Andyville: The Stull Country Store

By definition, a country store exists only in the country. That means, by definition, it’s in the middle of nowhere. Some call it BFE or the Boonies. In short, you won’t go there unless you’re going. Or happen to call those places home.

Andyville is best reached by helicopter. Far from a main road a few miles south of the Ohio River in remote Meade County, there’s not much around save the occasional tavern for the thirsty traveler on the way to the Yellowbanks Wildlife Refuge. In that midst, there must needs be a grocery store for the scant few who still have to eat. It exists in country store form. It’s called Stull’s.

The old style 1980s gas pumps sit outside an older brick building. Fields as far as the eye can see on the horizon. It’s quiet save for the exhaust from dually trucks coming and going for a lunch plate or vittles supply. It’s the only game in town. Well, not town, but you know what I mean.

Inside, things are a little intriguing. This isn’t the typical country store. It’s a hybrid supermarket. There’s a rocking chair at the front door next to a checkerboard, but what you notice is the checkout aisle. The little place has a one lane, conveyor belt, checkout aisle (that’s actually staffed by a human). That’s a first among country stores that I’ve seen. To the left of the checkout aisle is a produce section. Albeit small, tiny compared to the chain grocery, but with lettuce and tomatoes and cucumbers for the country salad need. About four rows of sundries line the shelves that stack chest high on wood floors. Canning and preserving salt noticed as something not found in citified places. A full on meat department, so called, is in the back like it would be anywhere. The whole thing is a tiny version of what the rest of us are used to seeing. There’s even four or five buggies at the door.

It’s the walls that make the place a destination, though. The store has been open since 1972, and with that an accumulated display of vintage signage hang on the brick. Shelves contain Tonka trucks and Radio Flyer wagons next to an impressive collection of trucker’s hats featuring logos for businesses long forgotten.


I had the BBQ that was cooking hot for lunchtime with a bottled Coca-Cola that needed an opener. Conversation was easy with the camo clad farmers coming in for much the same. It was the usual topic, the weather had turned for the better in mid January to nearly 60 degrees after a week near zero. Plus the sun was shining on Meade County. I took it all in, the scenery, the décor, the nostalgia, the ingenuity of the place to stay viable. These folks wouldn’t know what to do without their store if it ever closed. It’s like family. And it’s the old fashioned connection keeping the wooden screen door open for business.


Leaving after lunch towards the Ohio River I couldn’t help but say amen at the slogan printed on the backs of their Stull T Shirts: “Long Live The Country Store.”
 Sit a Spell online at www.stullscountrystore.com