Review
Joe Morse's Virginia's Country Stores is a special and nostalgic tour of the country store, yesteryear's place where a penny's worth of candy filled a bag and shopping was done in a single store. The country store was a hub where friends met, gossip was exchanged, and folks from town and the rural areas connected as a community. Virginia's Country Stores is an assembly of photographed backed research surveying more than a hundred country stores (some still open for business, others merely a shell reminder of better days). Morse has spoken to merchants where possible (or their heirs), and he has traced the roots of the country store back to the early days of colonization. From weights and measures, to merchandising and currency, to gas pumps and post officers, Virginia's Country Stores chronicles the rise and decline to a true piece of Americana. For those readers over the age of 60, Virginia's Country Stores is pure nostalgia, for those younger, it's a last reminder of a rapidly vanishing bit of American history, culture, and tradition. -- Midwest Book Review
