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When we were little, my sister and I always looked forward to trips to the hardware store with my dad. Honestly, for one main reason: the free popcorn. It was salty and classic, and it turned a simple errand into a reason to spend time together as a family.

Another story about a hardware store caught our attention recently. Up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, we heard a story about a hardware store that is a surprising hub for community: Harry's Hardware and the Den.

This hardware store serves pizza and beer and has regular live music. It's a total hangout spot for the locals and it has become a key part of the town.

What starts as an errand to pick up a few screws or some mulch turns into catching up with your neighbor over pizza and a beer.

Johanna Thibault is the co-owner of Harry's Hardware and the Den in Cabot, Vermont, and she wrote a story on how the community at Harry's came to be.

I would like to say I always had the dream of owning a general store in Vermont and creating a space for my community, but this wasn’t anywhere near in my cards and “10-years ago me” wouldn’t believe it if you told me this is where I would be today. I grew up in the military, both as a child and an adult, moving every few years, and never attending a school for more than two years until college. I met my husband while attending law school. He was accepted into the Army as a Judge Advocate, and we spent close to a decade moving every couple of years and even lived overseas in Germany where one of our sons was born. When someone asks me where I’m from, I can honestly say, “I don’t know” and generally respond with a smile and say, “I do not have a ‘from’”.

And when you’ve never had a hometown, the moment you land in a place that instantly feels like home, you don’t hesitate to plant roots. That place, for me, was Vermont. It stole my heart on day one. 

A lifetime of constant moving gave me a deep craving for community — somewhere to belong, to invest in, to show up for. A place where everyone knows your name and your story — and you honestly don’t mind. Cabot found us during a house-hunting trip, and we knew it was where we wanted to raise our boys and hopefully stay… forever. But something was missing. There was no “Third Place” — no informal spot to gather, laugh, unwind. This beautiful village had great people, but no hangout. 

The hardware store in town has been a fixture for over a century under various names, but for decades now it’s been known simply as “Harry’s Hardware.” Like many small-town stores, it struggled to compete with big box chains, Amazon, and online shopping. That’s when an idea hit me: what if the hardware store was also a bar? A hangout spot? A place to bring people together? 

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing — but my husband encouraged me to explore it. I approached the owners of Harry’s at the time and asked if they’d be open to a partnership. After months of long conversations and planning, we sealed the deal. And The Den was born. 

No one in Cabot really thought it would happen. And then, once it did, no one could imagine town life without it. We let the community guide us — listening closely, evolving gently. The business grew organically: we added plants, stage lighting for live music, reworked the merchandising to make space for gathering, and moved inventory downstairs to free up room for conversation and connection.

In early 2020, we leased a small café space at the back of the store and converted it into a kitchen to support The Den. Four weeks later, COVID hit.

The next two years tested everything — financially, emotionally, logistically. But we got creative. We held on. And just when we thought we might finally exhale, the July 2023 floods devastated Cabot. The store was hit hard — fuel tanks destroyed, merchandise washed away — and for a moment, I thought: This might be it. We’d barely survived the pandemic. Could we survive this?

But the next morning changed everything. Under a bright summer sky, I returned to assess the damage and found over 40 volunteers standing at the door, shovels in hand, ready to rebuild. We didn’t close for a single day. Customers kept coming, even when the store looked like a disaster zone. The Den became a hub for recovery — a space to lean on each other, to share meals and music, and to remember we weren’t alone. It became home in the truest sense.

That’s when I realized: no one was going to let me go. And I wasn’t going to leave.
I had to figure out how to stay, and rebuild, stronger than ever.

Harry’s Hardware and The Den are something special. But the magic didn’t come from me — it came from this extraordinary community. I just built a space where people could meet, talk, laugh, play games, listen to music, drink Vermont craft beer, and eat good food. Cabot was hungry for a Third Place.

And I tumbled, unsuspecting, right into my destiny.