Sam Drucker's General Store

Type

General Store

Location

Hooterville, The Valley

Owner(s)

Sam Drucker

Featured in

Granby's Green Acres (1950) and many other subsequent shows

“Small orders. That's all I ever get is "small orders". If I ever got a big order I'd think I was in the wrong store.”

―Sam Drucker

Sam Drucker's General Store is a general store in the small underpopulated town of Hooterville which serves as the main center of trade for the entire county. It is featured in the 1950 radio show Granby's Green Acres and its subsequent television spinoffs by Paul Henning, such as Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.

Overview[]

Sam Drucker's General Store was the only legitimate store in all of Hooterville without counting the fraudulent services of Mr. Haney's Mercantile Company. Though Sam's inventory was often limited and it sometimes took a long period for ordered goods to get delivered, one could always count on Drucker's supplies for reliability and effectiveness.

Due to Sam Drucker's many responsibilities and roles within Hooterville, the general store also serves as the town's official post office, firehouse, government office, law house, train station, bank, town hall and even as a clinic for distributing county flu shots; almost everything that needed being done could be done through the general store, including paying the bills or getting hitched. Drucker's store also served as a town hall of sorts for the Hooterville community, serving as a place for major announcements, town meetings, political visits, and several festivities, holidays and events were also held here, including the annual "Old Mail Day", a holiday conceived and held by Mr. Drucker where he hands out long lost mail which he found after doing his annual cleaning. There is also Barber Day where the Valley's only barber Windy Hinkle comes down from his position on the county seat to give haircuts at Drucker's every six weeks.

Even though Sam's services are always reliable, his business isn't very profitable, mostly due to Hooterville's low population and the lack of traffic in the Valley, as well as the stiff competition he receives from O'Donnel's Supermarket in Pixley, with Sam being lucky to make just below $75 dollars a year.

Staff[]

Owner[]

Sam Drucker is the owner, manager and proprietor of his titular general store and serves as one of the most important clerks in all of Hooterville. Sam is nothing if not honest and dutiful, and his services in the store are an essential part of Hooterville's daily life, and among his duties as store manager, he is also the town's acting postmaster, fire chief, deputy sheriff, sheriff, notary public, head banker, assistant conductor, county physician's assistant, county judge, representative for the county's Power & Light Company, editor-in-chief of the Hooterville World Guardian, justice of the peace, county clerk, water commissioner, and occasionally the deputy mayor or even mayor, along with many other roles from time to time, making him effectively responsible for running the whole town as well as his store.

Mr. Drucker also serves as the main supplier of food, goods and essentials for the Shady Rest Hotel, having maintained a very close relationship with the hotel's owner Kate Bradley for many years while also serving as her not-so-secret admirer.

Employees[]

Herbie Bates - Sam's diligent but often incompetent clerk, delivery boy, assistant and right-hand man who often handles the cleaning and upkeep of the store while Sam tends to his other responsibilities. He also maintains a romantic relationship with Billie Jo Bradley of the Shady Rest Hotel, and its his relationship with her that tends to distract him from his duties the most.
Joey - Sam's paperboy charged with helping to deliver copies of the Hooterville World Guardian all over town.
Arnold Ziffel - Part-time paperboy (technically "paperpig") for Sam Drucker who only took on the job so he could afford a colored TV set. Arnold is rather notable as he is actually a highly intelligent pig and the adopted son of the Ziffel family.

Products[]

Sam Drucker's store usually carried a limited number of products due to the remote location of The Valley and the lack of demand for anything uncommon by Hooterville locals, although Sam was always more than happy to order in products his customers might need from out of town via the delivery services of the Hooterville Cannonball, with such specialty supplies usually being ordered from the neighboring towns of Pixley and Crabwell Corners.

Assorted Farm Animal Feed
Brooms
Brushes
Button hooks
Clothes - Large selection of apparel stored in the back suitable for men, women and children. Expensive or brand-name items can be shipped to Drucker's but should be ordered in advanced. Delivery time may vary.
Cookware - Utensils, dishware, baskets, teapots, etc.
Discount perfume
Feather dusters
Food items - Vegetables, fruits, legumes, eggs, coffee, coffee beans, assorted fruit juices, salt, sugar, soda pop, tea, water, etc., all of which are supplied by the local farms in Hooterville.
Dingo's Canned Goods - Chicken, beef, sardines, vegetables, etc.
Farming Supplies - Rakes, hoes, plows, shovels, trowels, gloves, shears, garden hoses, watering cans, etc.
Pet Food
- Dog Biscuits
- "Pig Biscuits" - Actually just regular dog biscuits, but Drucker labels them as such for Arnold's enjoyment.
Post Office Supplies - Envelopes, postcards, stamps, boxes, etc.
Renway's Raccoon Coat Renewer
Seeds
Tools - Hammers, pliers, wrenches, screwdrivers, saws, spanners, etc.
Toys - Dolls, wooden toys, and Monotony the Board Game.

Appearances[]

Granby's Green Acres radio show (1950)
Beverly Hillbillies (1962)
Petticoat Junction (1963)
Green Acres (1965)
The Hooterville Handbook: A Viewer's Guide To Green Acres (1993)

Trivia[]

The store was notable for serving as the main link between all of Paul Henning's shows, with Sam Drucker and his store being the only recurring element that frequently interacted with all of the characters on a regular basis.
The store doubling as Hooterville's local newspaper service, and Sam Drucker, as its sole journalist, is likely based on the fact that Frank Cady, the actor who portrayed Sam Drucker, originally aspired to be a journalist before pursuing acting.