A decade has flown by since the Mast General Store in Downtown Winston-Salem opened its doors on Trade Street. On Friday, May 9, 2025, the Mast Store will celebrate with an evening of live music, food sampling, and more at its location at 516 North Trade Street in Winston-Salem.

The store will celebrate with FREE bags of Mast Store’s famously tasty popcorn all day but will have an extra special celebration beginning at 6 p.m. featuring live music by the Martha Bassett Trio and more. 

“It’s hard to believe how fast 10 years can go by,” said Ann Marie Bishop, the general manager of the Mast Store in Winston-Salem. “We have a great team here at the store – from the area managers to our newest sales associates. One of the more fun parts of my job includes taking our new hires on a local tour to educate, ignite, and deepen their love for our downtown community. We all enjoy sharing what we love about the city with store guests.” 

When the Mast Store opened in 2015, the art scene was continuing to grow in Downtown Winston-Salem with two active organizations tapping into the talent in the local area and the ARTivity on the Green opening at the same time as the store. The Innovation Quarter was replacing tobacco and textile technologies with biomedical science, information technology, and digital media. Renovation of the Benton Convention Center was also nearing completion.  

The store was filled to overflowing on opening day, May 6, 2015, with happy shoppers. "I think this is just the beginning,” said Derwin Montgomery, Winston-Salem City Council member in comments to a Spectrum News reporter on opening day. "When you think about the kind of store Mast General [Store] is, it draws people in from near and far. Our hope is by this investment being here it'll have ripple effect in the community."  

“People are still discovering that we have a store in Downtown Winston-Salem,” said Lisa Cooper, president of Mast General Store. “While lots of folks still want to make a weekend drive up the mountain to our stores in the High Country, the location on Trade Street makes it easy for people to stop in to pick up an outfit for an upcoming trip or to re-supply their favorite candy, and you can even enter the store directly from the adjacent parking deck.” 

The Mast Store is involved with its community and provides support through time, talent, and contributions with a focus on supporting conservation, human needs, and community forward organizations. “Our support for organizations like the Winston-Salem Street School, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, Piedmont Land Conservancy, and the Gateway Nature Preserve alone is more than $110,000 over our first 10 years,” shared Lisa. “Relationships are important to us. We want to support important organizations that do good and be ambassadors in all our home communities. It really is at the heart of a general store.” 

The building now occupied by the Mast Store in Winston-Salem has a rich retail history stretching back to the early twentieth century. When the Brown-Rogers-Dixson building opened in 1928, it was Winston-Salem's largest business and one of the largest wholesale/retail operations in the South. Its tagline was “the best place to get it,” and it was where many farmers would find what they needed to tend their acreage, couples could find a new radio for their homes, and kids could visit with Santa at Christmastime.  

Unlike many other businesses where Mast Store has a location, Brown-Rogers-Dixson continued as a supplier of mom-and-pop appliance stores for a number of years on Cloverleaf Drive before closing just recently. 

“The Mast Store is a different kind of retail experience,” said Ann Marie. “We pride ourselves on having a great guest experience with knowledgeable customer service and goods to satisfy people from 2 to 102. Winston-Salem is sprawling and full of many treasures, but for me, the Mast Store and the Arts District is the heart of my downtown.” 

The Mast General Store in Downtown Winston-Salem is open daily, Monday – Thursday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. - 8 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Seasonal hours may vary. Parking is available on the street as well as in the 6th/Cherry-Trade Street parking deck with an entrance directly into the store on the second level.