From Talley’s Alley to Front and Center Floyd
I was in town for grocery shopping this week and the County Sales sign stopped me in my tracks. I’ve lived in Floyd long enough to see the building it hung from change from The Harvest Moon Food Store to noteBooks and The Black Water Loft Coffee House. Some can remember back far enough to when it was an appliance store before the Harvest Moon owners renovated the building. 
It’s not a new store but a new location, and Dylan Locke and Heather Krantz of Floyd Country Store are the new owners. Apparently, the previous owner, Dave Freeman moved to Floyd in 1974 with his County Sales mail order business of bluegrass and old-time recordings and built it into a popular historic venue on Virginia’s Crooked Road Heritage Music Trail. For all those years, it was tucked away down Talley’s Alley in Floyd’s long-ago movie theater. Now it’s front and center, across the street from Floyd Country Store, next to the Farmers Market Pavilion. You can’t miss it.
“Self-proclaimed by the previous owner as the largest bluegrass collection in the world,” new owner Dylan Locke told me. There are approximately 12,000 pieces of new and old recordings available in the store or from the website countysales.com.
I missed the soft opening last week but my hubby Joe went and said it was fun and well attended, with live music from Nobody’s businesses and delicious food from the Country Store. I’ve already written down the Grand Opening dates on my calendar, April 11- 13, and don’t plan to miss that. See you there!
P.S. Floyd Music Lab coming soon upstairs.
February 22nd, 2019 4:06 pm
Wow, a record store! I go crazy when I see several bins of used albums at an antique store. Not that I would buy any since we no longer have a record player.
February 23rd, 2019 8:27 am
Nice article and photos for new County Sales!
February 25th, 2019 12:37 pm
This old store belonged to my Dad, P.L. Shelor, who ran a business under the name ‘Floyd Electric Company” for over 40 years until he passed away in 1979. He had the Frigidaire franchise and primarily sold and serviced those products. My brothers and I spent many, many days working in the store and helping our father deliver and maintain appliances.
It’s good to see the old building still standing and looking proud. If walls could talk there would be some pretty interesting stories told about what transpired in that store.
February 25th, 2019 12:55 pm
Thanks so much for sharing that important piece of history, Leonard!