Owners Cid and Liza Scallet have closed the Batesville Store, the historic general store and regular host to great music just southwest of town. Cid Scallet told the Progress over the weekend that, because of the number of chairs inside the store, the state demanded that the store meet health code requirement for restaurants. The shop was previously defined as a country store.
"The legalities of the store’s historic status as well as the limitations of the building itself make it impossible for us to meet the state’s other requirements for operating a restaurant," the Scallets wrote in a note on the store’s website.
"…The state representatives who suddenly appeared yesterday afternoon and shut us down without warning told us that it was decided (note the passive voice, please) that we do too much business to remain a country store. They went on to say that our only option for remaining open was to convert the store into a restaurant that would comply with all Virginia Health Department regulations," reads the note.
Less than a month ago, the store was celebrated with a piece in Virginia Living. Stepping into the store "feels like stepping back 50 years without losing the comfort and taste of modernity," read the piece.
Everything in the store—including the offending chairs—are on sale through tomorrow.