This Charming Vermont Country Store Is a Love Letter to Simpler Times

In the 1970s, a shampoo called Lemon Up made quite the zesty splash. Created by the Gillette company, it featured bright yellow packaging, a bumpy, realistic lemon-shaped cap, and promised a full lemon in every bottle.

It was marketed with clever slogans like “Make peace with grease” and was a hit, popular among those battling oily hair or anyone who just enjoyed a quirky twist to their shower routine. Search social media today and you’ll come across posts fondly reminiscing about it.

Remarkable because, who reminisces about a shampoo?

After the trademark expired in 1993, most assumed Lemon Up was gone for good. But they didn’t count on The Vermont Country Store. Located on the main stretch of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town of Weston, Vermont (population 623), stepping into this old-fashioned market feels like a trip back in time, complete with wooden shelves and homemade fudge. There you’ll find a full display of Lemon Up, revived by the store after they acquired the trademark. Now, what was once a cult favorite for those who remember the bright yellow bottle and fresh lemon scent is sinning new fans, even getting a nod from trendsetters like The Strategist at New York Magazine. 

This revival perfectly captures the spirit of The Vermont Country Store. In this corner of the Green Mountain State, nostalgia isn’t just preserved, it’s proudly on display. For the past eight decades millions have pilgrimaged from all around the United States for the store’s  small-town values, vintage treasures, and yes, citrusy shampoo. Last year The Vermont Country Store was even bestowed with its own historical marker. And to think, it all began from a humble mail order catalog. 

From literary pursuits to retail roots

It’s the 1930s in Weston. Harvard-educated writer and all-around intellect Vrest Orton and his wife and Mildred have re-settled in Vrest’s home state, after a glamorous stint in New York. While back in Vermont, Vrest has merged interests: he continued his work in the literary sphere by opening a publishing company called The Countryman Press. And about a decade later he and Mildred found a mail-order business right from their garage, inspired by his father’s general store in North Calais where he grew up learning the old‑ways of stocking shelves, patching shoes, and the like. Called "The Voice of the Mountains" it’s thirty‑six items strong and mailed out to 1,000 people, mostly their Christmas list. 

The business quickly takes off and they decide it’s time for a physical store. They find a charming, long-abandoned inn dating back to 1827, renovate it in the image of Vrest’s father’s old store, and open The Vermont Country Store, making history as America’s first restored rural general store.

Main Street magic, straight out of a Hallmark movie

The Vermont Country Store is, fittingly, on Main Street. If I were ever to write a Hallmark movie Weston would be the place. Across the street is a year-round Christmas shop—look for the sleigh outside and the red mailbox labeled “Letters to Santa.” Further down is the Weston Theater Company, a playhouse founded in 1937 that stages summer productions with Broadway actors. The Weston, a charming new inn run by the pedigreed Sharp family—the same hoteliers behind the Carlyle Hotel and the Beverly Wilshire—opened a year ago. It’s a perfect landing spot for skiers, midway between Okemo and Stratton. It’s even better for carless New Yorkers like me, with an affinity for everything après-ski: they’ll pick you up from the Amtrak station, and my suite had not one but two fireplaces.

There have been a few changes to The Vermont Country Store since Vrest and Mildred first opened it in 1946. As word spread, especially after a glowing 1952 article in The Saturday Evening Post titled “The Happy Shopkeeper of the Green Mountains,” roadtrippers from all over came to Weston. The store expanded in both size and locations. There is now a second location in Rockingham. The original store has grown; the entrance is no longer through the front porch with the rocking chairs but actually around back, next to the ice cream shop. It might feel overwhelming when you walk in, but here’s the secret: head to the original front section. That’s where the fudge is.

Where nostalgia is always in stock

The official tagline of The Vermont Country Store is “Purveyors of the Practical and Hard-to-Find.” Inside, you might catch the scent of maple smoke and spot everything from kerosene lamps and dryer balls to potbelly stoves and forgotten toys from your youth. And of course, rows upon rows of maple syrup. In one corner, there’s even a chess table for those who want to linger. There’s a butcher—and the biggest wheel of cheddar you’ve ever seen. This is Vermont, after all.

The store also serves as a kind of nostalgic Vermont reliquary. Museum-worthy displays are scattered throughout: antique toasters, and apothecary bottles with names like Bon Kora and Flaxolyn (both laxatives—apparently a pressing issue, once upon a time). If you’re looking for a book by founder Vrest Orton, this is the place to find it, including titles like The Forgotten Art of Building a Good Fireplace and Vermont Afternoons with Robert Frost, about his friendship with the poet. There are flannel nightgowns, the store’s own clothing line, house-made products like corn salsa, and their beloved Orton Bros. cookie buttons, rooted in the store’s baking tradition.

There’s the bright, almost kitschy Lemon Up, in its own display. It’s one of several discontinued brands the company has acquired and revived to customers’ delight. I’m also enamored with a makeup brand called Tangee, famous in the 1920s for its color-changing lipstick. The vibrant orange stick (hence the name) goes on clear and transforms into a purplish-red shade, apparently reacting to your pH. Its tagline: “The lipstick that changes color to become uniquely yours.” (The novelty delights me; the resulting color, less so. Still, its magical transformation would make a great Hallmark plot point.)

The Vermont Country Store catalog is still going strong, reaching far beyond that original list of 1,000. In an increasingly disconnected online world, its folksy, countrified charm may resonate now more than ever. But for the full experience—rooted in whimsy, warmth, and nostalgia, even for memories you never had—a trip to Weston is in order.

Nearly 80 years after it opened, the business remains family-run and refreshingly untouched by trends. Stop by next year to celebrate the store’s 80th birthday, with a bar of rose-scented soap, a tin of maple sugar candy, or just to be reminded: some places still do it the old-fashioned way, and we’re better for it.