Heard it Here

As Vanda Viehman stands in the check-out line, she comments on her trip to the rustic Mast General Store, “I come from Kernersville to Winston with other seniors for the day for lunch and then to go to Mast General Store twice a month.”

Promoters of downtown Winston Salem said they hope that Mast General will bring customers, and therefore revenue, from cities nearby, such as Kernersville. Jason Thiel, the President of the Downtown Winston Salem Partnership, said that Mast General Store serves as a tourist attraction and he feels lucky it chose Winston Salem to open a store.

Located on Trade Street, the Winston Salem store is one of ten in the Mast General Store chain. According the store’s main webpage, Mast General Store began in 1883 in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. Today, it have stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee and sell a range of things from cook books, to hiking gear and other apparel, to candy and kitchen kitchenware. The Winston Salem store, which opened on April 2, 2015, has a rustic and open feel to it that allows customers to freely wander the aisles.

Store employees said that the store is drawing shoppers to downtown who do not normally have a reason to come into the city. “People who haven’t been to downtown Winston Salem in years are coming in to shop at Mast General Store,” said employee Tiffany Preston.

In a few years, Thiel said that Winston Salem will not be seen as a big box retail district but rather a place where people can purchase support retail, or rather, things that are needed by residents and visitors.

Thiel said he hopes that there will be an increase in specialty retail stores throughout downtown, such as Earthbound Arts or Fourth and Trade, found on Trade Street. These specialty retailers are stores “where folks go to shop for something they don’t shop for frequently or would find in a large box retail store,” said Thiel.

Mast General Store is a way to attract people from various cities, and Thiel said that other retailers are following the Mast General Store’s lead. Projects are happening where the landlords are making investments in their buildings to attract tenants that they were not doing previously,” said Thiel. This is especially seen on Liberty Street and 4^th Street; there is a new cigar shop as well as a UPS under construction on 6^th and Trade.

“While I don’t think it’s just Mast General that is impacting this [retail culture], it is certainly a part of it,” said Thiel. Thiel said that the retail in Winston Salem falls in line with the personal experience of retail, rather than a self-service retail store. “The internet has changed retail,” but retail in Winston Salem will focus on “things that can’t be bought online or customers that want a special relationship with the knowledge of the retailer,” said Thiel.

Back at the cash register at Mast General Store, Viehman filled a bag with penny candy from a row of wooden barrels. She paid for the candy, chatted briefly with Preston, then headed off with her three friends to Sweet Potatoes across the street.