Rebecca Pate Opens Country Store In Reepsville Area

LINCOLNTON, N.C.––Trying to bring back that old-fashioned feel of country stores can be mighty hard nowadays.

But reclaiming that sense of days gone by is just what local businesswoman Rebecca Pate set out to do when she recently opened Rebecca’s Country Store. As Pate told The Herald on Thursday, the store is located in the former Hampton’s Gas Station in the rural Reepsville area, just outside Lincolnton. It’s just a few miles down the road from where the Lincolnton native now lives on a farm bequeathed to her and her brother by their grandfather, the late Bob Canipe.

“The store is a convenience store with a country feel,” said Pate, citing just one example of country-store qualities her establishment features: she’ll offer produce from local farmers all season long.

The daughter of Jim and Debbie Pate, she earned an associate’s degree at Gaston College. The young businesswoman has a lot of business experience, including a year at Winn-Dixie and 17 years at Staples. At the office supply chain, she began as a part-time cashier and then spent five years as a store manager.

So what led Pate to this new business venture?

“The inspiration came some from the past,” she said. “As a child, there were many memories of stopping at Hampton’s and getting a snack or ice cream during the summer. This store was a landmark in the local community. I have other memories of other local stores, too, where I would have dinner or breakfast weekly with my late grandfather. Being in a small community, when you go into a local store, everyone knows you by your name. And it’s a much more family-like atmosphere than in larger stores. When I heard that the store was coming up for sale, I wanted to keep its family theme going, and I pitched this idea to my family. We live just a few miles away as well, and it’s a nice convenience to run to the end of the road for the one thing you’ve forgotten! So you don’t have to spend 15 minutes to drive to town for that forgotten milk, bread and so on. We prayed and moved forward on the store, and a year later, we are finally open for business.”