Own a Grocery/Post Office in Ripton VT

[rwsaunders]

Jorn...how timely. This article was just published in a local magazine...about a gentleman who is trying to restore an abandoned town that he purchased.

https://pittsburghquarterly.com/pq-p...pany-town.html

[thollandpe]

Nice, but they spelled ICE incorrectly on the machine.

Right on.

[SeanEasley]

Lottery tickets, milk, ice and bait.

Does a guy need much else in this world?

[abbeyQ]

Reminds me of the country store in my mom's home town in Missouri. My grandpa sent me there as an early teen to go get a fresh case of beer. The propriter had to tell me the beverage of choice and put it on the old man's tab. Times have changed.

[bironi]

The Old Gold sign.
Not a Cough in a Carload.
I don't recall that as a kid, but then I'm a west coast kid and that brand had fallen out of favor.

[jumphigher]

It takes an interesting range of skills to make a place like that successful.My sister's lived in a small town in Maine for over 15 years so a few days ago I sent her the link to the NYT story. One of her comments was that often when that sort of store changes hands the buyers don't realize what's really involved and how hard it is to make it all work. She says she's seen it happen countless times on the Maine mid-coast.

I agree with your sister, I've seen this happen many times, myself. New owners quickly going from elated, to bitter and miserable. I can definitely dig the fantasy of having a business like that, but it is a fantasy, imo. Reality is much different than what people often imagine.

[j44ke]

I agree with your sister, I've seen this happen many times, myself. New owners quickly going from elated, to bitter and miserable. I can definitely dig the fantasy of having a business like that, but it is a fantasy, imo. Reality is much different than what people often imagine.

Yeah, I know that. But...

and this ramble is a little off track so forgive me ... but right now in my family are a group of youngsters who are looking at the cost of going to graduate school and wondering about that reality. One of my nieces has decided it is worth it, even though her chosen profession - veterinarian - is by no means a slam dunk when it comes to earning enough money to make a viable practice, especially in underserved rural areas which is where she wants to practice. My other niece is interested in the FBI, but has just taken her LSAT's and did well enough that she can actually consider several good law schools in North Carolina, which would in turn offer her the opportunity to consider JAG Corps, which she is also interested in. Her undergraduate debt is not huge, but law school would create a bigger hole and I'm not sure what JAG Corps does for that, if anything. My cousin's daughter just got into grad school at Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and Washington (the one in Illinois.) The Columbia program would be a stellar asset for her future, the Johns Hopkins would be a step down and the Washington would be another step down from there. However, there is only one program she can "afford" by going into $100K of debt for a degree that will get her $40K starting salary if the stars align, because she'd be working at a non-profit or NGO or similar.

But they all have dreams, you know? And reality is by definition not the imagination, but reality can become a form of gravity against it. As you get older, reality's downward pull gets a tad stronger. Nice to see kids so light on their feet.

To me right now, all this college debt even before getting started seems a lot scarier than a hardware grocery post office at a crossroads in the mountains of Vermont. Actually there are a lot of things scarier.

But yeah, I'm not the right person for this job. Close maybe, but close doesn't do it. I know that. I can imagine that there is someone out there who is though. Really.

[davids]

The cost of student loans strikes me as a clear sign of our nation's priorities. But that's another topic altogether.

So let's talk about slowly going crazy from a combination of boredom and debt in the woods.

[j44ke]

The cost of student loans strikes me as a clear sign of our nation's priorities. But that's another topic altogether.

So let's talk about slowly going crazy from a combination of boredom and debt in the woods.

Hah, well my plan would include being crazy before I arrived. So much time saved, you know?

[s_curran]

there is only one program she can "afford" by going into $100K of debt for a degree that will get her $40K starting salary if the stars align

Sounds a lot like architecture and other design degrees. I'm happy I got the degree I got, but not happy about the idea that I cant do anything too "off-center" like move full time to VT and work at the grocer down the street, or learn a trade. I make sure to note that to my younger family that are looking at expensive schools that align with their dream jobs, like music, art, etc. While these good schools will allow you to grow your, art, craft, skills (and as a person), they might limit your freedom.

[Mabouya]

So let's talk about slowly going crazy from a combination of boredom and debt in the woods.

I think Jon Krakauer wrote a book about that. (without the debt part)