(Not So) General Stores: Zeb’s General Store
Take a journey throughout the Granite State, and visit Zeb's General Store, and seven other of New Hampshire's unique General Stores
What makes a general store more than a place to buy pantry items and run into the neighbor down the street? It’s a family-centric quality; it’s an “everyone is welcome here, browse-at-will” vibe; it offers feelings of warm nostalgia while placing a strong emphasis on serving the local community. We feature eight stores on the following pages that celebrate that feeling of community and nostalgia in just the right amounts.
Read more about some of NH’s (not so) general stores:
Harrisville Country Store- Harrisville
Ira Miller’s General Store – Milton Mills
Calef’s Country Store – Barrington
Newfields General Store – Newfields
Old Country Store and Museum – Moultonborough
Mont Vernon General Store – Mont Vernon
The face that adorns the sign above Zeb’s General Store in North Conway is rugged, worn and distinctly Yankee.
“Zeb” was also a real person. Zebulon Northrup Tilton has been called “the most unforgettable character that ever lived on Martha’s Vineyard.” Born in 1867, Tilton captained the coastal schooner Alice S. Wentworth from the 1900s until 1943, delivering goods like lumber, ice, oysters and coal up and down the New England coast, at a time when schooners were falling prey to more efficient means of moving merchandise.
Tilton was regarded as a titan in the seafaring world. Tales of his strength were spun into legends. One goes that he helped members of the Coast Guard lift an anchor; Tilton allegedly did it all by himself. Another claims he defeated a Harvard boxing team.
Tilton’s presence sure does add to the shop’s seafaring charm. Anyone curious about how Zeb’s General Store got its name can simply look up. A panel of wood from the ship, known as a quarter board, sits above the merchandise and features the name “Alice S. Wentworth.”
Zeb’s general manager and buyer Ray Boutin agrees that Tilton’s likeness on their store sign is “pretty unmistakable. He was certainly quite the character,” he adds.
According to Boutin in a handout, Zeb’s General Store opened in July, 1991, by co-founder David Peterson, who saw a need to bring locally made New England products to shoppers and residents in the Mount Washington Valley. Peterson was also an antique collector, and Zeb’s combines its retail operations with that focus on nostalgia, creating an interior that resembles the quintessential old-timey general store.
In keeping with that nostalgic theme, Boutin says they’re always finding antique items to grace the store. The latest find is a 1914 Ford Model T touring car that sits outside and is proudly maintained by employees.
“The teenagers, they have a lot of fun with the old cars, taking care of them and polishing the brass and making sure they look in top shape out there,” Boutin says. 
Tilton’s love of his job on the sea can also be seen in Zeb’s employees. Boutin, who began by stocking shelves here, says many of their 65 employees are part-timers in high school.
“It’s very common for us to hire somebody in eighth grade and have them work through their entire high school career, and come back after going to college when they have time,” Boutin says.
They “have always been just a huge part of what we do here — (they’re a) tremendous amount of fun to work with,” he adds.
Boutin, who grew up in West Ossipee, says employees’ dedication proves that Zeb’s is a great place to work and be.
“Great culture, wonderful people — the whole idea behind the store is fantastic,” Boutin says.
Today, says Boutin, the shop boasts 6,000 square feet on two floors. On busy days, there’s a line to get in, “just to keep us at the legal capacity,” Boutin says.
Its 70-foot-long penny candy counter is about half the length of the Ha’ penny Bridge in Dublin, Ireland. True, penny candy is big business at Zeb’s, which employs a dedicated nostalgia candy buyer who searches Tik Tok for the latest trends.
With more than 5,000 inventory items and more than 500 vendors, Boutin loves to see how small New Hampshire companies start with counter space at stores like Zeb’s and then explode into larger markets. Port City Pretzels, Stonewall Kitchen and Stillwell’s Ice Cream are just a few that come to Boutin’s mind.
Zeb’s cares about the community and its customers so much that in 2007, they created Zeb’s Charitable Fund, which brought in about $18,500 this year for various community services.
“(Co-owner) Peter Edwards passed away just shy of a year ago,” Boutin says. “We’re both owners who have always been very heavily involved with the community, and wanting to give back to the community we all live and work in and love.”
2675 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway. zebs.com
