It’s the kind of place that makes you feel at home, regardless of where your home may be.

Driving down North Carolina Highway 49 headed south, winding far out into Alamance County, lies Bellemont, a quaint little area near Graham with an abundance of green pastures, farmland and a charming southern feel.

A small, unassuming store appears aside Bellemont Mount Hermon Road. Surrounded by a small gravel parking lot, with neighboring rustic country homes and a church across the street stands the blue wooden storefront with red roof.

The General Store & Coffee of Bellemont, which opened Dec. 1, 2011, provides a warm community atmosphere and a selection of local products. It occupies a space that originally began as a general store in the 1940s, but evolved into a boat shop, lawnmower shop and eventually a junkyard. The plot of land is interlaced with the history of the Brooks family, headed by Tim and his wife Debbie, that owns and operates it today.

The Brooks’ family history is deeply embedded where they work and reside. Their house sits at the end of the dirt road adjacent to The General Store. Robert L. Brooks Lane is family-owned, named for Tim’s father. Their house and the dirt road have long-standing sentimentality to Tim, more so than the others.

“He’s lived in this house his whole life except three years,” Debbie said. “His roots are very deep. He is very local. Very few people can say they’ve lived on the same dirt road their whole life, much less the same house.”

This deeply-rooted connection and long-standing history led them to purchase the lawnmower shop when it went up for sale and turn it into something for the whole family.

“My husband’s family, which has nine siblings who all live around here on (either side of) this dirt road, wanted someone in the family to purchase the building because they own all the property from the store back down this way,” Debbie said. “So we ended up buying it so someone in the family would have it.”

Tim and Debbie have five daughters and one son. Two of their girls, Valerie and Kim, had the idea to start a coffee shop. But Tim also wanted there to be a litte store, kind of like the one that was there when he was growing up.

The three of them cleaned out the place and did all the planning. In one year they transformed it from a lawnmower shop and junkyard to the store it is today.

“We spent a year just cleaning it up,” said Valerie Brooks, the second-eldest Brooks daughter, who helped spearhead the initiative to open up shop. “It was a mess.”

Valerie and Kim had always loved projects of their own. They approached their father with the idea to open up a family-owned and operated store. Within a few weeks, they bought the property and began renovations.

Their uncle, who lives next to the property, made the wooden white-painted, red-lettered sign that welcomes customers to the store and lists select items for sale, many of which are local products.

Tim and Debbie spend a lot of their time researching how and where to get as many local products as they can, but it isn’t always easy or affordable — at least not so far, according to Tim.

“We can’t say everything is local,” Tim said. “I try as much as I can, but we sometimes have a hard time finding everything at a decent price.”

The ice cream, which comes from Homeland Creamery in Julian, is by far the most popular local item. The eggs come from their own personal chicken coop, and some of the other products, such as the meats and wines, are collected from various individual vendors and distributors throughout the state — some as close as Burlington, others up to a few hours away. The rest of the products come from various distributors in other states, like Pennsylvania.

Debbie said she spends a lot of time searching for local products online, but she has found that customers are very helpful as well.

“You know, people are very helpful,” Debbie said. “Customers have come in and said ‘You should call this person,’ so I have found that people are very interested in buying local (products). But (those products) are more difficult to find and can be more expensive.”

Debbie has also noticed there are people who never thought about buying local until they saw the variety of products in the General Store. She said she  enjoys providing these customers with the opportunity to make that choice.

Retta Bingham has been going to the General Store frequently since she first discovered it one month ago, she said.

“Friends told me they had seen the sign driving by, and another friend came in and highly recommended it,” she said. “She loved the coffee and the friendliness of the baristas and all the local things. She’s especially fond of the ice cream —she had just sung its praises.”

As a Starbucks barista inside the Burlington Target, Bingham’s worklife can get pretty hectic and noisy, she said. She goes to the General Store for the atmosphere, and funnily enough, for their piping hot coffee.

[quote]Very few people can say they’ve lived on the same dirt road their whole life, much less the same house. -Debbie Brooks [/quote] Bingham said she is also committed to the store to support the Brooks family.

“I like what they’re doing and I just want to see them succeed,” she said.

The family has received a lot of positive feedback — a fair amount from those who have expressed how the store has added something special to the small community.

“Everyone actually really likes our store because it’s a lot different from anything else in the area,” said Emily Brooks, the second-youngest daughter. “It’s also nice to have a coffee shop here so you don’t have to go into town to get a cup of coffee.”

But it's never easy, according to Tim.

“I’ve got all this other stuff to do,” he said. “I run a mail route, take care of cows and chickens, and then there’s the store. But it’s fun — as long as it pays off in the long run.”

Debbie has found that people truly care about their well-being.

“We’ve made some new friends — people I had never met before that live right here in our community, and now they’re regulars,” she said. “They’ll come in and ask how we’re doing. ‘We don’t want you closing,’ they’ll say. Sometimes I try to cut them a deal, but they insist on paying full price. They want us to make it, and that has been encouraging.”

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