The Shoenberger General Store was a true general store, not just selling foods, but also clothes, boots, home products, equipment and anything you needed.

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During the day, several old-time German men would sit on a bench inside the front door and spend the day commenting and remarking about the customers.  The store was much longer back then - several sections moving towards the rear.  And if there were no customers in a section, the lights were left shut off.  Business was conducted in German.

Items did not have prices on tags.  They had tags, but they were coded with initials so that the prices were not necessarily "fixed".

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The store was later operated by Bill Smiley (and known simply as "Smiley's") and the stories from that era abound - you could not find a more welcoming introduction to the Town of Eldred than the one you would get the minute you stepped inside his doors.  The store no longer carried non-food items - it was more like a deli and a butcher shop - and oh what a butcher shop - his meats were talked about for miles around.

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If you're annual family BBQ was coming up, you would put your meat order in a week ahead of time and pick it up fresh the morning of cooking.

One of my favorite stories is about Smiley's "world renowned" ring baloney.  Better ring baloney could not be found on this planet.  And folks would speculate that what made it so good was that it was cut with off-season deer venison.  No one said it out loud, but we all whispered about.  Many years after the store closed, I ran into Bill at an event and had to ask him about it.  And he merely smiled and nodded once.

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After Smiley closed the business, it was run by a well-liked local - Amy.  But sadly, it did not last long and has been shuttered ever since.

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Next door was John Harter's Feed Store.  Sadly, in 2019 a fire gutted the building and basically a shell of the building is all that remains.

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One of the interesting things to note is the gasoline sign.  There was a one pump fueling station here and when it closed the sign and price remained "frozen" in time.

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A business far earlier than Shoenbergers was a gun factory run by Phillip Hess to supply the U.S. Army from 1812 to 1830.  After it closed, Samuel Berger and Abraham Blecker opened a tannery on the gun factory site.  It closed in 1877.  I don't know the location of these businesses, but imagine they were nearby.  One other name that comes up related to business in the area is Thomas Snyder who had a store that opened in 1832. I have no further info, but hope that posting it here will lead to some folks coming forward with stories.

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Now, make a right turn at the stop sign onto Kunkletown Road, continue until you see the parking lot for Rachel’s Kunkletown General Store on your left and pull into the parking lot.  As you are approaching the parking lot, take note of the Kunkletown Volunteer Fire House on your right.