Kaffie-Frederick General Mercantile Store

It's always heartening to know that I'm not the only one out there photographing cool old places,  as you can see from this week's Retro Roadmap Roving Reporter Recommendations! Lately I've seen some inspiring shots from Flickr pal Army.Arch, who kindly granted permission for me to reproduce his photos here, like this wonderfully evocative image below. When I clicked on it I had no idea it was of the Kaffie-Frederick General Mercantile Store in Natchitoches, LA - even when I don't think I'm being RetroRoadmap-centric, I am...!

(Doesn't it look like floating jellyfish? Pretty ones, that is.)

As our Retro Roadluck would have it, a quick click lead to more photos of this historic general store, open since 1863 and at this very location since 1893.

Started by the Kaffie family in the middle of the Civil War, the Frederick family became involved with the store in 1920, when Titus Frederick began to work there. He later became vice-president and then partial owner of the company, and now his grandchildren are the business’s co-owners!

The store sells an eclectic mix of staples and sundries, much like it would have in the "olden days"
According to their website:

During the early 1900s, it wasn’t unusual to see items like harrows, cultivators, John Deere plows, clothing fabric, and groceries lining the shelves – even coffins! Today’s store has managed to maintain that sense of eclecticism, while offering items of both historical value, such as classic toys and Radio Flyer wagons, and modern-day products of use like gardening tools, swings, and kitchenware.

Army.Arch (Adam) writes:

"What a great relic from the past! The Kaffie-Frederick General Mercantile Store is in the Natchitoches Historic District which is on the National Register #74000928 and also a National Historic Landmark."

So if you're looking for wellingtons, or a washboard, or just to walk into the past, check out this old hardware store (as their URL says), where there's "More Shopping Upstairs!"