![https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0qMNcK_0rjZWOQi00](https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&url=0qMNcK_0rjZWOQi00)
If you have been to Scio, you probably have been to The Store, the renowned mom and pop all-purpose grocery business and gas station at 3983 Main St.
"Mom and Pop" — Cindy and Jim Potter — are retiring after more than three decades as owners of the Scio institution in the center of the Allegany County town.
"It's time," Jim Potter said of the sale, which became official Wednesday.
But don't panic. The store — lowercase — is not going anywhere and customer favorites, including the popular deli and meats department, won't change at all, the Potters said.
Jim Potter has even passed along to the new owner the secret ingredient in The Store's acclaimed two-foot subs.
“A little extra love,” he said.
Starting Thursday, The Store became the Scio Country Store under new ownership led by Ankur Purani.
Potters have been stalwarts in Scio community for decades
A grocery store, under several different names, has been in place at the Main Street location in Scio since at least the 1880s. The original owner's written ledger, volume 2, dates from 1886 and is still in existence, the couple said.
While most of the earlier owners worked their names into the store’s moniker, the Potters took a different approach.
Cindy Potter explained it this way: “If you are going to get groceries, what do you say? ‘I’m going to the store.' That’s how it works.”
The Potters, who are both 74, bought the business on July 1, 1989, meaning they owned The Store for almost half their lives.
For more than a generation, The Store and the couple have been nearly synonymous. In fact, the Potter family lived above "The Store" for about nine years before buying the house next door.
Their approach has been community focused, establishing a close relationship with civic groups like the Scio Lions Club, supporting sponsorships, local sports and providing work opportunities.
Cindy Potter estimates they employed more than 100 different people over 34 and a half years, about 90% of them Scio residents.
For dozens of Scio Central School students, their first job was at The Store.
Naturally, all three Potter children, Bradley, Lisa and Andrew, worked there.
"It gave our kids something to do,” Jim Potter cracked.
With that much staying power, everyone in town is a familiar face and the purchasing routines of scores of customers have been committed to memory.
“We know what kind of beer to get for them if they don’t want to go back and get it,” Cindy Potter said. "We know what kind of cigarettes they smoke, their favorite pop. If they want a sub, we have their (usual) order already tacked up on the back wall.”
The atmosphere is cozy, welcoming and informal.
For many years, the same group of customers has stopped by every morning for coffee "and to solve the world’s problems," Jim Potter observed.
What are the Potters' plans for retirement?
The Store is open every day of the year, except Christmas. That is a lot of workdays over three-plus decades, leaving the Potters a lot of spare time now that they are out of the business.
So what does the couple, who have been married for 52 years, have planned for retirement? Maybe some travel, rest or kicking back with a few cold ones?
“A little bit of all of that,” Jim Potter said.
Cindy Potter said they will focus on relaxing and enjoying summer in the town they have lived in all their lives.
Some travel may also be on agenda, including a trip to Saratoga for horse racing.
"It’s time for us to cut back and do a little more of what we want when we want to," she said.
They are grateful for what they attained in the town they love.
“It was hard work, but we enjoyed it,” Cindy Potter said. “We love our little town, and the customers were very kind to us for all those years. We had a great run.”
Follow Neal Simon on Twitter @HornellTribNeal. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Comments / 0