And that block of East Main Street won’t look the same.
“I had to stop reading the comments on our Facebook site because I get emotional,” said May on March 30 after news of the planned sale of the store and its probable move out of Salem hit social media. Scores of people expressed their thanks and sadness at losing a unique place to shop for graduation and wedding gifts, china, baby accessories, fishing clothes, gourmet food, hammocks, and Christmas ornaments any time of the year.
“A great family business…It’s the end of an era,” wrote Salem tourism director and friend Carey Harveycutter. Others, like Christine Kelly, lament not being able to run in for a last-minute special gift, “and having a laugh with you all.”
“It’s bittersweet to me to be closing,” said May, the easy-going former country boy who started out as a traveling rep for fishing tackle and hunting equipment right out of Roanoke College. Now he’ll have more time to fish, he insists.
“I haven’t made a lot of money with Countryside Classics, but it’s been fun,” he said.
One thing that is going home with May is the ashes of Filson, the black Labrador who came to work with May every day for 13 years and greeted customers until he passed on three years ago. Filson’s ashes will be spread in the family’s back yard where he loved to chase balls.
A pastel portrait of Filson by artist Liz Bowles is near the cash register, with the late Lab’s collar. By the way, he was named for the rugged clothing line of C.C. Filson.
One woman used to buy greeting cards for the dog and at times, come in and lie on the floor to read them to him, May remembered.
The seasonal flags at 120 E. Main St. and the gold script sign on the exterior hunter green wall will be coming down within a month, and going with the new owners.
The store – but not the building – has been sold, and the unnamed husband and wife who have bought the business and contents were supposed to be in the store Monday to plan the transition and vacate the space in about 10 weeks. May has agreed to remain through that, and said the new owners will introduce themselves to the community soon.
The couple is looking for another location about half the size of the current 10,000 square feet, May said. Because of the lack of retail space available, that location may turn out not to be in Salem.
They’re taking the building’s sign with them for that future location, and are even keeping the same phone number, May said. “We’re fortunate to find such good people,” he added.
May and his family are keeping the building, which by August is slated to become the new home of All Sports Café that will move and expand from across the street from Countryside Classics. All Sports plans to keep the Cork and Keg wine and beer shop, with cigars, next door, May says.
May is keeping his office upstairs, too. “I’ve got to have somewhere to go,” said the 75-year-old owner who describes himself as “older than dirt.”
As of March 31, his son, Josh, who helped run the store for 25 years is gone from the business to devote his full time to his commercial drone company, Automated Technologies. Because he has pretty much been running Countryside Classics by himself lately is one reason Bob May began looking for a buyer.
Josh May’s company is one of the few in the country that the unrestricted FAA license to fly. “They photograph rock quarries and do what used to take several days. It’s not a toy,” the proud dad said.
Oldest son Robbie has run the other family business, The May Co., since Bob May retired from that 13 years ago. Robbie lives in Raleigh, N.C.
“The couple who are buying Countryside Classics are buying everything in the store – and they’re going to have one gigantic sale,” May said, adding that Countryside Classics “has never had a sale.”
About a third of the customers come from outside the Roanoke Valley, he said. He and his wife, Carolyn, created Countryside Classics on College Avenue. That’s where May had his office, and people kept coming by and wanting to see the samples of outdoor clothing he kept near the door, according to a column by the late Roanoke Times columnist, Joe Kennedy.