Clinton ? To outsiders, the town of Clinton looks like a podunk pit stop on the way to Bloomington Beach, a spot in the road where the speed limit slows to 20 mph and the Clinton Store serves as a convenient place to buy tent stakes.

Dr. Michael Well, owner of the Clinton Store, is offering the store as well as the block it sits on, which includes a house and barn, for sale.

But for Clinton residents — especially Marilyn Stone, manager of the Clinton Store for nearly 18 years — the “For sale” sign on the only store in town signals a change.

“It’s still somewhere like home,” Stone said. “It’s not the busy part of life. It’s nothing like sitting on the corner of 23rd Street.”

For more than 70 years, Clintonites have congregated around the front of the store at 598 N. 1190 Road — relaxing, sipping on sodas and swapping gossip. Since Clinton Lake’s dedication in 1980, the store has increasingly stocked goods sought by campers and lake visitors.

In July, the general store’s fate became uncertain after Dr. Michael Well, a Lawrence urologist, put it up for sale after nearly 27 years of ownership.

“I’m getting older and I just thought some younger folks should have it, and I’ve also got some new hobbies,” he said.

Well, who plans to devote his free time to showing pedigree Rhodesian ridgeback dogs, won’t just sell the store to any buyer.

“It needs to stay a convenience store,” Well said. “If we’re not open, it’s 16 to 18 miles to get ice or supplies.”

Ice is the top-selling product these days at the little store, but in the past it has sold everything from hair pins to school supplies.

Marilyn Stone, Clinton, right, hands Lincoln Johnson, Lawrence, his change for a sandwich. Stone has been the Clinton Store manager for nearly 18 years. The store, which has operated for more than 70 years, is for sale.

Clinton native and previous owner Clarence Anderson, 87, built the house next to the store. For 24 years Anderson and his family called the store home.

Anderson said he remembered the days when the back side of the store served as a concession stand and the field behind the store’s lot was used for baseball.

“There used to be ball games or practices every night, but along came television and that shut off the field,” Anderson said.

Stone has lived in Clinton all her life and has shopped at the store since childhood. She said she would hate to see the store change just because it switched owners.

“I just hope more of a ‘mom-and-pop’ person, more of a down-home person will take care of it. Someone like Casey’s comes in and they’ll just wipe the store out,” Stone said, referring to the chain of convenience stores.

¢ Clinton Lake sails in business (6-29-03)

Clinton’s store operates seven days a week from May through early October and Saturdays the rest of the year. Well said he realized that potential buyers likely would recognize the financial drawbacks of owning the store. He said he toyed with the idea of putting boat or RV storage behind the place to increase revenue.

Well’s asking price is $229,000 — for the store and the block it sits on, which includes a separate house and a barn. He said a few people had made offers on the property, but nothing serious had resulted.

The general store — with one gas pump, four ice freezers and some camping odds and ends — is more than just a convenience store to the few residents of Clinton.

“That’s where all the gossip and news generated, was at the store,” Anderson said.