SPOTLIGHT: A New Store in Northfield

People driving down Route 254 through Litchfield County may not recognize that they’re driving through a small unincorporated village between the towns of Litchfield and Thomaston. Consisting of mostly houses among thick woods, Northfield is a relatively small village in terms of population, made of up of about 3,000 individuals according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While Northfield is known for its scenic environment, it’s not particularly known for its plethora of public facilities or activities. So the opening of the Northfield General Store on October 18^th was a welcome site.

As longtime Northfield, Litchfield, and Thomaston residents might recall, this new general store wasn’t the first built in the village. The previous Northfield General Store found along the hill of Northfield's Main Street closed in 2008 and was subsequently converted into a house. After the closure of the original store, the sole remaining facility open to the public in Northfield was the small Gilbert Library found a few houses down from the original store’s location.

The disappearance of the general store inspired Northfield native Dave Carroll to try and revive the store amid the closure of Northfield’s Beacon Grange #118. A Grange is a fraternal organization that supports programs of community service, family activities, legislation and other activities relevant to local communities.  “If you look around the state of Connecticut farming has continued to shrink overtime,” said Carroll about the closure of the Beacon Grange. “Which means [grange] ranks continue to shrink overtime, especially in Litchfield County, and they struggled with new membership and basically over a period of time their membership dwindled and dwindled and dwindled to the point where the grange wasn’t really sustainable. So, the Connecticut State Grange Association essentially consolidated multiple granges into one.” Due to this lack of membership, Northfield's Beacon Grange closed in 2020 after hosting fundraisers, wedding receptions, graduation parties, and church services for 56 years. Shortly after the closure, Carroll and his family successfully petitioned to Litchfield’s Planning and Zoning Committee to rezone the Beacon Grange for commercial use as a general store and deli.

For the next few years, Carroll, his family, friends, and local contractor William “Billy” Gill worked on renovating the grange into the Northfield General Store with the support of the original store’s owners Joseph and Susan Damico. “I wouldn't have pursued this plan without the blessing of Joe and Sue Damico,” said Caroll. “Joe and Sue owned the store from ‘86 to 2008. They are the folks that ran this place when– through my childhood. Right off the bat, I called them up and I said, ‘what do you think?’ And you know, they said ‘go do it’ and here we are.” Some notable changes include connecting the building to Litchfield’s sewers, paving the driveway and parking lot, the construction of a front porch, and numerous interior renovations.

When residents enter the General Store today, they’ll find the former grange full of products ranging from a wide selection of snacks and candies to small pastries and drinks. Carroll has stated that the store is planning on carrying locally produced products in the near future and has already begun to do so with The Hilljack Sugar Shack’s honey and maple syrup. Customers can submit product ideas for the store in a suggestion box located on the front counter. One of the store’s main attractions is its deli where people can select from a variety of meats, cheeses, and toppings to build sandwiches such as buffalo chicken grinders. Breakfast sandwiches are coming soon. While the store is no longer the grange it once was, Carroll does intend to use the store’s lower floor as a rental hall for small gatherings and a commerce area kitchen for food trucks and other small food operations.

Ultimately, Carroll hopes the new Northfield General Store will become a new social hub for everyone to gather and mingle just as they once did with the old store and Beacon Grange, “There's home and there's work but where's that third place and we want to be that third place… We want this place to be a welcoming location for the residents in Northfield to come have a cup of coffee, you know, be able to socialize and spend time together.”