Boston Globe: Vermont has lost over 100 country stores. But in some small towns, there is hope yet, by Hanna Krueger:
Country stores are as quintessential to the Vermont countryside as bodegas are to the streets of Queens.To the passing tourist, they may appear as mere souvenir shops where you can stock up on maple syrup and a Bernie Sanders mug before heading south. But to the locals, they are as crucial as a watering hole in the African Sahara. Here gossip is exchanged, political campaigns waged and won, fund-raisers launched, and eggs sold.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/04/01/metro/vermont-has-lost-over-100-country-stores-some-small-towns-there-is-hope-yet/