We have been at our current location in the old general store at 100 Main Street in Tallulah Falls, Georgia full time since August 1st, 2020. We opened up for the weekends in July starting July 4th weekend. Before opening up The General Store full time, we had been on the Scenic Loop in Tallulah Falls, right on the edge of Tallulah Gorge, operating that fantastic spot as Tallulah Point Overlook for 26 years!
At the end of May 2020, we received notice from our landlord of 26 years that he wanted his building for other purposes, so it was with a very heavy heart that we started considering our options. Fortunately, we were able to start leasing the old general store within days of receiving the notice! Maybe things weren’t going to be as bad as we thought! At least we had somewhere else to relocate to, as much as we were saddened and heartbroken over having to leave our beloved Tallulah Point Overlook. What follows is the story of how we got there to begin with.
It was 1994 and we knew that Tallulah Gorge was about to become a State Park. My husband, Don, had the idea to rent out mountain bikes to the people who would be coming to the Park. We talked to Bill Tanner, the superintendent at the Park, about having a trailer at the park for the bikes. We realized that was going to be more red tape than what we wanted to deal with, plus it would be limiting. We thought that it would be nice to be able to sell drinks and maybe even t-shirts. We started looking around for some other options.
We decided that the old Gorge overlook, Tallulah Point, would be a great place to house our mountain bike rental business and sell a few other things on the side as well. We talked to the owners, and ten days later, after borrowing $100 off of our credit card and going to Sam’s for drinks and snacks, we opened up for the first time on August 20th, 1994! Not only that, but we also contacted our craftspeople friends, asking them to put their creations on consignment. There was also old inventory left in the shop from when it had been open five years previously.
So with $100, items on consignment, and the old inventory, we began our store. No capital! No business plan! We had no idea what we were getting into. We were just flying by the seat of our pants. That first day, we doubled our $100 investment. We purchased our mountain bikes that fall, but it was the store that took off.
We spent those first few years only being open April through November, and only renting a portion of the building. Over the years, we expanded our hours and our space and and were open 363 days out of the year (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas days) and leased the entire property. We weathered quite a few storms but always managed to keep our doors open thanks to all our wonderful customers who literally came from all over the world.
We greatly appreciated our regular customers who included a stop as part of their mountain travels. It gave me great joy to hear a customer say how they used to come when they were a child and are now bringing their own children, or the older parent who said they brought their children and now are bringing their grandchildren! Generations have made Tallulah Point part of their family tradition.
It has been a fun adventure and an amazing learning experience! Many thanks to everyone who has been a part of making Tallulah Point a thriving reality all these years!!!
Many thanks for all the support we have gotten from our customers during the 2020 turbulent summer of change! It’s been amazing and very heartwarming the outpouring of love, support, and encouragement we have felt from everyone! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.