*This story was updated on September 27, 2022
By RUSSELL JONES
The hardwood floors of Kamuda’s Country Store were recently sanded and polished to a beautiful shine — again. Over 179,000 people walk over those floors every year, nearly 500 a day, and they have seen a lot of traffic over the past 80 years.
The doors to Kamuda’s swung open for the first time on Dec. 24, 1939.
“Got to get that holiday business, right?” joked Brian Kamuda, about the timing of his grandfather’s opening day. Kamuda is the 35-year-old co-owner of the store, who came back to Pittsford a year and a half ago, after a 16-year absence, to run the family store after his father experienced heart troubles.
Kamuda spent the previous 16 years fruitfully. He attended the University of Massachusetts where he earned his degree in Sports Management and was hired by the Orlando Magic, a professional basketball team in the NBA, where he worked in sales.
Growing up in a grocery store and being an entrepreneur at a young age helped Kamuda land that job.
“For my interview, I basically told them the story of Brian’s Cookouts,” Kamuda said, telling the story about his first business as a kid. “We set up a grill and sold hot dogs on Saturdays to all the townsfolk. We did that for about 12 years. I told them we used to feed all the people of the town and it got me the job.”
Even though the grocery store was the family business, Kamuda said he never felt pressure from his parents to take over the store while he was growing up.
“My grandfather really let my father do his own thing,” Kamuda said, describing how his father, Joe, went on to become a physical education teacher before eventually running the store. “They encouraged me to pursue my own interests just like they did.”
Kamuda also worked as a coach’s assistant and team manager for the UMass basketball team while in college, and it was there that he discovered his passion for leadership.
“Leadership is very important to me,” he said. “Whether you are five years old or 85, everyone can be a leader.”
Kamuda said he doesn’t like being called ‘the boss,’ but rather describes his leadership style as that of a head cheerleader. He said he prefers to be the one lifting up both his staff and his customers.
“I try to be a sponge, with everybody I meet,” he says. “Whether it’s someone super-famous or just someone from town, everybody has value.”
Kamuda’s grandfather, also Joe, instilled a work ethic in the store that the family has held onto ever since. Brian recalled that his grandfather used to drive to Albany to pick up groceries after the store closed for the night, and then go on to Boston to pick up seafood before returning to open the store the next day. Kamuda said it was necessary because either it was too expensive to have them shipped or they just could not get the items shipped to rural Vermont in time.
To keep up with the legacy his parents and grandparents established, Kamuda has his work cut out for him. The store has never once been closed for a full day. Although, Kamuda said there was one day when his grandfather had to go pick his father up in Albany and the store actually opened later than normal.
“There’s nothing like having that streak hanging over your head,” Kamuda said with a laugh. “Cal Ripken’s got nothing on us.”
INTO THE FUTURE
While proud of the store’s heritage, Kamuda said he was also proud of their current ability to employ 26 people on a full or part-time basis, and meet the needs of today’s customers — all from a country store that’s heading into its ninth decade.
And he’s not content to rest of those laurels. One of his goals is to win the Vermont Chamber’s Merchant of the Year award; he was a finalist last year. The award honors businesses that are innovative, successful and serve their market well.
“I didn’t come back just to sell groceries, I wanted to have an impact on the community.”
Brian Kamuda
Kamuda said the store will be adding solar panels to the roof soon and they recently started purchasing solar energy from an off-site source. Kamuda plans on adding more e-commerce to the store’s services soon, selling gift baskets stocked with local products.
Kamuda said his brother Jeff, an architect, is helping to develop plans to build an addition to the store, saying they were “busting at the seams.”
While he still stocks many products that the store carried in 1939, such as Jell-O and Coca-Cola, they also carry new items like CBD oils. Kamuda said he often wonders whether his grandparents would even recognize some of the products on their shelves today.
ALL ABOUT COMMUNITY
Kamuda has taken an active role in trying to re-energize the Pittsford Village Farm, and is also trying to help advance every important cause in the community. He said he is always impressed with the variety of skills the people in town possess and he hopes to help those community members put those skills to use.
“I didn’t come back just to sell groceries,” Kamuda said. “I wanted to have an impact on the community.”
And while he is very proud of the store and the way it has aged, including those beautiful wooden floors, he really enjoys bringing the town’s people together, just like his father’s and grandfather’s store has done since 1939.
“Just being that hub of the community, where people can go and figure out where the fire was yesterday, or who is carpooling with who, (is terrific),” Kamuda said. “I call it real-life Facebook; that’s the best part about Kamuda’s.”
