Penn's Store

I'm in Gravel Switch, KY visiting family to celebrate our Christmas and decided to find out more about how Penn's Store is open or closed these days, and what they sell and such. So, for fellow Yelper's, this is about as clear cut as yer' gonna git it.Penn's Sore is not, let me repeat "NOT" just in Kentucky, it's in BFE, KY. It is totally not worth your drive from out of town to visit, and especially not to complain about the hours they keep. Yes, this store has been in business for 176 years (true), but you will be lucky if you find the place open even if the hours do say 1-5 pm on Saturday and Sunday. When they are open, you may get lucky and find a candy bar to purchase, but there is mostly art work, Christmas ornaments, cards, etc.They hold car shows and the like, plus what I'd consider called Pickin' on the Porch, or different bands playing outside and bringing the community together. Which are advertised locally, and occasionally on their FB page. Penn's Store is most definitely a landmark, and the fine folks of Gravel Switch (all 11 of them) are flattered by it.Give the Penn's a call next time you're passing through if you're wanting to stop in. Otherwise, it's a cute little wooden shack, and there's always a cat or two or three running around, and you can see the outside of the building. If no one answers, guess what?I'll bet you can. You're a super-genius!You guessed correctly. No one is there, and they aren't open.

We travelled 4 hours to visit this store. We stayed three nights in a nearby town. On Saturday morning, they posted to their Facebook inviting people to come out and visit them at the store that day. So we drove out to the store on Saturday. Their listed hours are 11AM-6PM. They are "country hours". We got to the store at 11AM. The store was not open yet. That was okay. There was a nearby geocache in their parking lot we were going to check out. Two other cars had come and gone. One of those cars was from Texas. They left disappointed. We gave up and left the store at 12 PM. While back at the hotel, I called the store 3 times. No answer. I emailed the store on Facebook. No answer. We drove four hours for this. So we decided to drive out one more time. The second time, we arrived at the store around 3:45PM. The store was still not open. Again, two more cars had come and gone. At 4PM, we had given up and went back to the hotel. I understand these hours were "country hours". But because of the Facebook post, that I have attached, I expected the store to be open at some point during the day. It took a lot to keep entertained in this small town area. This was supposed to be the highlight of our trip. We spent a total of an hour and 43 minutes driving to/from a store that was never open when they advertised they would be.

You can still get a 1/4 pound Bologna sandwich here for $1.50. Penn's is America's oldest general store owned and operated continuously by the same family back to the 1850's. Worth the extra time to get off the beaten path to soak in some true American history. This place reeks classic Americana. Penn's still has penny candies for sale by the piece, but be prepared to pay a little more than a penny. A unique map-dot on a cross country road map!