June 17, 2024 —
History and family run deep at Emily Russell’s Northville Five and Dime Store
Northville’s Five and Dime Store opened more than a century ago. Photo: Emily Russell
Stepping into the Northville Five and Dime Store feels like you’ve been transported back in time, from the nostalgic music to the five-cent candy on display.
“We like to say we have a little bit of everything,” explains Ashley VanAllen, who runs the store with her husband.
“The downstairs area keeps it a nostalgic atmosphere with one-cent candy and homemade fudge. We have everything from utensils to paper plates and cleaning supplies.”
There are walls lined with camping gear, and they also sell sheets, towels, gardening supplies and sewing equipment. Northville is a tiny village of about 1,000 people. There is a grocery store, but the nearest big box store is 25 minutes away, so a Five and Dime makes up for the lack of one.
Five and ten cent candies for sale at the Northville Five and Dime Store. Photo by Emily Russell
The store also sells books for children and adults and stocks kitchen and cleaning supplies. The brick building with floor-to-ceiling windows is located on Main Street in the heart of Northville and has been a local landmark for over a century.
“The store started in 1907 and moved into this building in 1914,” Van Alen explains. “My mother and grandfather bought the store 28 years ago.”
When Van Alen was still a child, his family took over the store and he began working there at age 12, so it’s become something of a family tradition.
“Sometimes my oldest son comes in and bags candy,” Van Allen said. “My two younger ones love helping people. They don’t do much, but the community appreciates the younger kids working and helping out.” [my kids] Have fun, and they always seem to make a little money too, and get tips too!”
Ashley VanAllen and her husband run the Northville Five and Dime Store, one of the oldest in the country. Photo: Emily Russell
Today, Vanalen is behind the counter with fellow Northville resident Liliana Purtell, who is ringing up two customers and chatting about summer plans.
“This is a very small town, so everybody knows everybody,” Purtell says. “It’s a great way to meet people you know and catch up on what’s going on with each other. It’s a place to catch up.”
Northville sits at the northern end of Great Sacandaga Lake, making it a very popular weekend and summer tourist spot, and Purtell said the store is popular with tourists.
“We have a lot of people from out of town who come over on the weekends and in the summer, so it’s really fun to show them what it’s like to grow up in a small town and work for a small company. It’s a lot of fun.”
Although Northville relies on the business that summer tourists bring, Van Allen said Northville’s biggest draw is the year-round visitors — the ones who attend all of the high school sports games and cheer on when their teams make the playoffs.
“The whole town lines up on the bridge and cheers them on as they leave,” Van Allen explains, “and not only that, but when they come home, if they win, the fire trucks drive down every street at any time, and even the elderly come out to their front porches to cheer on the school kids. It’s amazing.”
Nostalgic candy for sale at a five-and-dime store in Northville. Photo by Emily Russell
Northville was first settled about 250 years ago. The town developed with the growth of the timber industry. Today, much of Northville’s economy relies on tourism and there are several year-round employers, including the DEC, which has its regional office in Northville.
Van Allen said he has tried to preserve the town’s history, including the atmosphere of Northville’s heyday, and there are literal traces of that history inside the Five-and-Dime Store.
“When the store first opened, the men would go upstairs with their cigars and the women would shop down here,” Van Allen explains, “and there are still cigar burns on the upstairs floor.”
Second floor of the Northville Five and Dime Store. Photo: Emily Russell
The second floor was renovated five years ago and now sells handmade soaps, stuffed animals and a variety of Adirondack products to tourists. Van Allen is proud of both the store’s past and present.
“I love telling people the history: my mother and grandfather bought the shop 28 years ago, and then my husband and I took it over,” Van Allen says. “We’re the third generation. My oldest daughter, who is 17 and graduating this year, makes all the fudge upstairs, so four generations of the family have been running the shop now.”
Northville has changed in many ways over the past century, including its five-and-dime store, but the business remains a locally owned, family-run business that has retained its charm.
