County takes account of its country stores

By Sharon C. Fitzgerald Daily Progress correspondent
Published: July 21, 2008

Nancy Kallander sells high-quality deli sandwiches, bottles of wine and fresh-cut flowers at her country store on Garth Road.

In the five years she’s operated Hunt Country Market and Deli, a circa-1911 roadside store near the Foxfield racetrack, Kallander has tweaked her merchandise selection to meet the needs of a varied customer base.

Her 900-square-foot business is popular with the lunch crowd of stay-at-home moms, workers and nearby residents.

“It’s a very diverse clientele,” Kallander said. “We have locals that live in the area and people who maintain the properties around here.”

Kallander’s store is one of 83 country stores documented in Albemarle County, and officials are working to help the businesses stay afloat, said Joan McDowell, the county’s principal planner.

The Albemarle Planning Commission is holding a public hearing at 6 tonight on proposed changes to the country store ordinance. Among those changes will be making it easier for business owners to get county permits, easing parking and sewage

requirements and defining what makes a country store.

“We’re hoping to address problems that may be associated with stores that were built 50 to 100 years ago,” McDowell said. “These stores are not only important to the history of the county, but to the people in those communities.”

County planners hope to take the proposed changes to the Albemarle Board of Supervisors by October, McDowell said. The board must approve the changes before they can go into effect.

“It may not go as far as some owners would like, but I think it will benefit all of the country stores,” McDowell said.

Albemarle County started looking at the issue in 2006 as more of the businesses started to close because they did not meet county regulations, McDowell said.

“We had to face the reality that many of these stores are too close to the roads and don’t have ample parking, but we want to work with them,” McDowell said. “So we’ve taken the ordinance apart to see how we could help.”

Albemarle County has always recognized that country stores have special needs, but the ordinance wasn’t as detailed as it needed to be, McDowell said.

“If the store is historic we wanted to do anything we could to help these owners out,” McDowell said.

Kallander doesn’t own the building her store operates out of, but said she is glad county officials are working on the ordinance. She would like to see the county help promote the country stores and plans to keep her small store open for a long time.

“The nicest surprise has been getting connected to the community,” Kallander said. “I’ve met a lot of people who have had generations of their family raised in this community who remember this store the way it used to be.”