By Green Energy Times Staff
Everyone should experience an old-fashioned New England general store. They can be delightful, and perhaps Dan & Whits in Norwich, Vermont, is about as delightful as they get.
Dan Fraser, the current manager, is the grandson of the original Dan, who started the store with Whit in 1932. Fraser has worked there all his life, ten years as manager. Clearly, this is a store with a history. “We were the predecessor to Wal*Mart,” Dan said.
It also has a very special market niche that Wal*Mart cannot fill. A real New England general store, its motto is, “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.”
The store is heated with wood, just as it was when it opened decades back. But it also has twenty solar panels on the roof, and it hosts a charging station for electric vehicles. It is not free, like Tesla’s, but it is there.
Dan & Whits has a lot of local goods, including fresh vegetables, whenever possible. Store policy is to avoid letting things go to waste. You can buy a purse made from recycled auto and boat parts. You can buy new clothing made from good repurposed cloth. Day-old sandwiches have been donated to people hiking the Appalachian Trail, and also to Willing Hands, an Upper Valley food-distribution agency. When there is an oversupply of milk and eggs, some are donated to the Upper Valley Haven, a regional agency that works with homeless people.
Dan & Whits, a remarkable old-fashioned store, can be visited online at www.danandwhitsonline.com.
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