Old is 'in' at Moultonborough's country store

Jo Hayden and Steve Holden, owners of the Old Country Store, say that demand for old-fashioned products, such as pickles in barrels and aged cheddar cheese, keeps their antique cash register busy. (Adam Drapcho/Laconia Daily Sun)

MOULTONBOROUGH — The country store, once a staple of small-town life in New England, has become an endangered institution. That's not the case in Moultonborough, though, where the Old Country Store is thriving.

How old is the Old Country Store? It's so old that customers' locations are announced to all by the squeaking of floorboards. It's so old that the antique cash register doesn't add or subtract but instead assumes the clerk is adept at basic mathematics. It's the kind of place where patrons can satisfy their sweet tooth at the penny candy counter, or their sour tooth at the pickle barrel. It's so old that the property was once owned by General John Moulton – the town's namesake – and has been a store since 1781.

Many things about the store are old-fashioned but the business model is anything but out-of-date. Steve and Cile Holden bought the store in 1973, and today own and operate the store along with their daughter, Jo Hayden. In the 43 years since, Steve said there have only been two years in which the store's sales failed to surpass those of the prior year. And, how is the store faring in 2016?

"We've had an excellent year so far," said Holden, adding that the holiday shopping season, though slower than summer or fall, is a busy time for the store.

The Old Country Store stays current by offering things that are hard to find elsewhere, often those things have been abandoned by modern retailers but are still sought by today's shoppers. For example, those pickles – either dill or sour – are more than just a gimmick. The store will sell more than 10,000 pickles each year – and Holden won't disclose where he gets his pickles. Just as popular is the aged cheddar, which the Old Country Store buys as 35-pound wheels and stores in its cellar for further aging. On the counter near the register is a glass case with a wheel of cheese; customers tell the clerk to cut off a nibble or a pound. The store buys about 250 of the wheels each year, more than four tons of cheddar.

They also sell maple syrup, sulphur-free molasses pumped out of a wooden barrel, clothing, moccasins, jams and preserves, maps, cast-iron cookware, flags, tin pub signs, old-fashioned toys, and the types of hardware that hardware stores don't stock, such as wraught-iron bells and door latches. Holden figures that about half of his customers come to find a particular item, the rest are looking for a surprise.

In the second floor of the building is Holden's museum, a collection of antique farming and logging tools that he has collected. He is in the process of re-writing the informational placards for each item.

After a stint in the Army, Holden first worked as an insurance investigator. He got into the country store business first in Alstead, but sold that store to a friend. When they bought the Old Country Store, it was in rough shape. The building needed repairs and the store had been foreclosed. Steve and Cile repaired the structure and rebuilt the business, which grew and grew. The store soon filled the first floor of the building, then filled an expansion that Holden built. He estimates the footprint of the store is now five times the size of the store he and Cile first operated.

After four decades of running the store, Holden said he still finds it rewarding.

"I'm 78 and I don't want to retire yet. I enjoy it."

Elise Stewart, of Laconia, picked out dill pickles, one for each member of her family. The Old Country Store sells more than 10,000 pickles each year. (Adam Drapcho/Laconia Daily Sun)