Singleton's General Store: Proctorsville's Legendary Country Store

Ask around the Okemo Valley where to get the best smoked bacon in Vermont, and one name comes up again and again: Singleton's General Store. The big country store at 356 Main Street in Proctorsville — minutes from the slopes — is the kind of place that turns a grocery run into an expedition. Behind its doors: a full deli, an in-house smokehouse producing legendary Vermont smoked meats, groceries, Vermont maple products, clothing, and beer, wine, and liquor. It is equal parts general store, butcher shop, and local institution, and it has been feeding the valley for generations.

The story starts in 1946, when Bud and Mary Singleton, their six children, and a Cocker Spaniel named Pal opened a small store in Reading, Vermont — Newton's Store, as it was known then. It was a true family operation from day one, the kind where everybody worked and everybody knew the customers by name. The Singletons ran the Reading store for nearly three decades, building the reputation for old-fashioned service that still defines the business today. Family, dog, and community: the original business plan.

The next chapter began in the late 1970s, when the family built a new, much larger store in Proctorsville on Route 131. Tom Singleton, who had joined the family business in 1976, built the new store together with his brother John — a 7,500-square-foot country store built for the modern era but run on the old principles. In 1999, Tom and his wife Linn took over the business, carrying the family tradition into its third generation of leadership and continuing to grow what their parents and grandparents started. The scale changed; the values did not. The original Reading store operated for nearly three decades before the move, a run that built the loyal following the Proctorsville store inherited.

The smokehouse is what made Singleton's famous far beyond Proctorsville. The store's own smokers turn out Vermont smoked meats that have achieved genuine nationwide renown: smoked bacon with real depth, pepperoni with snap and spice, and boneless deluxe hams that anchor holiday tables across New England. This is not a deli counter reselling someone else's product — it is a working smokehouse, and the difference is in every bite. Regulars plan trips around it; visitors take it home by the bagful; and the mail-order reputation keeps the smokers busy.

The deli built around that smokehouse is a destination in its own right. Piled-high sandwiches, salads, and prepared foods make it the easiest excellent lunch near Okemo — grab a sandwich before the lifts or stock the condo for the week. The cases reflect the same philosophy as the smokehouse: generous, honest, and made to be eaten, not admired. For skiers, it is the difference between a forgettable slope-side meal and a genuine taste of Vermont. The breakfast sandwiches alone have a following. The prepared salads and sides make picnic assembly effortless -- grab a few containers and head for the nearest swimming hole or overlook.

Beyond the deli, the store earns the "general" in its name. The grocery aisles cover the weekly shop, the Vermont maple products cover the souvenir list, and the clothing section covers the forgotten-gloves emergency that every ski trip eventually produces. Beer, wine, and liquor round out the one-stop appeal. It is the rare store where you can buy dinner ingredients, a birthday gift, and a six-pack in a single trip — which is exactly what a country general store is supposed to be. One errand, done right. The toy and gift corner solves birthday emergencies, and the Vermont-made section is a souvenir hunter's shortcut.

The rhythm of the store follows the valley. Ski season brings the condo-stockers and the après crowds; summer brings the second-home owners and the leaf-peepers in fall. Through it all, the locals keep coming year-round, which is the truest review a country store can get. When the people who could shop anywhere choose the same counter for decades, the verdict is in. Singleton's is not a tourist trap that locals tolerate — it is a local institution that tourists are lucky to find.

The family eventually grew the concept. A second location, Singleton's Market in Quechee, extends the brand's reach to the Upper Valley, bringing the same smoked meats and old-fashioned service to a second community. But the Proctorsville store remains the flagship — the big landmark on Main Street that locals navigate by and visitors remember. If you only visit one, make it this one. Both stores share the smokehouse supply chain, so the bacon tastes like home whichever door you walk through.

What keeps Singleton's special is not any single product but the whole package: the family history stretching back to 1946, the working smokehouse, the deli that feeds the valley, and the old-fashioned service that the Singletons have practiced for three generations. In an era of self-checkout and same-day delivery, there is something deeply reassuring about a store where the owners' name is on the sign and the bacon is smoked out back. Some things should not change, and this is one of them.

Find it at 356 Main Street in Proctorsville, an easy drive from Okemo Mountain Resort and Ludlow. Call (802) 226-7666, visit singletonsvt.com, or just follow the smell of the smoker. Come for the bacon, stay for the deli, and leave understanding why this country store has been a Vermont legend for nearly eighty years.