The Barnes Town and Country store, which has served customers along Route 66 west of Springfield, Missouri, since 1934, likely will close by the end of the month unless someone buys the business.
Brothers Rick and Randy Perryman have run the Barnes Town and Country in the little hamlet of Elwood Siding for more than 40 years and soon will retire because moving all that furniture and appliances have wrecked their legs and backs.
KY3 in Springfield reported:
Long before their dad bought it in 1972 from the original owner, the brothers would come here with their grandparents for groceries. Barnes Town and Country and Main Street Feed started as a little general store in 1934; it was a gathering place all the way back to horse and buggy days. Little did Rick and Randy know in their youth, they would one day work at Barnes Town and Country for their father.
“I started out delivering this stuff,” explained Rick. “I’d sell somebody a sofa, a chair, an ottoman or something like that, and I would put it on the truck and deliver to those people.”
The store began as a roadside fruit stand owned by J.R. Barnes in 1934, just a few years after U.S. Highway 66 was established. More about the Barnes store can be read here.
The Greene County Historic Sites Board honored the store in 2014 for its historic significance.
For now, Barnes Town and Country is holding a retirement sale, with many items for sale at discounted prices.
(Screen capture from the KY3 video)