Anyone who has worked at a store with the public through the pandemic deserves some recognition for their efforts. That’s especially true when it’s the only spot in town, like the Canterbury Country Store, run by Joe and Toni Halla.
“They are an integral part of the Canterbury community, running the store, serving as the unofficial community communication center, and always willing to provision their store with any requested product. They are true Hometown Heroes,” Sarah and Harry Kinter wrote in their nomination email for the Hallas.
The store saw extra customers, and communication, when the pandemic first hit. People were trying to avoid big stores and the crowds that go with them, so they stayed closer to home and shopped in small, familiar places. That reversed a business trend Halla, and other small store owners, have been watching with concern.
“Business hasn’t been great for a number of years. Small stores are going to be a thing of the past, unfortunately,” Halla said. “The pandemic initially helped, but then everybody grew more complacent. So, it hasn’t been terrible, but business isn’t what it was back in March, April and May.”
The Canterbury Country Store may avoid the kind of unfortunate extinction Halla was talking about, at least if the townspeople have anything to say about it. When the previous owner was selling the store, there was some concern that no one would buy it, so a group of residents formed an LLC, sold shares and purchased the building and the property, and eventually, the Hallas bought the business.
That kind of community involvement, and the communication the Kinters were talking about, is evident before you even walk through the front door of the store, which sits in Canterbury’s idyllic town center. There are two bulletin boards loaded with business cards (horse trainers, carpenters, artists, electricians, builders, excavators, florists and more), notices from the town office, a hand-drawn flyer offering pet and plant care, and a sign that reads, “Do you know someone who can’t get out to shop at the store? Let them know that we can deliver. Ask us about it.”
Once inside the store, the lines of communication spread around the world through the post office located there, but that’s not the “center” the Kinters were writing about when they nominated the Hallas. It’s the word-of-mouth news that travels through the shopkeepers and helps keep the residents of small towns connected.
“I think that’s part of what the store is about,” said Joe, who is from Chicago but moved to Canterbury in 1976 with Toni, who is originally from New York. “I’m chairman of the zoning board in Canterbury so I know a lot of what’s going on as far as the planning board, zoning board, selectmen, etc., etc., And then people that you’ve known for a period of time, or people you’ve gotten to know, tend to come in and say, ‘What do you think about Christmas trees for $50,’ or, ‘What do you think about what’s in the newsletter?’ or what about this or that, that’s fairly typical. And it’s fun. Well, 90 percent of the time it’s fun.”