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View Full Version : New trail services location, near 1000-mile marker



VillageMarket
09-07-2016, 16:34
I run a small restaurant/store about a 1.5 miles from the 1000mile marker. I'm a US Army veteran and I've had many sons in scouting so I'm familiar with the basics of hiking. I'm curious to know what goods/services that hikers need, and how best to serve them.

We have pizza, sandwiches, beer, cigarettes and all the normal convenience store items. I would gladly begin to stock hiker-specific items like Coleman fuel, GORP, individual drink mixes, moleskin, whatever.

I'm eager to begin mail drop services too.

I'm close enough to Bear's Den and Blackburn trail heads that I could deliver there (limited hours), or of course hikers are welcome to walk an extra mile to come to the store, charge their phones, soak up some air conditioning, etc.

Thanks,
Harry

The Village Market
445 Pine Grove Road
Bluemont VA, 20135

http://thevillagemarket.webs.com
540-955-8742
Open 11AM-8PM Mon-Sat.

Praha4
09-07-2016, 16:54
thanks for posting Harry! I'm sure you'll see many hikers, there's a ton of SoBo AT thru hikers coming down your way this year

Hiker item suggestions:
Cliff Bars, both the regular and protein variety
Gatorade
Ice cream
Jerky
Milk Shakes
Tuna foil packs
Various Candy bars (M&M Peanuts, Snickers, etc)
you'll get a lot of suggestions from other hikers too

hikehunter
09-07-2016, 17:44
Maybe some duct tape or a shoe repair station....

VillageMarket
09-07-2016, 18:34
Thanks for the input! We already have candy, ice cream, and gatorade, but I'll gladly add tuna, jerky, and cliff bars. Any particular favorites that are popular?

cliffordbarnabus
09-07-2016, 22:02
peanut butter.

and maybe have a hiker box where people can leave stuff and/or take stuff that is left

jwilkinson6303
09-08-2016, 10:58
You'll want to get listed in the AWOL Guide - pretty much the bible for thru hikers...i'm not sure how to contact him but it cannot be too hard. Hopefully you can get into the 2017 edition before it goes to press

jwilkinson6303
09-08-2016, 11:12
...another thing you might consider is getting an 'AT Stamp' . For section hikers like me, i make a bee line to these places just to get my book stamped; and tend to make a small purchse or two to support the AT team. AWOL has a little icon for places that offer an AT Stamp in his guide, so that's how i find them. Many are commercial establishments, many (like Blackburn and Bears Den) are not. The stamps are usually cool and unique.

Gambit McCrae
09-08-2016, 11:12
You'll want to get listed in the AWOL Guide - pretty much the bible for thru hikers...i'm not sure how to contact him but it cannot be too hard. Hopefully you can get into the 2017 edition before it goes to press

CONTACT PAGE >>CLICK HERE<< (http://theatguide.com/Contact.html)