Questions & Answers
Everything below is the plain version, kept current as the store settles into its hours. If the answer you need is not here, email info@the-commonwealth-project.com.
New Cumberland General Store is a small independent artisan market and general store at 224 4th Street, New Cumberland, PA 17070, in Cumberland County on the West Shore of the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg. It is one room stocked with food, drink, flowers, plants, and household goods made by growers and makers in and around the Susquehanna Valley. It is owned and operated by The Commonwealth Project LLC.
New Cumberland General Store is at 224 4th Street, New Cumberland, PA 17070. New Cumberland is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, on the west bank of the Susquehanna River across from Harrisburg, in the area locally called the West Shore.
New Cumberland General Store grand opening is Saturday, September 26. The same day as the New Cumberland Apple Festival. Regular weekly hours are still being set and will be posted on this site as soon as they are.
The store is organised into five sections: Drinks & Snacks, The Pantry, The Living Wall, The Apothecary, and Home & Gifts. Between them they cover bottled and canned drinks, coffee and loose tea, and snacks from small Pennsylvania kitchens; pantry staples such as honey, preserves, pickles and krauts, vinegars, oils and flours; cut flowers, plant starts, houseplants and growing mushroom blocks; house-blended teas, tinctures, powders, salves and skincare; and soap, candles, cards, kitchen odds and ends, and made-to-order bouquets and gift baskets. A sixth spot, the Valley Bench, is given to one rotating local maker at a time.
Most of the shelf is stocked by small Pennsylvania producers on consignment, and the maker's name stays on the product. Mushrooms, tinctures and powders come from MycoSymbiotics. Cut flowers and plant starts come from Run-a-Muck Farms. The rest comes from a rotating bench of independent Susquehanna Valley makers. We describe what we carry in food and wellness terms, never medical ones. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
No. New Cumberland General Store is independently owned and operated by The Commonwealth Project LLC, a Pennsylvania company, and this is its first and currently only location. Despite the words "general store" in the name it is not affiliated with Dollar General or any other national retailer, and it is not related to any other business in New Cumberland trading under a "Commonwealth" name.
Not in the supermarket sense. It is a small artisan market: a pantry of Pennsylvania-made staples, drinks and snacks, flowers and plants, and gifts, rather than a full weekly grocery shop. People generally come for something specific and good rather than to fill a cart.
Not yet. There is no online cart and nothing ships. Everything is sold in the store at 224 4th Street, New Cumberland, PA 17070, and the staff are glad to put in a special order for something you want. The store has no published phone number yet, so email is the fastest way to reach a person: info@the-commonwealth-project.com.
The store has no published phone number yet, so email is the fastest way to reach a person: info@the-commonwealth-project.com. The store is at 224 4th Street, New Cumberland, PA 17070.
Yes, the store takes on local makers on consignment and rotates one maker at a time onto the Valley Bench by the door. Makers within reach of the Susquehanna Valley are the priority. Email info@the-commonwealth-project.com with what you make and the store will send the consignment paperwork.
The Commonwealth Project LLC is the Pennsylvania company that owns and runs New Cumberland General Store. The Commonwealth Project LLC opens small artisan markets in Pennsylvania towns and stocks them from the growers and makers nearby. New Cumberland General Store is the first one. It is a separate company from, and unrelated to, other businesses operating under "Commonwealth" names in the Harrisburg area.
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