The Granite Hall Store closed for the season the day before Christmas with a special sales event designed to help the neighbors find a few stocking stuffers, clear some inventory and raise a bit of cash.
“It was great. We sold out of a lot of penny candy, like peanut butter logs, chewy raspberries and Swedish fish,” said Sarah Herndon who owns the store with her husband, Eric.
“It was a really fun day,” she said.
The Christmas Eve day sale is a tradition for the Herndons, who have operated the historic store for the last 27 years.
The sale began a few years ago to boost sales after Columbus Day, the traditional end of the tourist season. At first the Herndons cut prices 20 percent and stepped it down week by week to where they would cut prices by 40 percent the day before Christmas. Another feature is their lottery, where customers can draw a number cutting the price a few more percentage points.
“It gives a little added incentive and a lot of folks come in to pick up last minute presents for stocking stuffers and other little items, like a dish towel or soap for their mother-in-law,” she said.
A few years ago, Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee, a folk music duo known as Castlebay, began to stop in for the day to spice up the crowd.
This year, a jolly fellow with the white beard and red suit stopped in and dropped off a few goodies, before he jumped in his sleigh and headed for New Harbor.
The special visitor made it a very special day for Herndon’s granddaughter, Honora Boothby, 6 and a half.
“He came. He was right here,” the very excited girl exclaimed to her rather indifferent cousin, Otis Frost, not yet three.
“Right here,” she said as she grabbed Otis’s arms and jumped.
The sale day was a reunion of sorts for community members who were unable to shop at the sale last year.
In October 2008, a spark from a light switch triggered a blaze and the store caught fire. The building was saved thanks to quick work from the neighbors and the Bristol Volunteer Fire Department.
“It took us six months to rebuild. A lot of our customers said they missed us last year,” Sarah Herndon said.
The structure has been a fixture in the community since the 1850s when workers in nearby granite quarries roomed in the village. They would gather in the upstairs of the store for dances, shows and later silent movies, Herndon said.
Later, it was an ice cream parlor and now a store where customers can purchase a book on local history or mystery, cards and kitchenware, toys and trinkets. It is one of the few places where people can find spare cribbage board pegs to replace the ones lost over the summer.
Of course, there is the penny candy, which is no longer sold for a penny, but can be purchased by the stick or by the pound.
“Our supplier says you can’t sell candy that way. He said it is not cost effective. I said sorry. That is the way we do it here,” she said.
“Sorry. A penny candy is no longer a penny,” Sarah said.
On Monday, Herndon and her helpers were busy taking inventory and getting ready to close the store for the winter.
Unlike last year, when Round Pond residents wondered if they would be able to reopen after the visit from the fire department, Sarah Herndon can’t wait for May 1.
“That is when we will be open. May 1,” she said.
