The Great Smoky Mountains. We love these mountains, where the past and present share the same space, and old stories echo through the trees if you pause to look and listen. Many stories and sights too wonderful to be contained in the mountains have spilled out of the hearts of folks in written word and pictures so they can be shared with everyone.
Books. They take you almost anywhere. Marvelous hiking trails for the mind! And we’d like to help you go anywhere you choose. Learning and adventures await you in our large selection of local interest books. Look back through time in our history section. Let your imagination make a delicious meal as you browse cookbooks. Open a children’s book and let yourself be silly as you love the little ones in your life. Allow time to browse our nostalgic gifts, and sit and work a puzzle or play checkers.
Remember going with dad or grandpa to the old country store to get a moonpie and a RC cola? Sitting on the porch, talking and laughing at the end of the day. We have your RC, all five flavors of moonpies, and old time candy. And now that you’ve picked out a couple books to read, it’s time to enjoy whatever marvelous hiking trails you want!
We’re MoonPie General Store and the Original Book Warehouse in Pigeon Forge. Your hometown bookstore in the Great Smoky Mountains since 1987. (Photo credit to Dr. Larry Love, Sevierville, TN)
Michael Beagan
If you visit The Great Smoky Mountains you might be lucky enough…and surprised…to see a bear! They are just one of the many beautiful things to take notice of if you can make time for a hike. A couple weeks ago I went on a hike using the Little River Trail that starts in Elkmont. This trail follows alongside a river, and I took many beautiful pictures. And I said to myself “This is a thinking man’s trail” because it was mostly flat and easy, and I didn’t have to give all my attention to where I was stepping. After about 2.5 miles, I started my return to Elkmont using the Cucumber Gap Trail. Recent rains has raised the height of a little stream I had to cross, but I removed my shoes and socks and found a stick to help me make my way across. I was hiking alone, and at times on the Cucumber Gap Trail I thought I might be lost (I wasn’t) and also thought for a couple brief moments what if a bear confronts me (didn’t happen). I was watching for bear droppings on the trail and didn’t see any, so I wasn’t too worried. I also wondered as it got later in the day, “I wonder when my wife would send the park rangers to look for me” if I do get lost. Truth is, I was always on the main trail and it just took longer to hike back to Elkmont. The whole hike was wonderful. It is amazing what time in the mountains will do. It is truly good for a man’s soul…a woman’s soul, too!
If you don’t get to spend time on a trail, perhaps you’ll spend time visiting our store. If you do, you’ll find moonpies and moonpie merchandise, old time candies and sodas, plenty of books…and oh, yes, gifts of all sorts including tin signs, quilt kits and quilts, kids’ toys, some collectibles, Christian gifts…and yes, bears! We have a wonderful shop just inside the one entrance that features books about The Great Smoky Mountains (hiking and history), books by local authors, fictional stories about these mountains-Appalachia-the South, as well as Smoky Mountain gift items such as bears and mugs, magnets and pictures, and more!
Give us a phone call to ask questions or visit our website to learn more about us! And consider following us on facebook at www.facebook/.com/MoonPieGeneralStoreTN to keep updated about our store, our product, things happening in our area, and the many good customers who have come by and shared their stories with us.
Michael Beagan
Sometimes
Less is better than more.
One is better than two.
Resting is better than doing.
Saving is better than spending.
Listening is better than talking.
Not having is better than having.
Sometimes.
Quiet is better than loud.
Better than any noise at all.
And a good book is quiet.
And you find your spot,
Your space or your chair.
And you open that book.
And it is enough.
You have your space. We have your book. Come see us!
Michael Beagan
So I was thinking about puzzles, and the word “puzzled.” Puzzled means to be confused by something we don’t understand. And a puzzle is a game or toy designed to test our skill at finding order or organization or making sense of something that seems confusing. We sell a lot of jigsaw puzzles here at the MoonPie General Store…we think our selection and prices are quite good. Some folks seem to buy quite a few through the winter months, wanting something to do indoors when outdoor activity is more restricted. No doubt putting together a puzzle occupies time, keeps the mind sharp, gives a sense of accomplishment, and is fun to work on. Some folks find it relaxing…maybe even a way to relieve stress. All those puzzle pieces, looking similar to one another, waiting to be assembled to create a picture. All you need is a little time and a space on a flat surface…and you’re ready to go! And in our store we usually have two puzzle tables for people to sit at if they are waiting for others in their group to finish shopping. Some folks come in and head straight to the puzzle table! Not interested in puzzles? We invite you to browse our shelves for a few good books to take home with you. Perhaps you prefer to be puzzled by a good mystery or novel. Browse our history section for a look back at how the past has impacted the present. Find a book about our Great Smoky Mountains and the surrounding area. Take home a cookbook to help you put a new delicious meal on your table. Read a biography and be inspired by their remarkable and unusual story. Or buy a journal and begin writing your own remarkable story! And look over our nostalgic gifts that include wood and tin signs, quilt kits, Smoky mountain bears and mugs, Christian gifts, and much more including many MoonPie gift items.
Whether you come to shop, or come to sit…we are glad to have you in our store. We’re not puzzled or confused at all about why we’re here…we’re here for you! Come see us, and we say “thank you!”
Mike Beagan
The basement. Did you know our MoonPie General Store has a basement? Go to the back of the store and down the stairs. We call it our “GREAT BUY” Basement. So what’s down there? Well, our buyer is making some purchases, books and gifts, specifically for the basement. And some merchandise started upstairs, but later was marked down and sent to the basement. There are boxed greeting cards, southern gospel CD’s, Webkinz, and books and gifts of all sorts. We had a recent buy of Guideposts inspirational fiction books, nice hardcovers, and found in the basement at $3.99 each. We have four new devotional journals that are very nice, hardcover, regular $16.99, but sale priced in the basement at $4.99 each.
What else is in the basement? Well we have a children’s table and chairs on a carpet at the front, and are working to put more and more kids books in the basement. We have just pulled a bunch and marked them half off, and are putting them in the basement now. And in the back third of the basement, we have created a books section signed “$3 OR LESS”, with older marked down books. Hardcovers selling at $3, Paperbacks selling at $2, and find three books you like here, and we’ll give you the 4th book FREE. Who doesn’t like FREE?
The basement continues to be a work in progress, but if you visit often enough we think you’ll see that we are working, working, and working some more down there to bring you GREAT BUY product at GREAT prices, and also trying to make our basement more attractive and organized.
Seems like we’re almost through January already. Whew! We hope you are enjoying this start to 2018. Be good to the people in your life, and come visit our store when you are in town. And we say “thank you!”
Mike Beagan
About 1987, a Book Warehouse store opened on the Parkway in Pigeon Forge. It became a favorite stop for both locals and tourists to find great buys on books. Fast forward 25 years. Changes in the book business caused the owners to be looking for another “brand” to partner with the Book Warehouse brand. And in early 2012, the store became MoonPie General Store and the Original Book Warehouse. The inside of the store went through some radical changes, as bookshelves and books were pushed to one side, making room for moonpies and MoonPie brand product, and a great gift assortment on the other side. And the intent was to make the moonpie/gift side look as though you were walking down an old time main street with little shops to your left and right, and offer many old time, nostalgic gift items in the store. Mission accomplished, and three years later we are still receiving wonderful compliments almost every day from our customers about the changes we made when we became MoonPie General Store!
So what have we been doing more recently? Good question, and here’s my answer:
- We made some changes to our inventory over the past year to greatly increase the number of new releases and best selling titles that we offer…wanting our customers to find those frequently requested titles on our shelves.
- Speaking of “finding stuff,” we just introduced a new sign package to guide you to the various book categories around the store…and really, it is the first new signage for our books in 25 years.
- We have been getting much more active on facebook, keeping customers informed of happenings like author events and showing pictures of new product and in-store displays.
- And this website you’ve reading this blog on is brand new for us, and we may have a few bugs to work out yet. Deciding to sell selected product online is another new step for us…check out the shopping tab and some of the great product we are offering!
- And we have a new gift card program we are about to roll out.
Perhaps you’ve been in our store before…or you are checking us out for the first time on our website. It is our hope that you will make us a destination when you are come to Pigeon Forge/Dollywood/Great Smoky Mountains…and that we will impress you and spoil you enough that you come see us every time you are here!
