Mast General Store Started in Boone, NC in 1883. After decades of ups and downs that you would find in any general store that survives to today, they have a thriving chain of stores. After a huge downtown fire in 1897 this building was opened the next year along Gay Street as McNulty Grocery and Dry Goods Co. More recently, after being vacant for nearly 20 years, a Mast General Store moved in and opened in 2006. Along the way, they restored the building to its Victorian era glory.