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Showing results for general store. Search instead for in-retail store.
Synonyms

general store

American  

noun

  1. a store, usually in a rural area, that sells a wide variety of merchandise, as clothing, food, or hardware, but is not divided into departments.

Etymology

Origin of general store

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

At the time, Lincoln had been a licensed attorney for 1½ years; he still shared cramped bachelor lodgings above a general store.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 7, 2025

The focus is on merchandising locations, but those who study the image will spy an opera house and a general store, believed to be the first time such concepts appear.

From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2025

“I am not feeling well because of the stifling heat, but I have to work,” said Ghulam Farid, who owns a small general store in Sheikhupra, a city in Punjab province.

From Seattle Times • May 21, 2024

At a general store in New Jersey, near the epicenter of the earthquake, the sound was so loud that the staff thought a truck had crashed into the building.

From New York Times • Apr. 5, 2024

Empty shelves greeted Ridgeway and Boseman in the general store.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.