Texas general store has centurylong tradition

This sturdy, 100-year-old red brick landmark just off U.S. 79 in Robertson County is testament to a family's entrepreneurism and the evolution of the consumer society. In 1906, the Schultz family expanded its mercantile and grocery business by building a 10,000-square-foot rectangular building from bricks kilned across the street. Considering New Baden at that time had a population of about 150, this was a bold attempt to create a regional hub for an agrarian community. Employing the slogan, "We buy and sell everything," four generations ran the family business from the dawn of the 20th century until 1984. They used the building for a post office, funeral home, feed store, shipping point and automobile dealership. The Schultzes sold Studebakers, Star and Maxwell automobiles. (Maxwell was one of the big three automobile manufacturers of the early 1900s, behind only Buick and Ford.) When ranchers were still fencing large sections of Robertson County, the Schultzes bought barbed wire by the railroad car, marked it up and sold it to area ranchers. During the Great Depression, the Schultzes bought local farmers products with store credit. They paid a couple of cents more per pound for chickens, or tomatoes or cotton than their competition. In return they built their customer base and saw increased sales. The Schultz family shipped 2.25 million pounds of black-eyed peas in 1938, so says the Houston Chronicle in a 1940 feature story...read more