9 Old-Timey General Stores In Florida

In Florida, there’s no denying the deep connection between general stores and post offices, where the old-timey shops served as more than just places to buy goods. From the Florida Panhandle to the Gulf Coast, Florida’s historic general stores often doubled as post offices, bringing mail, news, and a sense of connection to rural towns and outposts. These iconic institutions, with their creaky wooden floors, tin ceilings, and shelves lined with everything from penny candy to hardware, were gathering places where neighbors exchanged stories, shared a laugh, and stayed informed about the world beyond Florida’s alligator-filled swamps and citrus groves.

Richloam General Store and Post Office (Webster)

The Richloam General Store and Post Office was built in 1921 by Sidney Brinson as part of a turpentine camp, common across the southeastern U.S. during the late 19th and 20th centuries. In states like Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, a hub for turpentine production from its extensive longleaf and slash pine forests, company general stores popped up to supply dry goods, tools, and groceries to the camp workers. When the turpentine industry declined, the United States Forest Service purchased the store and used it as a rental house until the 1950s.

The store sat vacant for decades until 2016, when the current owner, Eric Burke (a descendant of the founder), renovated the old store using as much original building material as possible. Today, the old-timey general store serves as a historical site and a working store, where visitors can enjoy ice cream, homemade root beer, or a bag of penny candy from a rocking chair on the front porch. It features vintage memorabilia, artifacts, and photographs from days gone by, plus various old-fashioned products visitors might expect to see throughout the 1920s-1930s, like local honey, glass-bottled soda, vintage toys, and cast iron pans. In October 2017, the Richloam General Store and Post Office was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

El Jobean Post Office and General Store (El Jobean)

The history of the El Jobean Post and General Store is intrinsically linked to the town of El Jobean, which was founded in 1923 by Joel Bean, who gave the town an anagram of his own name. With big plans for the new town of El Jobean, which Joel Bean called the “City of Destiny,” he built a hotel, post office, general store, and a cottage for himself. Unfortunately, the stock market crash of 1929 kiboshed Bean’s dreams, and the El Jobean Post Office and General Store’s customers were primarily tourists, fishermen, and movie crews who filmed Tarzan serials nearby in the 1930s.

Joel Bean died in 1942 at the cottage he built. Today, the only building still standing after a hurricane destroyed the hotel in 2022 is the El Jobean Post Office and General Store, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in August 1999. Visitors can stop by the Bean Depot Café & Museum near the original post office and general store to have a coffee, listen to music, and learn more about this fascinating bit of Old Florida history.

Bradley’s Country Store (Tallahassee)

Bradley’s Country Store was built in 1927 as an official building to sell the sausages Mrs. Mary Bradley was already selling from her kitchen to the townspeople of rural Tallahassee, the state capital. Bradley’s famous smoked sausages are still a big draw; they are made without preservatives on site and hung to cure in the adjacent smokehouse. The store is also renowned for its homemade country-milled grits, hogshead cheese, cracklings, and cornmeal, products it ships as far away as California, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Today, the old-timey store is still in the Bradley family, with a 3rd and 4th generation mother and daughter combination behind the counter. The store continues to be a community hub like in the 1920s, and since 1970, it has been hosting Bradley’s Annual Fun Day every November. The free event is the store’s way of giving back with live music, cane grinding, syrup making, wagon rides, and over 100 craft vendors participating. Bradley’s Country Store has been recognized on the National Register of Historic Places since April 1984.

H.C. Smith Store (Largo)

While the H.C. Smith Store is no longer a working general store, it was built in 1915, serving the residents of St. Petersburg in the early part of the 20th century, as the tourist hotspot now known as St. Pete’s population boomed from 1,575 to more than 14,000. While the store went through several owners who changed its name to South Side Grocery, Sixth Avenue Food Shop, and Bill’s Grocery over the years, many still remember it as H.C. Smith’s Groceries. In 1988, the old-timey store was moved to its new location in Largo, Florida, as part of Heritage Village, an open-air historical village and living history museum. It was restored to appear as a 1920s-era general store with a service station and a garage. There is a historical marker on site beside the store.

Wood and Swink Store and Post Office (Evinston)

The Evinston Community Store and Post Office (also known as the Fred Wood Store or Wood & Swink) is in Evinston. It was built in 1884 by W.P. Shettleworth, then bought by Joseph Wolfenden, who operated it as a general store. A post office, established in 1882, moved into the building in 1884 and was later purchased by the Evinston Postmaster. The store and post office changed hands several times at the turn of the century. In 1933, Frederick W. Wood and Paul C. Swink bought the store, and while Swink left the store shortly after, Wood stayed and became the longest-serving postmaster in Florida’s history, staying for 44 years.

In 1990, the long-time postmaster’s son, Fred Wood Jr., and his wife bought the store. Today, the post office’s original 16 mailboxes are still used, and while several new ones have been added over the years, there is no home mail delivery in Evinston, so all mail is still delivered to the old post office. The store is still full of vintage items, sells local preserves and souvenir postcards, but is primarily a post office. The sign over the still pays tribute to the old days of Wood and Swink. In May 1989, this time capsule of Old Florida was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Indian Pass General Store (Indian Pass)

While the Indian Pass General Store isn’t technically old, it pays homage to Old Florida roots and the old-timey general stores of yesteryear. Established in 2018, the Indian Pass General Store is located between Port St. Joe and Apalachicola, across the street from the local institution known as the Indian Pass Raw Bar. A storied oyster bar with its roots in a 1903 turpentine camp, commissary, and company store, the bar is in a 115-year-old building still owned by the McNeill family.

Finding the perfect location along scenic county road 30A, the updated old-time general store supports nearby businesses with a selection of homemade soaps, lotions, photographs, books, and local Tupelo Honey. It also carries bait, tackle, fishing supplies, groceries, beer, and wine. Stay overnight at the Indian Pass General Store’s 16-site Water’s Edge RV Park located nearby on Indian Lagoon, where anglers can enjoy some of Florida's best inshore fishing.

Norfleet's (Aripeka)

Norfleet’s store has been an institution in the small fishing village of Aripeka on the Gulf of Mexico since before WWII. Intrigued by the sign above the over-80-year-old store that reads “Norfleet’s At The Bridge, 5.9 Miles from Heaven — Aripeka, Florida,” visitors often stop at the rustic-looking store to capture a snapshot of Florida’s maritime past. Inside, they discover everyday staples, household supplies, ice cream, cold drinks, beer, cigarettes, and the third generation of Norfleets minding the store.

Part of Norfleet’s Fish Camp, the store started as a small bait shop supplying the camp with fishing bait and tackle, then brought in more stuff to sell, tripling in size. The store opened sometime during the Great Depression and was initially owned by James LeVern (Vern) Norfleet. Over the years, it’s also been called Carl’s Store after Vern’s son Carl took over the shop after high school graduation, but most folks around town simply call it Norfleet’s. When Carl retired, his niece and her husband took over the store and have been running it for the past 10+ years, keeping this treasured piece of local history in the family.

Ted Smallwood Store (Chokoloskee Island)

The historic Ted Smallwood Store, established in 1906, served as a post office and trading post for the Seminole Indians, early settlers, and the Gladesmen who worked in the Florida Everglades during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was built in 1906 by Ted Smallwood and served as a gathering place, playing a key role in the remote area deep in the heart of Florida’s 10,000 Islands. The store traded goods like flour, sugar, and tobacco for furs, hides, and farm produce for the early pioneers. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, the store closed its doors in 1982.

Today, the Ted Small Store is a museum, having been reopened by Ted’s granddaughter in 1990. With over 90% of the store’s original goods still housed in the store, the museum is full of everything from wooden barrels used to store rice and coffee to sewing supplies like zippers and buttons. There’s an antique cash register on an old slanted counter and shelves of medicinal home remedies from the early 1900s to the 1950s. For history buffs, this old-timey store museum is a must-see step into Florida’s pioneer past.

Oldest Store Museum (St. Augustine)

If travelers to the Sunshine State can’t make it to an original old-timey general store, the St. Augustine’s Oldest Store Museum is the next best thing. A re-creation of an early 1900s general store, the store museum gives visitors a glimpse into what life and commerce might have looked like in the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the continental United States, St. Augustine. Filled with original vintage items and early American memorabilia that once belonged to Charles Hamblin, who helped Henry Flagler build the town of St. Augustine, the store was built using original store counters, display cases, and merchandise from the turn of the century.

More than just a static museum display, the Oldest Store Museum is an immersive experience that takes visitors back in time, thanks to tour guides dressed in period clothing who demonstrate the latest in 19th-century technology, and inventions of the day, everything from washing machines and coffee grinders to bicycles and farming equipment.

Old-timey general stores and post offices are so much a part of Florida’s history that the one-of-a-kind Dudley Farm Historic State Park includes eighteen original buildings built between the 1880s and 1930s, including a general store and post office, that transport visitors back to the days when general stores were the heart of the community, offering communication from afar, commerce, and camaraderie. While several historic general stores like the Richloam General Store are still scattered across the Sunshine State, modern interpretations like the Indian Pass General Store honor the tradition, and St. Augustine’s Oldest Store Museum brings the general store to life. These landmarks, many on the National Register of Historic Places, are reminders of Florida’s rich past and enduring community spirit.