Occasionally on my way to Great Barrington I’ll stop by the Mill River Store. In August I noticed fresh produce on sale, so I bought some black raspberries, currants, and cherries. I tried the black raspberries and they were simply out of this world. They were totally unlike the bitter and flavorless blackberries you often get in the supermarket. They were sweet and delicious, unlike any I have ever tasted before.

I asked about the source of the fruit and was told that most of the produce in the store is locally grown.

In May 2011 in The Sandisfield Times, I reported on the closing of the Monterey General Store. Since then, most of the other general stores in this region have closed as well and I have always wondered how the store in Mill River had survived.

It seems that the Mill River store survived by completely revamping itself.

Dave Herrick, who operated the store for 25 years, sold it in 2017 to Jessica Holcomb who then operated the store, but it began to fail and, ultimately. she closed the store in January 2020. The post office, which was in the same building, was relocated, causing some inconvenience to customers.

Eventually the store was bought by a mother and son team, Jan Johnson and her son, Pete Chapin.

A former Wall Street lawyer and who worked for Disney for 11 years, Jan Johnson grew up on a farm where her father and grandfather kept bees. In 2004, when she moved to the Berkshires, she did the same, creating Berkshire Wildflower Honey in southern Mill River. In 2013, the team bought 32 acres more where mother and son started the Mill River Farm.

Having purchased the Mill River Store, Johnson and Chapin turned it into an outlet for the products from their farm. These included fresh greens, eggs, chickens, turkeys, and bacon and ham from the farm, as well as creamed honey, lotions, lip balms, and candles from their ten beehives. The store also sells products from other local farms such as Nourse Farms, Yonder Fruit Farms, Klien’s Kill Fruit Farm, dairy from High Lawn Farm, and cheeses from Four Fat Fowl. Homemade breads and baked goods are provided by Deb Bernardini, a professional baker from Southfield.

To maintain the character of a traditional general store, the Post Office was also brought back to the building, to the delight of local customers. The limited seating on the porch is in high demand by local residents.