Published August 5, 2023; republished December 8, 2024
By KAREN LAGRANGE COX
For those old enough to remember the general stores from years ago, going to Budden’s Old General Store in Palmetto, Louisiana, may bring back feelings of nostalgia from long ago.
Stepping inside the building are the original wood floors from when the store was first established during the Depression in 1934. Inside, the building still has old tin ceilings. Allen and Rita Budden were the owners at that time. They and their family lived in the back of the store until the late 1950s, later building a house next door. At some point, Budden doubled the size of the store.
Once used for single-entry accounting, the McCaskey Safe Register – Account System, shown above in the photos, is still in the store. The system was used for charge receipts, accounting books, and the register.
Budden’s son Guyton Budden and his wife, Bernita, now own the store. Both pride themselves on providing excellent service to their customers.
The store handles more than groceries; it also has hardware, hunting, work supplies, clothing, boots, chainsaws, trimmers, grills, pots, kerosene, etc. There are even old drip coffee pots for sale.
Budden’s is located in St. Landry Parish at 165 West Railroad Avenue in Palmetto. The store is on the list of places to visit on the Zydeco Cajun Prairie Scenic Byway.
Author’s note: Knowing that my father had serviced the Palmetto area in his self-employed days, I asked Budden if he had known my father. He thought for a few moments and said he had known him as he would go to their store. He smiled with a laugh, with both he and his wife recalling dad was a jokester. Dad was just that, always trying to make a joke.
