Englands General Merchandise Museum

About Us:

Housed in the Barrett-Jones building along historic Main Street Westminster, SC, the General Store Museum displays a vast collection of historic artifacts from the original England’s General Merchandise store.

The original general store building (2 blocks west on Main Street) was built in 1908, and England’s General Merchandise opened for business at that time. For decades, the downtown general store carried everything its customers might ever need or want including the “Flymo” hovering lawnmower, Blue Horse notebook paper, saddle shoes, and much much more! For over a 100 years the shopkeepers accumulated a collection of merchandise spanning the entire twentieth century. The last shopkeeper, William “Dub” England, ceased store operations in the early 1980s, opening his collection as a museum until his passing in 2005.

In 2007 a non-profit organization, the Westminster Area Historic Preservation Society (WAHPS), purchased the building’s historic contents.  WAHPS then donated the contents to the Oconee Heritage Center for the purpose of establishing a branch museum.  In 2008, the Barrett-Jones building was donated by Lee and Joyce Barrett to the OHC and renovations began.  With the ongoing help of the Westminster Area Historic Preservation Society, the General Store Museum opened in 2011.