Vermont Country Stores Lowers Standards, Begins Selling Sex Toys, Aids

Some may be familiar with "The Vermont Country Store" (VCS)from its catalog or one of its stores. It's been understood by mmost that VCS has been a source of quality, hard-to-find, and unique items such as toys, apparel, food & candy, etc. Some see it as a business geared to satisfying traditional family-oriented needs.

The website for the business states:

In 1945, Vrest and Ellen Orton printed their first catalogue—just 12 pages and 36 products—and mailed it to the folks on their Christmas card list. Vrest, a frugal Yankee at heart, insisted that the merchandise be durable and above all practical. His wife Ellen, who grew up on the Wilcox dairy farm in nearby Manchester, Vermont, made certain the new business was as practical as the products it sold....

The Family Tradition Continues
Third and fourth generation storekeepers and still going strong

The Vermont Country Store is owned by Lyman Orton and sons Cabot, Gardner, and Eliot, 7th & 8th generation Vermonters, and 3rd & 4th generation storekeepers, who still adhere to the old-fashioned values set forth by Vrest and take pride in being The Purveyors of the Practical and Hard-to-Find...

"We still go to great lengths to find products that aren't sold anywhere else," said Eliot Orton.

Now, it seems, that the business has decided to sell "Adult" items that many people find offensive. Apparently, management feels the need to cash in on the nation's widespread immorality and wrap the packages up in "Family Tradition" - this looks better, I suppose, than the plain brown wrappers that the "Adults only" sex/perversion shops use for shipping.

It looks as if America has suffered another casualty in the culture war now that owner, Lyman Orton, has decided to include these "hard-to-find" items in the Christmas catalog and on the web site. Unfortunately, family values and morality takes another hit. It should come as no surprise that Orton's decision will result in negative consequences. We can understand why families and individuals, who still believe in virtue and morality and who are prepared to spend their hard earned money with like-minded businesses, will abandon VCS for other suppliers. I would certainly support such an effort. Any business that wraps itself in in a veneer of family values and tradition while promoting products geared to sexual immorality is unworthy of my business.

Some have already scratched "The Vermont Country Store" from their Christmas shopping lists. More, no doubt, will follow.

HT to Mark S. for the info.