Pay a Visit to the Warren Store
When you stay with us here at the Pitcher Inn, you’re calling home one of the signature landmarks of the Mad River Valley. Just across the street, meanwhile, lies another: the beloved and utterly one-of-a-kind Warren Store.
We love standing face-to-face with the Warren Store, which comes tucked against a charming little waterfall made by Freeman Brook above its mouth in the Mad River. Our Pitcher Inn guests receive a welcome snack mix from the store—“Jack’s Snax,” named after store manager Jack Garvin—and also enjoy the daily batches of baked goods we get from its exceptional bakery, but we also urge you to visit this “almost world famous” (as the tagline goes) neighbor of ours in person. For one thing, Pitcher Inn guests have charge privileges at the Warren Store—but also the place is just magical. Here’s a little snapshot of this long-standing fixture of Main Street, Warren!
A History of the Warren Store
The time-tested building the Warren Store occupies dates back to 1839, when it opened as an inn and boardinghouse for stagecoach travelers. It’s worn many hats—many roofs?—over the decades, among other incarnations serving as the town library, post office, funeral parlor, and dance hall.
In 1970, Carol Lippincott transformed the place, which most recently had been a hardware store, into the Warren Store: an eclectic country market stocked with all the necessities as well as plenty of good conversation, and a classic place for locals and out-of-townersto mingle.
The Warren Store at a Glance
We’ve already mentioned the Warren Store’s bakery, which occupies what once was the original building’s stable and which whips up some heavenly loaves, cookies, cakes, whoopee pies, and other goodies each day. The house-baked breads also take a starring role in the Warren Store deli, which serves sandwiches (including the much-loved Number 6, boosted by the secret house recipe for cranberry mayo), wraps, salads, hot breakfasts, and to-go dinners. The well-stocked grocery, meanwhile, sells a noteworthy selection of Vermont craft beers—among them Warren’s own Lawson’s Finest Liquids, which we recently profiled here at the Pitcher Inn blog—and fine wines.
Upstairs—the site of bygone community dances—you’ll find a delightful emporium packed with clothes, accessories, toys, gifts, housewares, and more.
The Warren Store also puts on a regular calendar of events, many of them spotlights on local food and beverage artisans. One of the upcoming ones is a collaboration with us: a Winter Warmer Wine Tasting here at the Pitcher Inn on Tuesday, February 26th!
Keeping Tabs on the Warren Store
Whether dipping in on a frosty winter morning for coffee and a muffin or cooling off outside on a summer afternoon beside the waterfall, a visit to the Warren Store ranks right up there among quintessential Vermont experiences. When you can’t be here in person, savoring Pitcher Inn hospitality and steps-away proximity from the celebrated store, you can keep up to date thanks to Jack Garvin’s monthly updates over at the Warren Store website (not to mention via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).
From all of us at the Pitcher Inn, here’s a glass raised to our friends and neighbors at the Warren Store!