Tour of the St. James General Store- Long Island, New York

The St. James General Store in Saint James, NY is a happy place. Not only does it hold happy memories for me as a child, teenager, and adult visitor to the store, but the physical St. James General Store looks and smells of happiness.

How can a building look and smell of happiness? First of all, it has been maintained in a historic 1880-1910 time period inside with the workers dressed in period clothing behind old polished counters piled high with fascinating crafts, books, doodads, and my favorite, candy in glass jars. When I first visited the store as a child, it was painted white, but when visiting it as a teenager, the store had been painted a cheery fall yellow as it is now.
Happiness to me, smells of cinnamon, chocolate, sweet gummy candy, polished old wood, sachets of lavender, handmade soaps, and new books. Happiness sounds like the bell on the front door ringing as you walk in, the wood floors creaking slightly as you walk across the store and more so as you climb the stairs to the second floor, the sound of the glass jars opening and candy being measured out, or the bags crinkling as the store-person hands you your goodies. Happiness looks like paper doll books, licorice laces, tea sets, handmade quilts, natural history and local history books, fanciful toys and dolls for the children, and vintage home items.


(If I had known I'd be writing about this place over 2 years later, I would have taken better photos.)

My parents took the family to the St. James General Store every year when we visited my grandparents on Long Island. My dad grew up in Smithtown and my mom in Setauket, and because St. James lies en route between the two towns, we had a perfect excuse to visit. We lived with, or near, my paternal grandparents between 4th and the beginning of 7th grade and the St. James General Store was a frequent stop. I loved to buy licorice laces and sour patch kids. Once I tried to buy a giant jawbreaker, but the slow progress of eating it annoyed me so I never bought it again. Besides the candy, I relished the smell of handmade soaps. After perusing the local craft items, I made a beeline upstairs to the book section, completely bypassing the nifty toys in the back of the first floor, up the loudly creaking steps to my happy place. There were coloring books, fairy tales, and America Girl books. Books with historic photos of my grandparents' towns and the places we saw while driving around Long Island.

Every year at Christmas, the General Store has an "old fashioned" Santa on duty to hear the children's gift request. My dad was the Santa one year! Throughout my life, I visited this store with my parents and siblings, my maternal grandmother, cousins, and then while on a road trip in 2010, with two of my Tucson friends. Unlike some childhood places that are bigger and happier in memory than in actuality, upon seeing it as an adult, I can honestly say that the Saint James General Store gets better with age.