ABC Store

ABC Store near Chesnee, SC on U.S. 221 near NC line.

 

--Lannie

This one hits me just right with the building and it's red and white awnings looking like a family circus set up somewhere on a side road. The trees, even in their autumn colors, just can't compete. One wonders, though, where the customers are going to come from.

I wonder, Lannie, whether Tom Robbins - if he were viewing this image - would refer to the store as another roadside attraction.  If so, I certainly would understand.  The store seems to play the role of a sore thumb in this scene, with its bold red-white contrast compared with the more subtle contrasts in the foliage.

 

There's much to country stores, especially when compared with supermarkets. The former exude character, while most in the latter category would lack it.  My proof, by way of example, would be the Old Sautee Store in Sautee/Nacoochee or Betty's in Helen (both sites in Georgia).

 

I'm taking the liberty of sharing 2 of my images.  The first was shot at the Old Sautee Store; the second at Betty's.

    

    

I hope I didn't offend anyone, especially you - Lannie, by posting these images here.

Those are great shots, Michael! Thank you--and thank you, Jack, as always.

 

This actually is a liquor store on U.S. 221, a road that comes up through the Southeast without attracting much attention, but which goes through some interesting country, coming up from Florida and crossing the Savannah River near a small town called "Clark's Hill" and going on up to just west of Linville Gorge and on into Boone, NC and into Virginia at Lynchburg--over seven hundred miles.

 

This particular shot was made in South Carolina, not too far from where I grew up (Spartanburg), except for the years we spent in Akron, Ohio when I was a kid.

 

These "ABC" liquor stores are all over the place in South Carolina--but they are closed on Sunday in that state.  This one might well get most of its customers from North Carolina, just a few miles up the road.

 

The little road on the left side caught my attention here.  I shot wide so as to leave myself some latitude on cropping, and so I chose to include the little "road to nowhere" here.

 

--Lannie

Thanks for the acknowledgment and additional narrative, Lannie.  It confirms how much more there is to see in the South.