The General Store, in the old Fidelity Building on Gay near Union, is closing at 5 p.m. Thursday -- temporarily, but for a long time. The store, which is owned by major grocery distributor H.T. Hackney and whose headquarters share that 140-year-old building, is planning on a major expansion and upgrade that won't be finished until the summer.
The General Store has become popular in the last couple of years with downtown's revival, adding evening and weekend hours. Their lines have been especially long since the unexpected forced closing, late last year, of J's Mega Mart, the Gay Street institution that occupied a space in the retail continnum between the corner bodega and Walmart. Some downtowners are still reeling from that loss.
An expansion sounds just swell, but the temporary closing is going to elicit a crisis for most downtowners, especially tough on folks in need of a Coke, some chips, an umbrella, or some Tylenol. A few suggestions:
• The UT Bookstore, on Henley near Clinch. They carry most of your basic snacks, medicines, some office supplies. Off most beaten paths--they seem to cater mainly to UT Conference Center office workers--but they seem to have the best selection of daily necesssities, plus magazines, UT Press books, and Vol paraphernalia. They're open weekdays from 7:30 to 5:00.
• Three blocks from the General Store is the Plaza Newstand, inside Plaza Tower. It's tiny, a minimal sort of an outpost, but if you want some basic soft drinks and chips pharmaceuticals and cigarettes, they can help. They close at 4:30, though, and are sometimes closed temporarily when the clerk takes a break.
• The major gap of evening necessities for the teeming theater and restaurant crowds can only be filled by the Old City's Aisle Nine, at 112 South Central. Opened last year, they're the only place downtown besides the General Store where you can buy carry-out beer, and they've got a bigger selection of it than you'll find at most groceries. It's open well into the night.
But for the next three months, those who like to buy lottery tickets downtown may be out of luck.
--Jack Neely
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