Mast General Store Winston-Salem

Mast General Store Winston-Salem is one of the most substantial retail destinations in downtown Winston-Salem, NC — a 70,000-square-foot general store occupying the historic Brown-Rogers-Dixson Hardware building that opened in March 1928 as Winston-Salem’s largest business at the time. Mast Store officially opened at the location in May 2015, adding Winston-Salem to the family and employee-owned chain’s growing NC-and-broader-Southeast footprint that traces its origins back to the original Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, NC, established in 1883.

The Winston-Salem location genuinely captures the Mast Store’s classic identity — over 500 varieties of old-fashioned candy (a signature Mast Store feature), cast iron cookware, handmade rocking chairs, comfortable footwear and outdoor gear, traditional fashions, and a curated Southern pantry section featuring MoodPies, RC Colas, Old Mill of Guilford grits and cornmeal, Buck O’Hairen’s Sunshine chilled in a vintage cooler, and locally made Fulton & Roark’s solid cologne (a Winston-Salem-founded brand).

Be sure to check out the pictures below to get a feel for Mast General Store Winston-Salem before you go — or to relive the visit after.

The 1928 Brown-Rogers-Dixson Building — Winston-Salem’s Largest Retailer

Mast General Store Winston-Salem occupies genuinely substantial retail architectural history. The building’s story begins in 1880, when Thomas Jethro Brown, Mitchell Rogers, and William Carter founded Brown-Rogers & Co. at the corner of Fourth and Main Streets — recognizing the retail needs of a growing tobacco and manufacturing trade center in Winston. In 1915, W.N. Dixson joined the company as vice-president and general manager, and after Carter’s passing in 1924, Dixson purchased his shares and became president, renaming the company Brown-Rogers-Dixson (B-R-D).

With Winston-Salem’s population growing rapidly following the 1913 Winston-Salem merger, B-R-D commissioned a new, larger building designed by Northup & O’Brien — the architectural firm that designed several prominent buildings across Winston-Salem. When the B-R-D building opened in March 1928, it was Winston-Salem’s largest business, with 70,000 square feet of space, making it one of the largest retail/wholesale spaces anywhere in the South. The company’s slogan captured its retail ambition perfectly: “The Best Place to Get It.”

The building’s construction included genuinely substantive sourcing of materials. The original flooring in the fashion and mercantile departments was harvested from the Pisgah Forest by the Carr Lumber Company — a substantive NC forestry operation that George Vanderbilt of Biltmore Estate had sold acreage to at just $12 per acre, with a genuinely progressive requirement that Carr Lumber selectively harvest weak trees first and replant new trees to replace those taken. That kind of intentional early-20th-century sustainable forestry gives the Mast Store’s floorboards a genuine NC heritage provenance.

B-R-D dominated Winston-Salem’s retail scene through World War II. Its stock included everything from nuts and bolts to sporting goods, and the company genuinely adapted to wartime shortages — manufacturing its own wooden wagons for children when steel wasn’t available for toys. B-R-D expanded across the Carolinas with warehouses in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Columbia, giving many customers next-day order fulfillment.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, B-R-D determined it could better serve clients through wholesale operations only, and the retail side was discontinued. Uniquely among Mast Store locations, B-R-D is still in business today on Cloverleaf Drive in Winston-Salem — servicing independent appliance dealers and helping small retailers compete against big-box chains. After B-R-D left the building, it went through a series of owners and housed offices and a satellite police department, before being listed as a contributing property for the Arts District Historic District.

Mast Store officially opened at 516 N. Trade Street in May 2015, and in May 2025, the Winston-Salem location celebrated 10 years on Trade Street under longtime general manager Ann Marie Bishop.

The Mast General Store Brand — 1883 Valle Crucis Origins to 11 Locations

The Winston-Salem Mast Store is part of a genuinely substantial NC general store chain with roots reaching back to 1883. The original Mast General Store building was constructed in 1882 in Valle Crucis, NC, by Henry Taylor as a general store to serve the small mountain community in Watauga County. In 1897, W.W. Mast purchased half interest in the store, which was renamed the “Taylor and Mast General Store,” and in 1913, Mast purchased the remaining half of Taylor’s interest, giving the business its current name: Mast General Store.

The original Valle Crucis Mast General Store is genuinely singular in American retail architectural history. In 1973, the National Register of Historic Places added the original Mast General Store as one of the best remaining examples of an American general store anywhere in the country. Today, the original Valle Crucis store still houses the local post office and famously offers coffee for 5 cents on the honor system — a substantive throwback to the general store retail tradition of pre-industrial-era America.

Mast General Store has expanded to 11 locations across the Southeast — including two in Valle Crucis (the original store plus the annex), plus Waynesville, NC (1991), Hendersonville, NC, Asheville, NC, Boone, NC, Knoxville, TN, Columbia, SC, Greenville, SC, Roanoke, VA (2020), and Winston-Salem, NC (2015). The chain remains family- and employee-owned — a genuinely rare corporate structure for a regional retail brand of Mast’s substantial scale.

What to Look For — Old-Fashioned Candy, Cast Iron, and NC Local Goods

Mast General Store Winston-Salem carries genuinely substantial classic and modern inventory across cast iron cookware, handmade home goods, outdoor gear, footwear, and traditional fashions — but the store’s most distinctive experience is the 500+ varieties of old-fashioned candy displayed in the classic Mast Store candy barrels. Chocolate bars, caramels, taffy, licorice, jelly beans, and hard candy across every era of American confectionery history make the candy section a genuinely singular experience — and the pound-based pricing makes exploration accessible for visitors of all ages.

The Southern pantry section captures the store’s regional identity. Classic MoonPies and RC Colas anchor the Southern staples display, alongside NC-made Old Mill of Guilford grits and cornmeal (from the historic Guilford County mill), Buck O’Hairen’s Sunshine chilled to perfection in a vintage cooler, and Fulton & Roark’s solid men’s cologne — a Winston-Salem-founded brand that Mast Store has platformed across its locations.

For outdoor gear and clothing, the Winston-Salem store carries a substantial slate of nationally recognized brands, including L.L.Bean, Patagonia, Carhartt, Columbia, KUHL, Free Fly, Toad&Co, and Howler Brothers. For footwear, expect Birkenstock, Merrell, Hoka, KEEN, OluKai, Blundstone, and On Running. Beyond clothing, look for cast iron cookware (including Lodge — the substantial NC-neighboring cast iron brand from Tennessee), Stanley drinkware, Yeti coolers and drinkware, and locally significant NC-region food and beverage brands throughout.

Good to Know

• Location: 516 North Trade Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101
• Size: 70,000 square feet
• Winston-Salem store opened: May 2015 (celebrated 10 years on Trade Street in May 2025)
• General manager: Ann Marie Bishop
• Building history: Historic Brown-Rogers-Dixson Hardware Store building (opened March 1928); designed by Northup & O’Brien; original flooring in fashion and mercantile departments harvested from the Pisgah Forest by Carr Lumber Company; listed as a contributing property for the Arts District Historic District
• Original flooring provenance: Pisgah Forest lumber sourced by Carr Lumber Company from acreage sold by George Vanderbilt (Biltmore Estate) at $12 per acre with sustainable forestry requirements
• Broader Mast General Store brand:
• Original Mast General Store, founded in 1883 in Valle Crucis, NC (built 1882 by Henry Taylor; W.W. Mast purchased half interest in 1897, the remaining half in 1913)
• Original Valle Crucis store listed on the National Register of Historic Places (April 3, 1973) — recognized as one of the best remaining examples of an American general store
• The original Valle Crucis store still offers coffee for 5 cents on the honor system
• Family and employee-owned
• 11 locations across NC, SC, TN, and VA
• Signature merchandise:
• 500+ varieties of old-fashioned candy (candy barrels, pound-based pricing)
• Cast iron cookware
• Handmade rocking chairs
• Outdoor gear and clothing (L.L.Bean, Patagonia, Carhartt, Columbia, KUHL, Free Fly, Toad&Co, Howler Brothers)
• Footwear (Birkenstock, Merrell, Hoka, KEEN, OluKai, Blundstone, On Running)
• Southern pantry — MoonPies, RC Colas, Old Mill of Guilford grits and cornmeal (NC), Buck O’Hairen’s Sunshine (chilled in vintage cooler), Fulton & Roark’s solid cologne (Winston-Salem brand)
• Parking: 6th/Cherry-Trade Parking Deck at 525 Cherry Street N; park on the 2nd level and walk directly into the store; free street parking after 6 pm on weekdays and all day on weekends
• Signature annual event: Sidewalk Sale (mid-July annually)
• Admission: Free (retail store; purchase optional)
• Hours: Check the Mast General Store Winston-Salem website for current specific hours
• Best for: Retail enthusiasts (particularly for classic general store retail experience), old-fashioned candy fans (500+ varieties), cast iron cookware collectors, outdoor gear shoppers, Southern pantry enthusiasts, adaptive-reuse architecture enthusiasts, NC retail history enthusiasts, and downtown Winston-Salem visitors
• Pair with: The full Winston-Salem attractions cluster; a natural downtown Winston-Salem walking pattern combining Mast General Store with Artivity on the Green, Bailey Park, and the Bailey Power Plant; Kaleideum for a downtown family destination; or Winston-Salem’s flagship historical destinations, including Historic Bethabara Park and Old Salem Museums & Gardens

A Winston-Salem Highlight

Mast General Store Winston-Salem is the kind of stop that stays with you for the sheer completeness of the retail and historical experience. Between the 1928 Brown-Rogers-Dixson Hardware Store building (Winston-Salem’s largest business when it opened, at 70,000 square feet — one of the largest retail/wholesale spaces anywhere in the South), the Pisgah Forest-sourced original flooring with its George Vanderbilt-Biltmore Estate provenance, the B-R-D “Best Place to Get It” retail heritage, and the May 2015 Mast Store transformation that put the building back into use as a substantial downtown retail anchor, this Mast Store location represents genuinely substantive Winston-Salem retail history preserved into modern use.

The broader Mast General Store brand context rounds out the appeal. Between the 1883 Valle Crucis, NC origin, the National Register of Historic Places recognition of the original store as one of the best remaining examples of an American general store anywhere in the country, the ongoing 5-cent honor-system coffee at the original Valle Crucis location, and the family and employee-owned corporate structure that spans 11 locations across NC, SC, TN, and VA, Mast General Store operates as a genuinely substantial regional NC retail brand rather than a generic tourist-focused general store recreation.

Combined with the 500+ varieties of old-fashioned candy, the substantive outdoor gear and clothing selection, the Southern pantry showcasing NC and regional brands, and the walking-distance proximity to Artivity on the Green, Bailey Park, and Bailey Power Plant in the downtown corridor, Mast General Store Winston-Salem has become one of the most consistently rewarding downtown retail destinations anywhere in the greater Forsyth County / Piedmont Triad region.

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Resources

Mast General Store – Winston-Salem Webpage

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