Brown & Hopkins Country Store

SHINE A LIGHT FINALIST
"Brown & Hopkins Celebrates Bicentennial!"

It's not everyday a business turns 200 years old.  And that is exactly what happened to Brown & Hopkins Country Store (Chepachet, Rhode Island) this year!  Well, we might not say "happened", because Brown & Hopkins earned this bicentennial honor.  "Back in the day", Brown & Hopkins was the store where everyone in town did their shopping.  If they needed flour, or socks, nails, spices, cheesecloth, linseed oil, feed for their livestock, they went to Brown & Hopkins.  And of course, no visit was complete without a step up to the old penny candy counter.  Today, two hundred years later, in the same building, in the same location, Brown & Hopkins is still a destination, now with more of a modern twist, but with the same old candy counter, where some items are still just a penny!  When one speaks of innovation, I like to think that all the past owners (just 17 over the past 200 years), had to be pretty darn innovative in the mere reality that this store is still in business two hundred years later and counting! Shopkeeper Liz McIntyre, who purchased the store in 2004, takes pride in the numerous ways Brown & Hopkins helps support local non-profit organizations. Brown & Hopkins donates 100% of the proceeds from their Charity Coffee Club to a different local non-profit each month.  In addition, the store has also instituted the "Brown & Hopkins Gives Back" program, where participating charities can collect sales receipts from their members and the store will donate up to 5% of the collected receipts to their organization.  A charity close to their heart is Annies Angel Fund, which funds medical expenses for a local teenager on the waiting list for a double lung transplant, and each year a portion of the proceeds of the sale of a special angel ornament, go directly to that fund. Anyone that shops at Brown & Hopkins, does so because they love the feeling they get when they walk through the door.  The staff at Brown & Hopkins makes the customer feel at home.  Not because they have to....but because they want to.  There are no high pressure sales here, just old fashioned customer service.  Service with a smile.  I like to quote Henry Ford, "It is not the employer that pays the wages.  The employer only handles the money.  It is the customer that pays the wages." And our staff realizes that without great customer care, there would be no sales, no Brown & Hopkins, no job.  It is as simple as that.  In closing, I'd like everyone reading this nomination to ask themselves, "Is there another business in the United States, based in Smalltown, USA that has stood the test of time like Brown & Hopkins has?  If the answer is "No", then I ask for your vote for Brown & Hopkins today.  It is an honor to carry on the legacy of this old country store.     Oh, and don't forget to try a sample of our pumpkin fudge next time you're in town.  It's America's best!