Everyday groceries
Packaged foods and pantry basics — close at hand.
The plan
Rebuild the store. Add a café.
The plan: A community nonprofit owns the building, raises funds to rebuild it, and leases it to a seasoned local operator. We’re excited that the operator will be Margaret Loftus of Crossmolina Farm and Cookeville Market.
Below are details on how Thetford Center gets its store back. And please support us if you can! We have $1M left to raise to get this project to the finish line.
The Details
A store, a café, and room to gather.
By 2028, Thetford will have a new Village Store & Café — faithful to the spirit of the original building.
Fresh & local
Farm-fresh food from Vermont growers, including meat and produce from nearby Crossmolina Farm.
A café
Coffee, breakfast, an always-on menu, and prepared meals — made to enjoy at a table or carry home.
Room to gather
The Village Store & Café will have indoor tables and porch seating overlooking the Common and the Timothy Frost Building — a place to sit a while, not just stop in.
A spark for the village
The reborn Store & Café will catalyze the use and rejuvenation of neighboring gathering spaces — Town Hall, the Frost Building, the TCCA building, and the Thetford Center Common — and serve as a waystation for bikers, hikers, and snowmobilers enjoying the Union Village Dam Recreation Area.
Who will run it
“We are hoping to create a homey and welcoming place where people want to spend time and feel comfortable when they walk in the door.”
— Margaret Loftus, of Crossmolina Farm and the Cookeville Market, who will run the Village Store & Café.
How it works
Four steps to opening day.
Each step builds on the one before it — and the first is already done.
01
Complete · Jan 2026
Buy the building
The Trust acquired the Village Store property.
02
Underway
Raise $1.5M
Through donations and grants, we are funding the rebuild. More than $500,000 is already committed.
03
Next
Rebuild & expand
We will rebuild the store in keeping with its historic look and expand it into a Store & Café.
04
2028
Open the doors
A local operator takes over day-to-day, and the Village Store & Café welcomes the community back.
It already works in Vermont.
A number of towns have brought back their village stores with a similar community-owned model:
Where we stand
We've raised over $500,000 — and we're just getting started.
$0Goal · $1.5M
$500K+
raised so far
$1.5M
total campaign goal
$1M
still to raise
Every gift moves us closer to a 2028 reopening. Donations are tax-deductible.
Donate to the campaign
Help bring it home
Turn this plan into an open door.
Every gift — large or small — helps rebuild the heart of Thetford Center. With your support, the doors open again in 2028.
Give now
The Thetford Center Community Trust is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Gifts are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. Thetford Center Community Trust’s EIN is 99-3567766.