Owner of iconic Missouri general store says support has been ‘overwhelming.’ What’s next?
Years before he became the owner of Scott’s Iconium General Store, Shannon Tucker grew up visiting it as a Boy Scout and while camping at the nearby scout camp for years before eventually taking over the business in 2012.
“This place is an integral part of that experience down at that camp, and fate drove me here,” he said. “I never felt like I belonged anywhere more than I do here.”
But a fire early Sunday morning gutted the store — located just under two hours southeast of Kansas City at 12770 NE Highway C near Osceola — and required the help of several fire departments to put it out.
Tucker, who took over the business in 2012, lives with his family next door to the store. It was around 2 a.m. when he got up and saw the flames shooting from the shop’s roof through the bathroom window.
“I ran outside in my underwear, to be honest with you, I was five or six steps out the door when I realized: one, it was 10 degrees outside, and two, I didn’t have any clothes on,” he said.
Tucker woke up his family, then called 911 and his fire chief, asking what he could do in the meantime. Tucker had previous experience with both search and rescue and wildfires, but had never handled a structure fire before.
An investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s Office couldn’t immediately determine the cause, but said it’s possible the fire started from an electrical malfunction or in the fireplace, according to the Iconium Fire Department’s Facebook post.
Firefighters said the walls and roof of the general store are still standing, but the interior was gutted. No one was injured in the fire.
Firefighters returned around 11 a.m. to the scene after the flames rekindled, but the fire was once again put out.
Lifelong customer starts GoFundMe
Matt Thomas, who has been going to the general store for over 30 years, raised over $42,000 as of 11 a.m. Monday for owners Shannon and Nikki Tucker.
Shannon Tucker said he has received more than 100 messages from both strangers and friends, voicing their support for his family and the business.
“I don’t know what I think about that,” Tucker said. “I’m not usually speechless. I’m not a speechless guy. I’m overwhelmed with the generosity.”
Monday night, an Eagle Scout and her family drove all the way from Overland Park to knock on their door.
“They knocked on the door at like 9 o’clock, woke us up, got us out of bed and brought us a big old handful of cash,” he said, his voice cracking. “ They just said, ‘We’re really sorry, we love you guys and please be sure to eat dinner.’ It’s just overwhelming.”
Tucker said he has already received countless offers of help from people wanting to reopen the shop, and he hopes to set some work days scheduled once the building is safe. His goal is to be up and running by the time boy scouts start camping at the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation, which is June 1.
“So I’m not good at giving up,” he said. “I’m not gonna give up on this store. I love it too much. … I’ve told people it’s not my store, it’s just my turn to take care of it.”
History of the Iconium General Store
Shannon Tucker has co-owned the store with his wife, Nikki, since 2012 after buying it from Ginger and Wayne Scott, whose parents bought the store in 1946.
“We love it here, it’s the hardest we’ve ever had to work in our life, but when you love what you do, it’s hard to call that work,” Shannon Tucker said.
The establishment is well-known for serving Peach Nehi ice cream floats, sometimes up to 1,000 in a single day.
Boy Scouts have hiked the mile or so from the scout camp for decades for the famous floats. On weekends, hundreds of scouts, parents and siblings — at times more than a thousand — gather at Scott’s store for food and ice cream.
The store was originally built in 1896 but had several additions since then, according to the Iconium Fire Department’s Facebook post.
This story was originally published December 23, 2024 at 1:38 PM.
