Small town 'third places'

Post card from 1906 of Sharon street scene

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary’’ in GoLocal24.com

I got a pang when reading in The Valley News that another small-town local store that has acted as an informal community center is being absorbed by a chain. This is the Sharon (Vt.) Trading Post, a general store and gas station. It’s been owned for 32 years by a local couple – Rob and Cathy Romeo -- but they’re selling it to a chain of 50 convenience stores/gas stations, albeit a Vermont one, called Maplefields. Maybe that means prices will fall a bit – economies of scale – but so probably will service and commitment to the community, in the White River Valley, for which the store has been a central meeting place.

There are fewer independent establishments in small towns like the Romeos’ these days, and that’s too bad. All towns need “third places’’ – not work, not homes – to get together.

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