Albany “Genny” to be on CBS

by Trisha Ingalls

 

ALBANY – for its April episode featuring thriving general stores, CBS Sunday Morning Correspondent Conor Knighton settled into the Albany general store, the Genny, to interview the owners, managers, and patrons.

 

“I can anticipate the question you might have,” Mr. Knighton told the Chronicle; “When will this air? We don’t know.” But he said the goal is for it to air on April 16, at tax time.

 

The deep dive into general stores is an exploration of what’s working, with a focus on success stories, which is what brought Mr. Knighton and his crew to the Genny.

“The success in spite of economic – what you would assume to be the economic realities of why a general store would suffer – the fact that there would be communities like Albany where they’re not just surviving, they’re thriving,” he said. “Thanks to a community’s input and determination. That’s really interesting to us. So, we’ve been looking for spots where that story plays out, and the women behind the Genny are fantastic, we were talking with them this morning.”

 

From Albany the crew is headed to Saco, Maine. Mr. Knighton said he was all over Vermont last fall, including in the Northeast Kingdom, visiting Glover’s Museum of Everyday Life and forty other towns as part of a story on the 251 Club. “I get why,” he said, referring to the appeal of Vermont.  “What might at first glance seem sort of similar [about Vermont towns],” he said, there’s a difference. “That one 600-person town with a general store and a church is different from the other 600-person town with a general store and a church.”

 

Mr. Knighton will also be visiting the Craftsbury Genny while in the NEK. When asked what surprised him about his trip to the Albany Genny he replied, “The burger was way better than I thought it would be! That was a delicious burger.” And, he said, the enthusiasm and passion people have for the general store.

 

Then Mr. Knighton headed to the front porch interview Ben Doyle, president of the Preservation Trust of Vermont, which was instrumental in helping finance the Albany Genny project.