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tended to,” he explained. “But this time, it’s for real!” The job of general store keeper came naturally to Theodore. He learned the trade from his father after the elder Barron bought the Viewtown Store from H. W. Spilman in 1919. But it wasn’t until he married Margaret that Theodore started bringing home a pay check for his labor — $35 a month, quite a munificent sum in the good old says.
He took over the operation in February, 1939. Responsibilities then entailed more than just waiting on customers, keeping the books, checking inventory and handling re-orders of stock. The Barrons had an egg route, delivered groceries and feed, carried livestock to the market in Baltimore and sold eggs and chickens house-to-house in the big city of Washington, D. C. They also ran a cream station, picking up cream from local fanners, testing it for butterfat and sending it on to Charlottesville where it was transformed into fresh butter, ice cream and cottage cheese.
At that same time, Barron’s Store offered a much wider variety of merchandise — groceries, hardware, fresh meat, fabric, tailered suits ordered by catalog from a Chicago-based company, shoes, the latest fashions in ladies hats, even ice.
But over the years, as shopping centers that sprang up in neighboring towns stole much of the old country store business, the Barrons reduced their stock to necessities of day-to-day living, the items that disappear from the pantries and shelves in between trips to chain groceries and drug stores.
Theodore and Margaret admit they'll miss the hustle and bustle of the store but
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