Pocono News Section

Country Junction General Store Rebuilds

Country Junction General Store Rebuilds - Wednesday, October 3, 2007 at 6:08PM EST

Wednesday, Oct 3, 2007 @06:08pm EST

It burned to the ground, but owners are working to bring it back around.

One year ago today, fire ripped through country junction general store in Towamensing Township.

5 million dollars in merchandise was lost.

Since that day the store's owner vowed to stay open, and rebuild.

Despite it's huge loss, country junction has stayed open every day since that fire.

Before the fire, the store was advertised as the largest general store in the world.

Now, the owners are working to rebuild the store to that level.

Construction equipment sits ready to go here at country junction in Towamensing Township.

It will be used to rebuild the store that burnt down one year ago.

Country junction owner Jim Everett says,

"just trying to come up with a design to replace what we had with all the feeling and amenities. It's not easy to just go draw one up."

Everett says plans for a new building will likely be finished within two months.

Then, construction could start as early as next spring.

Everett says the fire caused his business to take a big hit, but he's stayed open buy making adjustments.

Since the fire, Country Junction has moved under a big tent on the property.

But customers say the store hasn't skipped a beat, and can't wait for construction to start on the new building."

"it would be great. It was so huge and there were so many great things in it. We used to look forward to coming down," says Mary Pavuck of Hazleton

Sheila Grissinger of Lake Harmony says, "there's a lot less things here now that there used to be, but it's still a great place to shop."

And right now, shoppers are picking out pumpkins here at country junction.

The Pocono pumpkin festival is held here every year, and hasn't stopped, despite the fire.

For now shelves are being stacked inside the big tent, and workers are building new displays.

Next year, bigger construction could start here, for a new, bigger country junction.

Everett says the construction hasn't started yet because he's making sure he's meeting all code requirements in Carbon County.

He says since the fire, he's seen a huge jump in sales at a country junction store in nearby Wind Gap.

Everett says that's a sign people like shopping at his store, and hopes they'll come back he rebuilds.