Bringing the Village Store back to life.
For generations, the Village Store was where Thetford Center met — for coffee, for the mail, for a word with a neighbor. We are a nonprofit group of neighbors rebuilding it as a store and café, so it can be that place again.
Today
The vision
The Thetford Center Community Trust is a non-profit based in Thetford, Vermont. We’re a registered 501(c)(3) with an all-volunteer board of local residents.
Our mission: To revive the Village Store so our neighbors in this beautiful town have a welcoming space to gather.
Learn more about us
The Village Store is the heart of town.
A town anchor
Thetford Center is a historic village with the bones to be a vibrant town hub. The Village Store anchored it beginning in the 1890s. Until recently, it was a spot where Thetford neighbors met.
Closed since 2022
The store shut its doors in 2022, and the post office followed in 2025. The building now sits empty — and deteriorating.
Bringing it back
Restoring the store restores the village's gathering place — a reason to stop, slow down, and see one another again.
A spark for the village
The revived Village Store & Café is also a key to jumpstart the revitalization of this beautiful village center. A thriving store will bring people to the village, opening opportunities for the adjacent buildings and the Thetford Center Common.
Rebuild the store. Add space for a café. Keep it community focused.
Our path has worked in several Vermont communities: a community nonprofit owns the building, raises the funds to rebuild it, and leases to a local operator who serves the community’s needs.
Our goal: By 2028, Thetford will have a new Village Store & Café with packaged goods, farm-fresh food, and prepared meals for takeout. The café will be a space to grab a bite with friends and a coffee or beer. It’ll have indoor seats and outdoor porches overlooking the Common and the Timothy Frost Building.
Buy the building
The Trust acquired the Village Store property.
Raise $1.5M
Through donations and grants, we are funding the rebuild. More than $600,000 has already been donated & committed.
Rebuild & expand
We will restore the building in keeping with its historic look and expand it into a Store & Café.
Open the doors
A local operator takes over day-to-day, and the Village Store & Café welcomes the community back.
We've raised over $600,000 — and we're just getting started.
Every gift moves us closer to a 2028 reopening. Donations are tax-deductible.
Donate to the campaignThe Village Store revival, covered.
The effort to bring back the store has drawn attention across the Upper Valley and beyond.
Be part of the village that rebuilt its store.
Every gift — large or small — helps rebuild the heart of Thetford Center. With your support, the doors open again in 2028.
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.