates, Country Hen Eggs, and Bola Granola.” In addition, the first floor includes a cafe serving a variety of “ breakfasts, sandwiches, wraps, soups, salads, quiche, vegetarian dishes, coffee and related specialty drinks, hot chocolate, teas and baked goods.”

The second floor is home to “Upstairs @ The General,” a 2,500 foot multipurpose space used for all manner of events, including “entertainment, receptions, fundraisers, rehearsal dinners, showers, birthday parties, corporate holiday parties and seminars and luncheons.” The upstairs space also includes a wine shop, often hosting beer and wine tastings or art exhibitions.

The store employs approximately a dozen part-time employees serving in roles including baristas, line cooks, cashiers, and bakery consultants.

Founding and History

In 1816, landowners and Harvard sold the piece of land on which the establishment now stands to its first owner, Jason Bigelow. Bigelow, a carpenter, built the first store on the site. This building served as the first in Harvard to be used exclusively for retail purposes. Through the late 1810s, the store was sold first to John Walker (1817) and later to Seth Nason & John P. Whitcomb (1820). One decade later, in 1831, the store was taken under the wing of Nathanial Stacy, who used the space for a bookstore and bindery after Nason & Whitcomb surrendered ownership. Other retailers, including Benjamin S. Farnsworth, Jonathan Hosmer, Benjamin F Whitney, Churchill and Porter, and Ebenezer C. Willard, also occupied the space during this time.'

On February 28, 1850, the original building burned down. Just a few months later, new buyers Trumbull Bull (charter member of the Odd Fellows) and John Farwell (well-known real estate agent in town) bought the land on which the store had burned. The diary of Trumbull Bull details the following with regard to the sale:

“bought a piece of land with John Farwell where the store was burned, measuring 30X40 ft and the privilege for shed which was granted by the town for which we paid $132.50 one-half each. We bought it for a building for the Odd Fellows who wished to take it and erect a building for a store on the first floor, shops or offices on the 2nd and the Odd Fellows Hall in the attic.”

At this point, the building fell under the ownership of the Union Hall Company. Under Union Hall’s jurisdiction, the store had a number of tenants, including William Harlow and Ebenezer C. Willard (1852), A.R. Willard and George Wetherbee (1855, Charles and Everett Hussey (1859), John B. Day and Lemuel Whitney (1866), and Trumbull Bull and Fred Willard (1869).

Under Bull and Willard, the store was moved to a new building located at 11 Fairbank Street. After Bull’s death in 1878, brothers Henry H. Gale and George T. Gale opened a store in the Union Hall building in 1881, calling the store “Gale Brothers.” Soon after, George Gale sold his share to Philip O. Dickson, leading the store to become known as “Gale & Dickson.”

Later, in 1896, the store became “Gale, Dickson, and Co.” as George Gale rejoined the company. Union Hall Company ceased operations in the 1 Still River Road location, moving down the road to 9 Massachusetts Avenue. In 1916, the stock in the building was sold to Bill Kerley, Reuben Reed, and Wallace Bryant, instigating yet another name change for the store that became known as Kerley, Reed, & Bryant. Within this timeframe, the store was granted a Wine and Malt Beverage License by the Town of Harvard for the year of 1934. After the death of these three men in later years, Reuben’s son, David Reed, oversaw store operations in the late 1950s and early 1960s, running it first as a general grocery store and later transforming it into a clothing store.

In 1956, this building was demolished to make way for a post office, and the present flat roofed three story building was built in the same location as the old store had been. After several years Mr. Dickson withdrew because of poor health and the name changed again to Gale Bros.” During this time, Ed Pieters, Reuben Reed’s son-in-law, sold gifts and general merchandise in the space upstairs. After the official closing of Kerley, Reed & Bryant in 1968, Larry Kaplan opened The Clothes Corner in 1970, an establishment dedicated to the sale of women’s clothing.

Eight years later, the store transferred ownership yet again, with Joyce and Will Garrick transitioning their Harvard Pharmacy and Camera Center from the 9 Massachusetts Avenue Post Office to what has since been known as the General Store.

It remained under this ownership for years to come until it was purchased and renovated by Adam and Lyn Horowitz in 2007. After partnering with Amy Bernhardt and Doug Coots in joint ownership of the space in May of 2010, Adam and Lyn relocated to England. Under this ownership, the store was granted one of only three Wine and Malt Beverage Licenses given by the Town of Harvard in June of 2010. With a brief turnaround, “Upstairs @ The General” opened on July 1, 2010, putting the new license to use in the sale of wine and spirits.

As of August 12, 2012, the store was purchased by former architect and real estate developer Scott Hayward, who maintains ownership to this day. After the sale, Hayward expressed his resolve to keep the store’s existing model as a cafe, general store, and wine shop. In reference to his goals for the store, Hayward said in an interview that he “made a concerted effort to try and let people know that it was a place for everybody. You know, it was a place for conservatives to come, it was a place for liberals to come, and everybody was welcome. It is the secular meeting place in town—you know, in a sense there aren’t any other meeting places except religious ones.”

In The News

In 2018, the Harvard General Store made headlines and drew crowds to the center of Harvard as the film crew for Greta Gerwig’s Little Women took up residence in the space. The store closed temporarily on October 26th, November 2nd, and November 5th to make way for filming.

Crews erected a village facade in the space next to the store, hanging a “Concord General Store” banner from the store itself and a “Union Army Soldiers’ fund” banner on the adjacent set fixtures. The interior was also transformed for the film; the second floor space was used as a makeshift tailor shop for a scene in which Meg visits the tailor to buy fabric for a new dress that proves to be too expensive for her budget.