The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley Wilma Anderson stands at the counter of a new store Tuesday which has opened in downtown Coalton. The Coalton Country Market is located on Broadway Avenue. The store is owned by Anderson and Shirley Chisolm.

COALTON — Residents in Coalton and the surrounding area now have a one-stop spot for their basic needs as the Coalton Country Market recently opened its doors on Broadway Avenue.

For years, the small Randolph County town has been without a convenience store, leaving its residents without a place to shop for basic items, such as a loaf of bread, a snack or a soda. Coalton Mayor Jim Rossi said it has been more than seven years since a store was located in town.

“We haven’t had a store down there for a long time, I know it’s been at least seven years,” Rossi told The Inter-Mountain. “We absolutely needed something here like this and I wish the family that opened it all the luck in the world. I hope they are successful because we really needed it. My wife has stopped in there a couple times and said the hot dogs were pretty doggone good.”

Wilma Anderson and her future mother-in-law, Shirley Chisolm, are the owners of the new business Both reside in the Coalton area and agree with the mayor that the town needed something like the new store.

“We thought opening the store in Coalton was the perfect place, because the town doesn’t have anything like this,” Anderson told The Inter-Mountain. “We have had a lot of smiling faces come through the door since we opened. And we already have a lot of regular customers.”

Anderson said the store is a family-run business, and help will come from other family members.

“Opening this store has been great for all of us, we are really family oriented,” Anderson said. “We wanted something we could all share together and spend more time with each other, and this store is it.”

Because there hadn’t been a business in the location for so long, Anderson said a lot of work went into getting the store ready.

“There was a lot to do before we opened,” Anderson said. “We contracted some of the work out, and I quit my other job so that I could do the inside part of it. I had my daughter Emma here with me while I did a lot of it, she was a great little helper.”

Anderson says the store offers a variety of groceries, household products, tobacco, beverages and more.

“We sell a little bit of everything,” Anderson said. “We have pretty much everything that the other stores have on their shelves, and we sell food that we cook as well. We have all your necessities, from your snack cakes, to candy, chips and pop. And we have groceries, say if you need stuff to make spaghetti or bake something. Then we have paper towels, detergent and things like that. 

“So if you live in the Coalton area and there’s something you forgot or ran out of and don’t want to go all the way to Elkins, we pretty much have it for you.”

The store, which is open Mondays through Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., also serves up pizza and hot dogs with homemade chili. The store will soon be adding pepperoni rolls along with deli meats and cheeses to the menu.

“I haven’t actually offered the pepperoni rolls out to the public yet, I’m still working on them,” Anderson said. “I want to give them out to people and see what they think, to see if I need to touch them up or anything. I did that with my pizzas before I opened to get some feedback and it worked out well.”

For more information, call the Coalton Country Market at 304-444-0597.

Submitted photo
Wilma Anderson’s daughter Emma stands in front of a shelf of products offered at the Coalton Country Market. The store is currently open Mondays through Saturdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.