About Us

Anything but general.

Live like an Adirondacker. Wherever you live.

Saranac Lake needed socks.

That’s the joke, at least. But it was true: When we opened our doors in 2011, this town of 5,000 in the Adirondacks had few, if any, places to buy a pair of socks. Yes, we could have let a big, national chain put a big-box store in town, selling socks and a zillion other things—but we wanted to keep our dollars in our community. So we found inspiration from other community-owned stores, sold shares at $100 apiece, and raised $500,000 to open our very own store. We called it The Community Store.

Since then, we’ve been thrilled to find other businesses putting down roots all around us in Saranac Lake. We have more buying choices now. It’s definitely easier to get socks.

As those other businesses arrived, we fine-tuned what we sell. We changed our name to The Village Mercantile in 2018. It’s a lot more descriptive of what you’ll find inside: Everything you need for living in the Adirondacks, whether you live here or not. If you’re looking for North Country-ready clothes to get through the winter (or through your shift at work), wares that turn your house into a home, or handmade Adirondack crafts that evoke the spirit of this place we love, The Village Mercantile is the place you need to turn first.

Our web store is especially geared to those made-in-the-Adirondacks crafts and other items from some of the remarkably talented individuals who live in the small communities all around us. We’ve partnered with some of the best painters, jewelers, potters and other artisans in the Adirondacks to offer their one-of-a-kind work at The Village Mercantile. We’re also proud to feature many of the hand-made, small-batch products that are produced and sold only around here.

If you have any questions about anything you see, give us a call or email. We’d love to talk. For that matter, we’d love to meet you in person—stop in to the Merc, right across from the Hotel Saranac, any time.