JIM THORPE -- It is the end of an era in Carbon County. A general store that's been in the heart of Jim Thorpe since the Great Depression is shutting its doors.
Since 1932, a lot has changed in Jim Thorpe. The place once known as Mauch Chunk even has a different name. But one thing has stayed the same. People stop by Dugan's General Store to get the things they need.
"I remember my grandmother wiping off the window sill. As soon as she wiped them off they were dirty again because there was just soot in the air all the time it was sort of, kind of a dirty little coal town," says owner John Dugan.
Dugan's grandmother and father both died while working in the store. A tradition, John told us, he certainly doesn't want to continue. When his health made running the shop harder, he decided to sell. It happened quickly.
"It is going to be lonely, we are going to be missing old friends, I have had a couple of deaths of people close to me this year, it's like a death in the family."
Over the decades, running the store could be a tough way it to make ends meet, but in the year 2000, Dugan's mother won a million dollars with a lottery ticket she bought in the general store. Now there's a different type of windfall. Friends and customers stopping to say goodbye.
"It's going to be missed dearly by everybody in town, literally, even the newcomers who have moved into the area, it has been a wonderful place, they are a great family, I have known them for many, many years," recalls Kevin Koch.
Dugan says this isn't like a funeral. For decades, he's watched his community change. Now he is ready for a new life too.
