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Among the papers at the archives is a sales receipt dated “March 29, 1882.�

Old receipts or bills or letterheads are good sources of information on local establishments.

In big letters, the sales receipt says, “J. S. FITTS’ NEW STORE.�

We are familiar with the Fitts family as Dr. Tandy Fitts was a doctor in the Willard and Green Grove area for many years.

Beneath the name of the store, we find, “Dry Goods, Groceries, Hardware,� followed on the next line with, “Ready made clothing, hats, boots, shoes.�

Fitts’ New Store was just one of the many small country stores…or general stores … we have been writing about this month.

As we have written in an earlier article, a “general store� sold a variety of merchandise. Think of them as a small Walmart for their day.

It was only in towns and cities that you would find a business selling only one type of goods, such as a furniture store, or a hardware store.

In Nashville, there were shoe stores, ladies dress stores, men’s hat stores, even specialty stores such as dealers in cheeses, butcher shops or bakeries.

It is worth noting that Fitts’ Store advertised “ready made� clothing.

Just a few years earlier, all clothing was made to fit by the women of the house. If a man needed a new pair of britches, his wife would have to make them herself.

That might include raising the sheep for the wool, spinning the wool for the thread, making the clothing on a loom and then cutting and sewing the pants to fit.

But, as our nation grew, industries also grew that could mass produce cloth and thread.

Even better, was the novelty of going to the store and buying a ready made pair of pants or blouse or nightgown.

These ready made garments were certainly popular with the public, although they tended to be loose fitting or large so that they could fit more people.

Despite the store offering ready made clothes, the sales receipt was for five yards of jeans, a yard and a half of domestic, a half dozen buttons, one spool of thread and one and a half yards of plaid.

It looks like the customer, Mrs. Douglass Thurman, was going to break with tradition and make Mr. Thurman a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt.

Two more parts of the one hundred and thirty-three year old sales receipt are worth closer examination.

Above the items sold, the receipt says, “TERMS CASH.�

Money was tight in the late 1800s and Mr. J. S. Fitts was going to make sure he got his money for his goods.

Most rural general stores kept a running account for their customers, who would pay monthly or even once a year when they sold their tobacco crop!

The second item of interest is the location of the store.

At the top it says, “Flat and Broad Rock, Tenn.�

Readers are probably not familiar with that location and as county historian, I have only heard it mentioned once or twice by old timers who are now long gone.

Flat and Broad Rock, Tennessee, was close to the Payne’s Store community, at the intersections of highways 25 and 231.

In smaller lettering, under the location, is this, in parentheses, (Enon College P O).

Enon College was a school that stood close to the forementioned intersection. The college closed due to financial problems, but the local post office retained that name for a while.

There is an Enon Chapel church today that is a reminder of the old name for that community.

This 1882 receipt is the only evidence our archives has of J. S. Fitts ‘ New Store.

There are no photos or other documents.

Perhaps the “Terms Cash� didn’t go over well with the public or competition from the older Payne’s Store nearby caused it to close.

History tells us one thing, businesses come and go.