Country store: Churches work together to support community
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POLSON — A warm winter coat, a spare set of sheets for the cabin, fun shoes, games or kitchen items — whatever is needed, the Country Store has a large selection of items.
For more than 40 years, the Country Store’s all-volunteer staff has set it apart from other local thrift stores. About 100 women, and a couple of husbands, from 10 local churches, take half-day shifts tagging, hanging and displaying the goods. The shop is crowded with racks of clothes, shelves of shoes, kitchen items, linens and bins of toys.
Ethel Harding was Clerk and Recorder at the Lake County Courthouse for many years, and she always said of the country store, “When I retire, I’m going to work there.”
Now she does, and she’s one of the women who make shopping at the Country Store a pleasant experience.
The shop, located at 314 Main St., is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customers come from Polson and the surrounding areas and sometimes even from out-of-state in the summer. One woman searches all year for interesting plates to load with Christmas goodies. Another woman said she practically dressed her kids out of the store. Carol Swope hates shopping, but she likes coming to the country store
“It’s (shopping at the Country Store) the ultimate in recycling,” she noted.
The money made at the Country Store goes to local nonprofits.
“Monthly we donate to Boys and Girls Club, Cheerful Heart, Helping Hands, Lake County Home Option (hospice), Loaves and Fish Food Pantry, Senior Citizens Center and the Zone,” said Phyllis Dresen, secretary of the County Store board. “Also once a year we donate to the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Polson Beautification Fund and Share the Spirit.”
Dresen, from the Church of the Nazarene in Pablo, works every other Friday.
Working Innovations occasionally sends clients over to pick out an interview outfit. Victims of fires or other emergencies also come to the Country Store for clothing and household goods, although they are usually limited to three outfits per person.
Patrons who donate to the Country Store bring their items during working hours, although many boxes and bags of goodies are also left on the back stoop of the establishment. The women sort the items, and many take stained or dirty clothing, bedraggled stuffed animals or dolls with frightening hair home and run them through the washer or give them a bath and comb their hair.
“I used to like to go to rummage sales. Now I see all the rummage I need,” Dresen laughed.
The crew at the Country Store uses a coding system to rotate the merchandise. If things don’t sell in three months, they are sent on to other churches, the Povarello Center or Flathead Industries so nothing goes to waste.
Country Store workers have found money, a credit card, even a Social Security card among the inventory. They make every effort to find the donor and return the found items according to Grace Hartsoch, part of the Thursday afternoon crew. Treasures can be purchased, too. Dresen bought a framed print of an Indian encampment for a Christmas gift for her husband several years ago.
Some workers have forgotten a coat or a pair of gloves and returned the next day to find their belongings sold.
The Country Store got its start at least 40 years ago when Elsie Dutzar, wife of the Polson Presbyterian Church pastor at that time, and the Ladies Aid began the store on Second Street West, up the street from The Cove. When the store moved up to a small house near the old Post Office and needed more help, Dutzar talked more churches into helping.
The enterprise just kept growing and is overseen by the Country Store Board, which meets once a month. While the board is grateful to the community for donating items and shopping at the store, the Country Store needs new volunteers.
“Our workforce is getting older, mostly in their 70s and 80s,” Dresen said.
She added that people looking for a community project should think about the Country Store since it’s good for the community and a good place to work.
As long-time volunteer Blanche Johnson said, “I’ve met the nicest people there.”
