Marshfield Hills General Store Gets World's Best Boss

Steve Carell, famous for his role as Michael Scott in NBC's "The Office," has a new cast of characters in his real life role as the new owner of the Marshfield Hills General Store.

Bob and Sherry Bechtold, the store’s previous owners, refused offers from corporate coffee shops, such as Dunkin' Donuts and South Shore favorite Mary Lou’s News, in an effort to maintain Marshfield Hills' small-town charm. But the building, home to the store and the locals’ post office boxes, was in dire need of renovation. The Bechtolds were unable to find buyers willing to restore the building to its original loveliness, particularly in the midst of the economic crisis.

Steve’s sister-in-law Tish Vivado, a Cohasset native and current Marshfield resident, brought the real estate listing to his attention last year. It was the perfect opportunity for Steve to return to his Massachusetts roots. The purchase, completed in November of 2009, was an emotional investment in an old-town America ideal, rather than a business venture, Carell said. Tish, pictured right, is the store's leading lady and manager.

The store sits atop Prospect Street, a winding road that twists uphill through pastures and past white picket fences into Marshfield Hills, which overlooks the North River meeting the Atlantic and a scattering of islands in between. The North River Arts Society is housed in a restored nineteenth century barn, across from a family-owned dentistry practice. A little further down the road is the 155-year old store, Carell’s recent purchase.

What is now the town’s post office and convenience store was once a textile exchange that distributed uniforms to the Union Army during the Civil War. Since then, the sign out front has changed many times: from The Little Store to The Beehive and most recently Bud’s Place, before reclaiming The General Store title.

“The store is the heart of the hills,” said Gail Colton, a co-manager of the store. “It is where the kids ride their bikes in the summer for ice cream and penny candy, where Dad stops for his morning coffee and newspaper, and where mom swings by to grab a carton of milk and a bottle of wine in the evening.”

The store's new management has not gone unnoticed. Locals and tourists alike have flocked to the town center to catch a glimpse of the 2006 Golden Globes Award recipient. Carell and "The Office" were in contention again for two Golden Globes in 2010. His acceptance speech for the 2010 People's Choice Awards, below, elicited audience participation and was yet another testimony to his title as America’s funnyman.

While Carell's accomplishments on syndicated television are robust—he began his career writing for "The Dana Carvey Show" and playing a news correspondent on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" before co-writing "The Office"—his silverscreen repertoire is equally impressive with its depth and diversity. He played the pretentious news correspondent Evan Baxter in Bruce Almighty (2003) and its sequel Evan Almighty (2007), he was The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005) and then the slightly strange, Proust-scholar, pseudo-suicidal uncle in Little Miss Sunshine (2005). His new comedy Date Night with Tina Fey hits theaters this April.

In spite of Carell's busy schedule on screen with his actress wife Nancy Walls and at the beach with his kids Elisabeth Anne and John, we might be lucky enough to catch him brewing coffee and stocking shelves this spring at the General Store.