[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 13 (Monday, February 23, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S854-S855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              DAN & WHIT'S

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, if there is one thing that anyone 
who visits Norwich, Vermont does not forget, it is Dan & Whit's General 
Store. Dan & Whit's is a Vermont legend, as are its namesakes, Dan 
Fraser and Whit Hicks, who bought the store back in 1955. Since then it 
has become the unrivaled nerve center of business, socializing, and 
political debate for Norwich and the surrounding area. Whit died a 
while back, Dan has since retired and his wife Eliza, known to all as 
Bunny, who did the bookkeeping, died not long ago. But the store has 
not lost any of the Vermont character they gave to it. Fortunately it 
has stayed in the family. Today it is managed by Dan's sons George and 
Jack Fraser, with the help of George's wife Susan, Jack's daughter 
Cheri, George's sons Dan and Matt, and a throng of loyal employees, 
young and old.
  When you first enter Dan & Whit's you think it is just another 
grocery store. Of course there is a lot more Vermont maple syrup and 
cheddar cheese. But then you notice winter boots and snowshoes hanging 
from the ceiling, and boxes of nuts and bolts and nails and screws and 
every type of hardware. There are pots and pans, outdoor clothing, pens 
and stationery, guns and ``No Hunting'' signs. Keep walking and you 
pass piles of the ``New York Times'' and the paint mixing machine, and 
then you realize you have barely scratched the surface. Through a door 
and around a corner there are aisles that stretch almost as far as you 
can see, stacked high with snow shovels, horse feed, half a dozen sizes 
of stove pipe, sheep fence, sewing pipe, sleds, saws and axes, rakes 
and wheelbarrows, mail boxes, window glass, there's no end to it. You 
can even bring in your fire extinguishers for recharging, Jack being 
the Captain of the Norwich Fire Department. Thus the Dan & Whit's 
motto, ``if we don't have it, you don't need it.'' Vermont author Noel 
Perrin once wrote, ``There may be a better general store in the United 
States. But I haven't heard of it.''
  Mr. President, Dan & Whit's General Store is the unbelievable number 
and variety of things you can buy there, but it is also the 
extraordinary people who work there. In addition to the Fraser family 
members, it is people like Larry Smith, Linda Conrad, Al Langlois, Ron 
Swift, and Perry Wagner, who have been there for years and help make 
the store the one-of-a-kind place that it is. Dan & Whit's is people 
like Bill Fitzgerald, who finally retired after more than 30 years. 
Always in good spirits, always helpful, always finding what you need. 
And the one time in a million that they don't find

[[Page S855]]

it, they will convince you that you did not need it in the first place.
  Recently, ``The Norwich Times'' printed an article about Dan & Whit's 
that says it better than I can. I ask that the article be printed in 
the Record.
  The article follows:

                 If We Don't Have It, You Don't Need It

       What has 22,600 square feet of space (but you'd never know 
     it), and is filled with great stuff like aerators, Sorels, 
     and the Sunday Times?
       The legendary Dan & Whit's has stretched out along Main 
     Street ever since the Merrill family opened their grain store 
     in this location in 1891. At that time, the wandering 
     building with the now-creaky wooden floors also housed 
     Norwich's post office, town hall, and several small shops. 
     Today, under the diligent management of owners George and 
     Jack Fraser, this nerve center of Norwich is open seven days 
     a week from seven o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock 
     at night, three hundred and sixty four days a year.


                           all in the family

       In 1955, Dan Fraser and his partner Whit Hicks bought it 
     from Leon Merrill for whom they had worked since 1933. Dan 
     and Whit plunged right in, expanding their merchandise to 
     include newspapers, guns, beer, and wine. As the line of 
     merchandise and inventory continually expanded, family 
     members helped out. First it was Dan Fraser and his wife 
     Bunny running it with Whit and Grace Hicks. Also at that 
     time, grandfather John pitched in and cemented the basement 
     of the store and stocked shelves, while the younger 
     generation filled in after school. In 1973 when Dan bought 
     out Whit and became sole proprietor, he was joined by his 
     sons, George and Jack. Today, there are eight Frasers working 
     at the store in various capacities.


                              good people

       ``What has kept me in the business is that I like the 
     people. I would have retired before, but I know it's hard to 
     find good people.''--Bill Fitzgerald, Dan & Whit's employee 
     off and on since 1934.
       When two brothers work 60 and 70 hours each per week, one 
     wonders how they can keep the peace. Jack and George say 
     their partnership works very well. ``We seldom fight,'' says 
     Jack despite their grueling work schedules and the constant 
     decisions that have to be made.
       If you're looking for the people person, you'll find George 
     up front managing staff, scheduling, hiring and training 
     people and overseeing the Produce Department. Jack, on the 
     other hand, is a product man. From his bench desk in the back 
     of the store, he manages the Hardware and Housewares 
     Departments.
       No doubt the brothers are handy and resourceful people. 
     However, working as many hours as they do, they gladly 
     entrust some of the major responsibilities to guys like Larry 
     Smith, one of their longest term employees, who runs the 
     grocery department, and Al Langlois and Ron Swift who have 
     the resourcefulness of a handy-man. Supervisor Linda Conrad 
     oversees the check-out counters and trains many of the new 
     hires. Then there's 82-year-old Bill Fitzgerald, with a white 
     apron over his work attire, who cruises the aisles helping 
     customers. Bill says that he first worked at the store in 
     1934, then after a number of years in the old drug stores in 
     Hanover, came back in 1964. He's been at Dan & Whit's ever 
     since.


                               the store

       ``I use Dan & Whit's as part of my tour when showing 
     property in Norwich. I always tell my customers to look 
     around Dan & Whit's and be sure to go to the back. It's 
     awesome.''--Brian Gardner, Realtor at The Gardner Agency, 
     Main Street, Norwich
       In the 22,600 square feet of space, 13,000 of that is 
     devoted to selling. The basement is as large as the main 
     store where vast amounts of goods are stored as is the huge 
     supply of wood for the store's main source of heat--a large 
     wood furnace. In former times, the store was heated by coal 
     and then by oil. Now the Frasers use 16 to 20 cords of wood a 
     year, most of it obtained by various arrangements Matt Fraser 
     makes with loggers and wood lot owners. A back-up supply of 
     split firewood is kept in the yard of Dan Fraser off Turnpike 
     Road. In times of extreme cold, an old railroad stove in the 
     basement is fired up.


                       the customer is everything

       ``We have a very serious responsibility to our customers, 
     and if we can't serve them and the community, we are in 
     trouble.''--George Fraser
       The very lifeblood of Dan & Whit's is the customer. 
     ``Helping our customers is most important for our business--
     more than any kind of media advertising,'' said George. ``We 
     train and orient our employees to be nice to them,'' adds 
     Jack.
       With so many products, helping the customer adjust to new 
     products and changing technology is a good example of the Dan 
     & Whit's customer-friendly philosophy. Jack tells about the 
     lady who came in to complain that the batteries she bought 
     from Dan & Whit's weren't working. She overlooked the fact 
     that she had to buy a charger for the batteries. ``Customers 
     do get confused,'' he said.


                            no cash required

       ``You know you have gone through an important rite of 
     passage when you get to sign your name at Dan & Whit's--which 
     seems to happen in the 3rd or 4th grade.''--Norwich attorney, 
     Garfield Miller
       Local, down-home trust has been a hallmark of Dan & Whit's 
     for years. How many places do you know (and it's practically 
     the year 2000) that still offer customer charge accounts. 
     About 30% of Dan & Whit's customers have charge privileges 
     which used to involve prepayments or deposits of up to $300, 
     but that minor inconvenience has since been dropped.
       ``Personal trust helped the store develop customer 
     loyalty,'' said George. ``. . . and it was also very 
     convenient. If a customer forgot their checkbook or wallet, 
     the store would carry them until the next time they came 
     in.''

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