Historic Springs General Store lists for $2.9M

The Springs General Store, on a 1.3-acre harborfront property in East Hampton, has listed for $2.9 million. 

Built in the 1840s as a post office and general store, the 2,520-square-foot building currently houses a deli on the first floor and an upper-level apartment that has two bedrooms and one bathroom. The property, alongside Acabonac Harbor, includes a two-car garage and three vintage gas pumps that add to the old-world aesthetic.

“The General Store has always been a gathering place and a focal point for the community and it continues to be that today,” says Springs native Kammy Wolf of Sotheby’s International Realty, who is representing the property with husband, Phelan Wolf, and Tina Plesset.  “Everyone has a story or connection to the store. I have many memories of biking to the store to buy candy and meet friends. And I still go to the store to meet friends, but now I drink coffee.”

The store, with a shingled exterior and covered front porch lined with Adirondack chairs, has had some prominent customers through the years, Plesset says. That, she adds, includes abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock, who lived nearby at what is now the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center and once settled a grocery debt with a painting.  A 1949 photo of Pollock in the store with the painting on the nearby wall hangs in the deli alongside a reprint of the painting.    

In the 1970 book “The Springs in the Old Days,” Ferris G. Talmage wrote of the general store: “Here, for generations, national history and local gossip have been discussed and debated. As far back as I can remember, it was a common meeting-ground for all of Springs' local characters, who stayed well along into the late evening hours.”

That loyal customer base remains to this day, Plesset says.     

“Once we told people that it would be for sale we got exclamations of, ‘Oh no! How can I live here without having the store?’ ” Plesset says. “So, it’s urgent for us to find a buyer who has the vision, the enthusiasm and the passion to keep this going for generations and generations to come.”