Blanton & Pleasants, Inc.

Cartersville, Virginia

 

 

 

This general store in particular offered the most thorough selection; it truly was a general store. Spanky has been running the family business all his life with the help of his wife, June. I enjoyed my visit to this store the most; I spent over an hour talking with Spanky, meeting his grandson, taking a full tour of the store. As large as some smaller supermarkets, the store carried groceries, hardware supplies, sports supplies, hunting apparel, gardening supplies, and videos. There's even a small barber shop upstairs where Spanky or another local works out of. With all this diversity of wares, Blanton & Pleasants is the Wal-mart of General Stores. This selection will probably not be available down the road however; Spanky and June have just purchased computers for the store, and with more efficient ways of measuring inventory their hoping to get a better idea of what is selling, and what isn't. Spanky reasoned, "Can't keep trying to be everything to everybody." Citing decreased sales, they are moving towards a more streamlined selection of goods. Spanky was extremely interested in my project and thought any publicity was good publicity. The store has been receiving attention from outside the area; recently Virginia Currents did an exclusive on the shop.

 

 
Spanky blames the Flood of 1972 and the subsequent closing of the nearby bridge over the James closed for repair for a year as particularly devesatiting to the store. "People are creatues of habit", he said, and many former customer cut off from the conveniance of hopping over the bridge did not resume their shopping with the store after the bridge reopened. That said, Spanky is extremely appreciative of his current customers, greeting each of them with an eager hello. He was also the only owner to agressively encourage customers to let me take their picture; this was appreciated.

 

 
While it can not be certain what the future holds for the mega-general store, Spanky assured me of his contentment running the place, describing how he never dreaded coming to work. Perhaps that is because he knows that if the day gets slow, he can talk a couple of customers into a round of golf. Just over two years ago, he put in a make-shift golf course in the cow pasture behind the store.

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