Walk into the Bennington Country Store and you will find the small tables filled with residents, drinking coffee and talking about all the happenings in town.
The country store is where you can grab a gallon of milk, a breakfast sandwich and some fresh baked goods on the weekend.
But what makes this Main Street fixture unique from other small town stores is that it also houses the town’s post office, found in the back right corner of the store.
Up until the early 1990s, the Bennington Post Office had been across the street from the Bennington Country Store, when the town post office closed and postal service for Bennington residents shifted to the abutting town of Antrim.
Soon after, however, Terry Schnare, owner of the store at that time, successfully bid to have a contracted postal unit set up in the store. For many years, you could rent a post office box and buy stamps before it ceased operation in 2004 due to a conflict of interest with then-owner Michael Vorpe, who also worked for the postal service.
Residents then spent about a year making the trek to the Antrim Post Office, before Vicky Turner stepped up. Turner put in a bid to the postal service and reopened the store operation on Dec. 5, 2005. Turner is a contract worker for the contracted postal unit and can be found at the store three or four days a week.
“There’s something about having a post office in the center of town that really defines a town,” Turner said.
If she’s not there, the country store employees will put mail in the boxes, organize the packages and help any customers with postal needs.
“It’s been that way the whole time I’ve been here, so I don’t know any different,” said store manager Kris Mikulewicz.
There are around 150 post office boxes, although not all of them are rented since many residents receive mail at their homes.
“The boxes are very convenient,” Turner said. “They can go on vacation and we’ll hold their mail for them.”
People can buy stamps, pick up packages and mailing essentials, and mail out packages.
The post office hours are technically 7:30 a.m. to noon and 12:30 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, but if the store is open, residents can really do their postal business any time.
“You can come get your mail, get a cup of coffee, talk to people and get that country store feel,” Turner said.
According to town histories, “Bennington had its share of general and village stores over the years, only one has survived into the twenty-first century.” That one is the Bennington Country Store.
“You feel like family and you don’t find that everywhere,” said resident Claudette Prive.
But it didn’t begin as a country store. It actually housed a drug store for many years until the 1960s when it was known as the Village Spa. Its had many different names over the years and offered a variety of services like movie rentals and a deli. The store has a deli area, but it is currently closed while repairs are being made to the area’s refrigeration unit.
The store continues to sell hotdogs, premade sandwiches and soups. The coffee is always brewing and the baked goods go fast on the weekends.
“I have two customers that come in every week that will buy whatever I’m making before I even make it,” Mikulewicz said.
For Megan Decatur, who has only been working at the store for about a month, it already feels like home. Residents who have been coming in for years made her feel welcomed.
“No matter who walks through that door, they make you feel like family,” Decatur said.
The store has all the things you’d associate with a small town store. There are chips and candy, soda and New Hampshire T-shirts. But the biggest sellers are “all the vices,” said Mikulewicz, including cigarettes, beer and lottery tickets.
“That’s us,” she said.