Welcome back fellow Hallmark fans!  Thank you SO MUCH for making yesterday my busiest day to date on the blog.  And thank you for the comments left here and on Facebook.  Now, here is the bonus post I promised yesterday….. the All of My Heart General Store!

Like so many of you, I am a huge fan of the Hallmark movie All of My Heart.  There is just something special about this one.  Brennan Elliott nailed it as his character, Brian, evolves from a high strung Wall Street trader to the loveable, wannabe-Mr. Fix-it guy.  One of my favorite scenes is when he and Jenny (played by Lacey Chabert) are trying to agree on a new paint color for the farmhouse.  One wants blue, the other wants yellow.  Jenny hesitantly offers a compromise: “A pale green, you know, like a seafoam mint. Something that doesn’t compete with the color of the trees,” to which Brian responds, “Right, of course, a non-competitive seafoam mint.  I’ll see if he has that color.”  Hilarious!  It should come as no surprise that I anxiously tracked down the general store from the movie.  I couldn’t wait to actually see it in person.   I was dying to know….. was there really a bell above the front door?

What we know as the general store is actually the Clayburn Village Store & Tea Shop, a 100-year-old building in the historic Clayburn Village area of Abbotsford, BC. According to the villages website, it was the first “company town” in British Columbia, a town built by the Clayburn Company to provide employee housing and services. The Clayburn Village Store was built in 1912 and sold everything from groceries to life insurance and even served as a social gathering spot. In 1987, the store was purchased by its current owners, Bryan & Patricia Haber, who lovingly restored it over a four-and-a-half-year period that included complete re-wiring, re-plumbing, re-plastering, and re-painting.

One side of the store sells imported specialty items including British teas, snacks and sweets, locally made preserves, and candy. There is an impressive display of glass jars filled with an assortment of bulk candies for purchase, sure to leave you feeling a bit nostalgic. (I personally purchased several packs of Cotton Candy Pop Rocks….I’m obsessed with Cotton Candy anything!)  They offer a selection of signature items sold under the Clayburn General Store name; jams and a maple butter-pecan syrup, bottled on site.

The other side of the store is a café serving tea and lunches. The freshly baked scone I had was scrumptious.  My husband had a Ploughman sandwich and has mentioned several times how delicious the cheese was. The service was quick and everything is prepared to order. There is also a fenced in outdoor garden seating area off one side of the shop to enjoy on a sun filled summer day.

I had a chance to look around during my visit and I can tell you, this is a very busy place, despite its out of the way location. The owner proudly rings up patrons while engaging in friendly chatter. I watched a lot of people come in and put together a small bag of the candies on display, while others went for a British favorite, like a bag of crisps or McVitie’s biscuits. I found everything to be displayed nicely. According to the shops website, they are closed certain full months out of the year for scheduled building maintenance.

Now, let’s talk about filming!  The general store showed up throughout favorite Hallmark movie, All of My Heart.  I loved the scenes involving shop owner Tommy, played by actor Daniel Cudmore.  His one liners were entertaining and snarky.  I can’t help but wonder if there is a reel of outtakes laying around in some production company basement somewhere.  The interaction between the characters Brian and Tommy was funny, and I enjoyed watching their relationship change throughout the movie.  From what I saw during my visit, the store was totally cleared out and dressed to play a hardware store for the film.  The bench in front of the store where we often saw Ed Asner’s character, Vern, was actually a prop and does not exist off screen.  I think it would make a lovely addition to the shops exterior.

While doing research for a recent post, I was scanning through the Aurora Teagarden movie, Real Murderers Club, and spotted the Clayburn General Store looking exactly how it does in real life!  It is always exciting to learn what all has filmed at a given location.  For me, this also solved a mystery about this particular location since the Habers keep mum about all filming done at the store.

One of the main reasons I was anxious to visit the store in person was to find out if there is actually a bell above the door.  I am thrilled to report that yes, the bell IS there!

The owner was excited to tell me he installed the bell himself.  The unique thing about this bell is it only rings when you enter the store, not when you leave.  I was able to take photographs of the bell, as well as inside the shop.  But because my visit was during business hours, I had to be respectful of the constant line of paying customers.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get any photos of the front counter area, including the cash register.

The Clayburn General Store is located at 34810 Clayburn Lane in Abbotsford, BC. They are closed on Sundays and Mondays and a few months out of the year for building maintenance. If you are planning a trip, be sure to check the website first to avoid disappointment.  For more on Clayburn Village, read my post on the Clayburn Village Schoolhouse, here.

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Don’t forget to watch All of My Heart 2: Inn Love when it premieres Saturday, October 7 on the Hallmark Channel.  The coffee shop and general store will once again be featured in this highly anticipated sequel.  If you missed yesterdays post on All of My Heart 2 film locations, check it out here.

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