The Francestown Village Store has a new manager and is preparing to open July 4, almost exactly three years since the store closed in 2017.
Francestown resident Philip Lawrence signed a lease with the Francestown Improvements and Historical Society two-and-a-half weeks ago after approaching the society in February, he said. Lawrence’s business plan was almost identical to what the community said they wanted from the store in a forum a year and a half ago, FIHS member Sarah Pyle said, with a focus on creating a store the whole community can feel comfortable getting around in. “That, to us, was terrific,” she said. “He’s young, his whole family is behind him,” she said. “Between the whole group of them they have a really wide expertise in food service, and he had a great sort of attitude about the whole thing.”
“We’ve just been going full bore on trying to get it open as quick as possible,” Lawrence said, with a special focus on giving residents a local option for groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawrence grew up in Manchester with family connections to the Francestown area, and moved to town a year-and-a-half ago after seven years in California, he said. He plans to operate the store with his wife, three year-old son, mother, and father. Lawrence himself has worked in a bakery and a produce department, and he studied computer technology in college. He plans to use his skills to provide good products and acceptable pricing. The grocery section of the store will open first, he said, and he’ll work on sourcing additional items and acquiring the permits for the deli and diner part of the business as they go.
The store was known as the second-oldest, continually running general store in the country when it closed on July 6, 2017. Although Lawrence will own the business, FIHS will continue to own the building, which they acquired in 2017 when Nevadan donor William Smith paid the building’s foreclosure costs and back taxes. The Three Sisters building now has three tenants, Pyle said: the Francestown Village Store, financial adviser Michael White of Ameriprise, and fine artist Rosemary Conroy.
“The historical society is going to try to continue to fundraise in our community and keep the building costs low for the proprietors,” she said, and that she didn’t think the fact the building is not for sale delayed the search for a manager.
Lawrence has started soliciting requests for products on the Francestown community Facebook page, and encourages local small businesses selling products or services to reach out through Facebook or email so he can have a conversation and explore potential partnerships.