HOOKSETT, N.H. – Baked bacon cheeseburger with a side salad and macaroni and cheese were the specials last weekend at Robie’s Country Store, the now-legendary New Hampshire general store that has stood for more than 150 years by the Merrimack River in the small village of Hooksett. Robie’s has long been a mandatory stop for presidential candidates during the state’s early primary. The locals like to say that “no one’s been elected president unless they come to Robie’s.”
“It was such a tremendous experience,” Dorothy Robie said of her 35 years working at this small-town political hub alongside her husband, Lloyd. Today the octogenarian couple, whose health problems – in particular Mr. Robie’s Alzheimer’s – forced them to sell the shop in 1997, watches their beloved store from the nearby front porch of their large colonial-style home. The soft-spoken and kind-mannered Mrs. Robie keeps notes and newspaper clippings all over her living room to help her keep track of the extraordinary guests she was honored to have. “It’s hard to remember everything,” she said apologetically.
Before the railroad came to town in 1842, the building that houses Robie’s had a dock where it received merchandise. The store is Hooksett’s oldest shop, and after having suffered two fires and a flood, it still stands almost unchanged, as a proud, elegant and iconic part of the local landscape. It stands alone, almost majestic, by the crossing of the river, railroad and asphalt, its burgundy and white wood façade coloring the quiet skyline.
Memorabilia is everywhere in this timeless shop. The immaculate white walls are crowded with campaign posters from as far back as Roosevelt and Truman, Republican and Democratic flyers and pins and framed pictures. One of the posters, for the Nixon-Lodge formula, displays the slogan “Experience counts. Vote.”
Arrays of candidates, ex-presidents and prominent reporters have stopped by, and the pictures are there to prove it. Most have autographs and messages dedicated to the Robies.
“With best wishes and appreciation,” reads an autographed portrait of George H. W. Bush. “To Dorothy and Lloyd Robie, my good and warm friends, all the best,” wrote ABC’s Frank Reynolds.
Lloyd Robie, the great grandson of George A. Robie, who acquired the store in 1887, is a celebrity in his own right. He became famous in 1975, the day Jimmy Carter paid an unexpected visit, Dorothy Robie reminisced.
“How do you do Mr. Robie? I’m Jimmy Carter and I’m running for president,” Carter said.
“Jimmy who?” replied Robie, who was hard of hearing.
Days later, that candid question made the cover of Newsweek, and a picture of the Hooksett man behind the counter, greeting the presidential candidate, became a favorite among Robie’s visitors. The 25th anniversary of Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign was marked by an exhibition titled From “Jimmy Who?” to “Mr. President.”
But many things have changed since the days when Dorothy Robie baked beans and made cupcakes and brownies for customers.
“With the last [primary] we noticed the difference,” she said. “Now candidates like to meet in places where they can just get a lot of people in.”
Like most locals, Dorothy Robie does not want to see the long-standing traditions that have defined the New Hampshire primary fade away.
“We want to be able to shake candidates’ hands and ask them, ‘How do you stand on healthcare?'” said Dan Mitton, the store’s new proprietor. Along with business partner Stephen Cristou, Mitton has been running Robie’s Country Store since last May. He is well aware of the store’s history and significance and is hoping to keep this small gem alive.
“We brought it back to life,” Mitton said, noting the extensive repair and preservation work that was put into the store, which is now an official project of Save America’s Treasures and part of the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
Mitton expects to see most of this election’s candidates join the long list of political legends that have dropped in to eat their big sandwiches and maybe play a game of checkers. Retired four-star general and Democratic hopeful Wesley Clark had to cancel a scheduled press conference because of the past week’s bad weather, but Mitton said he will surely stop by. And after one candidate visits Robie’s, he said, “the others are going to follow.”
It was business as usual last weekend at Robie’s. Like most days, locals and a few passersby came in for sodas, coffee or Genoa salami and cheese sandwiches. Yet expectation was brewing as the cold sun came in through the store’s large windows and over its antique clocks, the old post office sign, the candy-filled glass canisters, the wood radio, the scented soaps and goat milk hand lotions.
This living symbol of the spirit and tradition of the primaries awaits the next president.