Old-style country store on tap for Rocky Top
After opening two Airbnb-style rental properties in downtown Rocky Top, Clinton auctioneer and real estate agent Jason Deel now says that by October he will bring a new consumer business to the downtown area.
He’s calling it the Coal Creek General Store, which he says will be a throwback to the Appalachian country stores of the past, using the original name of what is now known as Rocky Top.
“I’ve always wanted to own a store, and this will be it,” Deel said this week.
He recently posted a poll on some Rocky Top Facebook sites to see how much interest there was in bringing a general store to the downtown area, and was surprised to see considerable support for the idea, he said.
He then posted some ideas for a name and logo and asked for people to comment. The overwhelming response was for “Coal Creek General Store.”
Deel has purchased what he considers “the coolest building in Rocky Top,” at 331 S. Main St., a “tall one-story building.”
“This is the old Lake City Auction House, built in 1901,” Deel said. “We got about $100,000 we’re going to dump into it to get it ready. Our target date to open is Oct. 1.”
The building has about 1,200 square feet of floor space, and will include a lot of the features of the old, traditional country stores, Deel said.
“Rocky Top needs something the people can call their own,” he said. “Our online poll found that 86 percent want it to be Coal Creek General Store.
“The journey I’m on is to create something people can see as their general store,” Deel said. “Eighty percent of the products are going to be locally sourced, including homemade jams and jellies, honey, candy and fudge, and products made by local artisans.
“It’s also going to be the home of the Coal Miner’s Bologna Sandwich,” he said. “No country store could be authentic without a bologna sandwich. We will sell bulk candy, as well.”
Hayley Braden has been named general manager.
Deel wants potential vendors to send their ideas to info@coalcreekgeneralstore.com.
Deel also is hoping to have the prerequisite pot-belly stove and some rocking chairs so people “can just come in and hang out.”
“Our email has exploded with vendors wanting to sell their products in our store,” he said. “I really hope it takes off. I believe it’s going to help our rentals, too.”
Deel was born and raised in Southwest Virginia, and he said the country store he has in mind will be like what he remembers from his hometown, Haysi, Virginia.
He and his wife Natalie last year spent a few months completely rehabilitating an older home in Rocky Top’s downtown area to offer to tourists as a short-term rental property, known at The Lodge at Rocky Top.
In the past month, they opened a second vacation rental near The Lodge, this one called The Cottage. Both were derelict properties that the Deels gutted and rebuilt into cozy vacation homes.
They rent out both places through their Coal Creek Rentals (coalcreekrentals.com).
“This journey Natalie and I decided to go on in Rocky Top has been more rewarding that we ever imagined,” Deel said.
Rocky Top Mayor Kerry Templin said he’s happy the Deels have chosen to invest in the downtown with the cottages, and now the general store.
“They’re making an effort to create businesses and help revitalize an area that is the hardest part of our community to be successful in,” Templin said.