Gideon Country Landing

It all started back in 1937, when Doris Miller (née Gideon) and her husband, Dewey Miller, became the proud third owners of a cozy general store nestled along old Highway 16. Located between the Bickerdike turnoff and Marlboro, the store was a cherished community hub until it closed its doors in 1971. The area around it later came to be known as the Miller Lake area (but that’s a story for another day).

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Meanwhile, in 1943, just down the road in Marlboro, Bernice Lovell took over the local post office. Over the next 30 years, she transformed it into a bustling little variety store, complete with weekly ice cream deliveries that kids and grown-ups alike looked forward to. Bernice and her husband, Roscoe, retired in 1973.

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Years later, these two family stories came together when Doris’s grandson, Wayne Gideon, married Bernice’s granddaughter, Debbie Lovell. They settled nearby and raised four daughters just minutes from where both of their grandmothers once ran their stores.

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After retiring, Wayne couldn’t shake the idea of starting something new. Over coffee and conversation with Debbie and daughters, Lacie and Jazmine, the idea of opening a new general store — one filled with antiques, oddities, snacks, and maybe a little ice cream — started to take shape.

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In the summer of 2024, that vision began with Scarly Scoops Ice Cream Parlour, opened by Jazmine and her husband, True, and sweetly named after their daughter, Scarlett. It was the first scoop (literally) toward a new family legacy.

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Now open at Gideon Country Landing, Miller General Store carries on the spirit of those family-run shops from generations past. Stop in for local snacks, handmade treasures, a little nostalgia, and of course, a scoop (or two) of Scarly Scoops ice cream.