Canterbury Country Store Rejuvenation!

In 2000, a group of community-spirited townspeople formed an LLC and successfully raised money to purchase the building housing the Canterbury Country Store and Post Office, in order to keep them from permanently closing. Today, the Country Store & PO continue to serve the community despite challenging times for small, local stores. Much of the thanks goes to our hard-working storekeepers, Toni & Joe, and a community of volunteers that have tackled any task that needed "fixin" to keep things running. Twenty years later, the store and PO continue to serve our community. The recent pandemic highlighted how important community involvement in sustaining a local institution can be and how neighbors supporting each other fosters a sense of place and belonging among people.

In 2020, another volunteer group, Friends of the Canterbury Country Store, formed with the purpose of helping our storekeepers, the LLC and Canterbury at large, with projects we hope will rejuvenate a "well-worn" building and create new ways to keep the store a sustainable and vibrant center for the Canterbury community. Money raised will go towards two main efforts.

First a variety of much needed physical projects such as roofing, flooring and painting will be undertaken to preserve the building for the next generations. Much has been done, most with volunteer help, but the list is long and it will get done with Canterbury spirit.

Second, an effort to fund projects to enhance and draw in more customers to the store, in order to maintain its sustainability in a changing world, will be undertaken. Among these include equipment to facilitate more local and specialty products, such as produce and local crafts, new signage and outdoor seating and landscape. Our plan also includes sponsoring a few outdoor events, on behalf of the store, to foster more awareness of the store and its offerings, while at the same time promoting community gathering and spirit, building upon the original concept behind saving the Store in 2000.

To get us off to a great start, two anonymous donors have pledged to match dollar for dollar the first $6,500 raised. We hope you will join us in this effort in any way you can. For more information, check out the Canterbury Country Store website.

Thank you, Friends of the Canterbury Country Store