Coal Creek General Store’s opening Sept. 30

July 12, 2023 by G. Chambers Williams III

Jason Deel said this week that he plans to open his Coal Creek General Store in downtown Rocky Top on Sept. 30, with a big grand-opening celebration featuring live music and giveaways.

He said the store will be a throwback to the Appalachian country stores of the past, using the original name of the town that is now known as Rocky Top.

“My plan is to have our grand opening Sept. 30, but of course we still have a lot of work to do on the renovations,” he said of the building at 331 S. Main St.

“The purpose is to save that building, which might be the oldest building in Rocky Top,” Deel said. “It was built in 1900, and is 123 years old. My policy is to try to preserve any history I can.

“Unfortunately, we had to tear off a back section of the building, but it was an add-on, not part of the original building,” he said.

What will be sold in the store will be merchandise that will be sourced “from our local community,” Deel said.

“A large portion of what is going to be in that store will be from here, such as candles, honey, beef jerky, handcrafted items.” he said. “We will have T-shirts made in Tazewell.”

Fresh, local beef might also be featured, Deel said.

“We’re working with a farm in Andersonville, and believe we will be able to offer meat at an affordable price, such as ground beef and steaks,” he said. “But we don’t want to become a grocery store.”

What he does want to be known as, though, is “the ‘Home of the Coal Creek miner’s bologna sandwich,’” Deel said. “It can’t be a real country store unless there’s a bologna sandwich available.”

As for opening day, “We’re going to have a big party,” Deel said. “We would like to have a local band, and we’re going to have some giveaways. We will know more in the next few weeks.”

The building faces to the east on South Main Street, and has parking on its north side. It has about 1,700 square feet of floor space, all on one level. Hours, to start, most likely will be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, Deel said.

“We will experiment with Monday through Wednesday later on,” he added.

Deel, a Clinton auctioneer and real-estate broker, and his wife, Natalie, already have renovated two houses in downtown Rocky Top, which they have opened as Airbnb-style tourist rental properties.

He said he has also bought the former downtown laundromat, but has not yet made plans for what will go into that space. He does expect it to be another new business, however.

“I’ve always wanted to own a store, and this will be it,” Deel said earlier, when he first announced plans for Coal Creek General Store.”

He ran polls on Facebook, first to see how much interest there would be for such a store in the downtown area, and then asking what people would like to see it named.

“This is the old Lake City Auction House,” he said of the building. “We’ve got about $100,000 we’re going to dump into it to get it ready.”

The business 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 earlier. “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. We will sell bulk candy, as well.”

Deel also is hoping to have the prerequisite pot-belly stove and some rocking chairs so people “can just come in and hang out.”