Harvard General Store

Wouldn’t allow me to pay with a debit card for$ 4.50 because they had a $ 5.00 minimum. Having Staff that couldn’t override a policy for a frequent patron is a ridiculous position for a local business. Won’t be returning. Lunch is alright, breakfast not so much.

Hmmmmmm… 3 dollars for a small coffee, fine. But don’t think it goes unnoticed. It is cute enough inside, with some wines and beers available as well as some novelty items. I assume its in business because it is the local coffee shop, but your better off at the country cupboard in Bolton or somewhere else.
I will say it is clearly a better option than burnt coffee at DD.
I will give them another shot, because it is what I do, perhaps the will earn some stars.

I have a ritual. I have a job that require me to go all over the state working at home shows and festivals. When I arrive at a new place, I get there nice and early, then go on the hunt for a local donut shop. This just happened to be across the street from where the festival I was working at was. So my coworker and I popped in. Now, I love these little general stores. So I am always game to go to one. Upon entering though, we were instantly confused. Do we sit and someone comes up to us? Where were the menus? This took us the better part of fifteen minutes to figure all of this out, and as my coworker said «maybe you have to be a local to know how this place works?». We finally figured it out, paid slightly too much for our breakfast sandwiches, and left about a half an hour later. Later in the day, I went back to purchase a six pack of beer. If I remember correctly, the only price they had on ALL of the six packs was $ 12.49. Wha wha whaaaaa? To be fair, they were all microbrews except for Sam adams and Blue Moon. But um, no. They also disappointed in the selection of the little knick knacks that stores like this usually provide. But I wasn’t here to buy knick knacks so no harm no foul. Worth stopping in if in the area and you want some coffee, but not worth going out of your way to.

This is Boston meets suburbia. Very expensive, big city items, yet has a slight small town feel. Almost feels like a store you would see in Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard.
The store is out of its element in Harvard. It was better as a general store and not a purveyor of high priced coffee, chocolates, and other goods.

Cute country store, but $ 6 for a tiny, tiny paper cup of lukewarm soup that wasn’t even that good? With a tiny plastic bag of oyster crackers to accompany? Sorry, no charm in that and way too expensive. I am a thin woman and ate that soup in four bites … could have bought a bowl of better, larger soup at the Ritz for same $$.

Ok. Re doing my original review. I heard the General Store was under new management and attended a Pub night with friends recently. Pleasantly surprised by the offerings. I still don’t think I would stop in for the basic needs, but great gathering spot to meet friends. I did not get any food, but the steak tip Caesar salad looked great! Glad I gave this a 2^nd chance!

Not a «convenience» store for Wonder bread or a gallon of Hood milk, but convenient for locals who want good coffee, fine wine, craft beer, ice cream, fresh bread, an emergency dinner of locally made soup and cheeses, or the occasional hostess gift. So I love this place and can’t imagine Harvard without it.

The General has gotten better over time, with good sandwiches for lunch, more seating, and reasonably-​priced wines now on the first level. The George Howell coffee (the beans, not in-​store brewed) prices are up to almost absurd levels, though, and that’s what pulled me in at first.

The location of this general store just can’t be beat… it’s a great place to stop and get a bagel or breakfast sandwich and hang out. The breakfast food is simple but delicious… it just needed some salt and pepper. The coffee is also excellent, and I like the wine and beer selection, which seems like someone put a lot of thought into it. The store part has me a bit confused, however. Some of their pantry choices are really low end, like you’d find at a 7 – 11, and some are a little more boutiquey and pricey. It seems like a real miss-​mosh. I would not stop in to pick up a gallon of milk or loaf of bread, and I wonder if the locals do. It just seems like a waste of space to offer a few products, but not enough to really bring people in. Weird. I did have breakfast here 3 mornings in a row while visiting, though, so I do like it for that.

I can see why locals may not be huge fans, but for an out-​of-​towner like myself, this store represents all that we idealize about small-​town New England. The food is definitely expensive, but the key is to get the sandwiches made in-​house, as well as some of the desserts. I also liked the pre-​packaged salads and the small liquor store upstairs. I was happy to pick up a nice bottle of Belgian raspberry framboise and Smith’s Cherry Beer. Overall, a nice store that I look forward to returning to in the future. I have heard that the owners organize literary events upstairs and I would love to be in town for one of those in the future.

I’ve been in here a few times and it’s a great little store for all you fancy beers and sodas and hot dog and cheese needs. But I had never wandered upstairs until this past week.
Upstairs is a divine little wine shop that only sells wines from smaller vineyards. The guys in charge understand their stock and how it might serve the drinker, and they have regular wine tastings (the next one has free live music) where you can learn too. Drink and buy. Drink and not buy. It’s up to you.

We are moving from Belmont to Harvard and having lived in Stowe (with an «e») as well, know what picky is all about. First off on value: We were at the «store» the other day and wanted a jumbo hot dog. The guy behind the counter said they were frozen and offered us two regular hot dogs for the same price. So on a net weight basis, as well as the convenience to share, it was a deal. So we found value there.
Having lived in Vermont, the real value of a general store is information. At the «store» learned all about the advantages and problems with Charter Communications. Also, the person operating the wine store upstairs was encyclopedic about wines, as well as issues in the community. He even knew more about a wine store in Belmont than we did.
No. The general store is not a convenience store, and they also don’t sell hardware as some do, but they made us feel welcome in the community, and that is worth a great deal.
Just remember: «If you heard it on the radio and also at the general store, it must be true.»

This place is an unexpected and adorable surprise hidden in the center of Harvard. It’s so clean and brightly lit, and the selection of merchandise available reminds me of a cute gift shop combined with a smaller Whole Foods. They also had a very cute corgi in the shop that welcomed my petting him.

The wine upstairs must be checked out. I now go nowhere else to buy wine. When I go to most wine stores looking to make a purchase and I ask for recommendations, I never know if the wine I’m being directed to will be good or not. Not at the General Store. I have never purchased a bad wine there. I have never gotten a poor or off target recommendation. The wine selection is fantastic. The price range varies, with many offerings in an inexpensive price range. The staff is friendly, helpful and knowledgeable.
There are regular and free wine tastings. A great find.

Some updates, a couple years later. The wine and beer upstairs is flowing, and it is really great, just like the rest of the place. They have a relatively small but very deeply thought out offering, with reasonable prices and a great ambiance, with regular free tastings. The owners are no longer active on site but the new manager is just great too, and the vibe is the same, though I miss seeing the dog Jake. They might not be doing hot dogs any more. Not sure if that’s a permanent change or not. Besides coffee and wine, I tend to get the dried salamis, cheese, bread, and the occasional fancy pastry. They’ve also started carrying spectacular cut flowers.

While living nearby and traveling through Harvard on a regular basis you think I would have noticed this place sooner, but it took a facebook posting from Pretty Things announcing a beer tasting to get my attention.
The store is broken into 2 distinct areas which seem to almost operate like separate stores. In the downstairs there is a market which seems to focus on organic & specialty selections. Amongst the items available were cheeses, teas, bread, produce, eggs, etc. Then upstairs is the wine & beer selections as well as a small section that was devoted to displaying art projects.
So I stopped in on my way home from work to check out the beer and wine selection which the website highly touted. I was not disappointed in the wine selection, but the beer selection was clearly an after thought. The wine was laid out very nicely and organized well and the woman working the area had a very impressive knowledge. Their selections were not the run of the mill ones and prices were pretty fair. I was able to pick up a bottle of Nebbiolo for $ 20 which I felt was a pretty good deal. They also do regular wine & beer tastings so I’ll probably be back for those at some point. The beer selections were on a table that was sort of shoved off to the side and had no order that I could discern. They had a some good craft selections, but the I got the sense the woman working really knew nothing about them.

This place is a FIND! Was recently visiting friends in Harvard (they felt sorry for me because I hadn’t been out of the city for months!). When they asked «do you want to go to the General Store?» I thought yeah, sure, sounds like a scream. Expecting Wonder bread and bags of feed, I was knocked out! Beautiful space artfully decorated with an outstanding selection of gourmet munchables, first-​rate pantry staples (like the best olive oil in the universe), breads and pastriesand cheeses to die for, arrestingly good coffee and WINE and ART on the second floor for cryin’ out loud.
But in addition to the goods, the place was a great spot to people-​watch. It felt like the General was the center of a really happening community. It was busy and lively and neighborly. And that view of the Town Common from the second floor. .. very Norman Rockwell! Every town should have a place like this.

The General Store seemed to have a pretty good selection of, well, general items. We stopped here for a quick pit stop on our Unilocal Motorcycle (sorry, motorbike) Ride. The guys there were friendly and the prices were pretty normal.
They would have gotten 3 stars, but since we were hanging out in the parking lot and since they were closing, they gave us their left over cookies, which was nice of them. They also offered to brew us some coffee, although none of us ended up wanting any. It’s all in the little gestures though.

We stopped off here on our Unilocal Motorbike Ride. They were closing up and gave free cookies to the guys. Isn’t that sweet?
On a side note: where do they get the help? These fellows looked like Abercrombie and Fitch models, fer crissakes…

It’s nice, but come on– «general store»? It’s a knick-​knack shop for a town that’s afraid of any genuine local business. The sort of things would might expect in a general store, like a reasonably-​priced gallon of milk, toilet paper, or, yes, even some «stale PB crackers» are absent, while if you’re looking for a variety of olive oils, dried Maine blueberries, «modern elegant» teapots, or paintings from local artists, you’re all set.
It’s not a bad place by any means, but the name is kinda funny.