- Klaus Baudelaire: "Last Chance General Store." An ominous name.
- Violet Baudelaire: It probably means it's the only building around for miles.
Last Chance General Store is a decrepit-looking convenience store located in the Hinterlands, which is practically in the middle of nowhere. It does offer a telegram service, however. It appears in the book The Hostile Hospital as well as its Netflix series adaptation.
It also appears in the film, renamed The Last Chance Superette, and is located next to a crossroad of train tracks.
The owner of the store is Milt. In the movie, there is a grocery clerk who may or may not be Milt, although it is unclear.
History[]
The Hostile Hospital[]
The Baudelaire children stop there during their escape from the Village of Fowl Devotees and the law. When they went inside, they asked Milt if they could send a telegram to Mr. Poe explaining their situation. He kindly offers them cranberry muffins, but his generosity quickly turns to animosity when that day's edition of The Daily Punctilio is delivered to the store. This is because he instantly recognized the Baudelaires as Count Olaf's "murderers". Milt and Lou attempted to summon the police immediately afterwards, but not before the children managed to hide in the van that transported the Volunteers Fighting Disease to Heimlich Hospital in the nick of time.
Film[]
In the film, Count Olaf parks the Baudelaires on the nearby train tracks. He enters the store and waits inside browsing while he waits for a train to crash into his car and kill them. This scene is not in the books at all, although Milt makes an appearance.
Netflix Series[]
The events that occurred at the general store in the Netflix series remains relatively the same as they were told in the eighth book. One remarkable difference between the two adaptations is that Count Olaf and his troupe shows up at the store while the Baudelaires were still inside. This forced them to hitch a ride with the Volunteers Fighting Disease in their van in order to escape.
Description[]
It is described to be "covered with fading posters that advertised what was sold."[1]
Products[]
The store is known to sell a number of things such as, fresh limes, plastic knives, canned meat, white envelopes, mango flavored candy, red wine, leather wallets, fashion magazines, goldfish bowls, sleeping bags, roasted figs, cardboard boxes, controversial vitamins, asparagus, fountain pens, onions, peacock feathers, cooking utensils, chandeliers, tiles, cat food, fish nets, mirrors, socks, ivy, matches, shoes, gasoline, nylon rope, floor wax, soup bowls, window curtains, rocking horses, top hats, fiber-optic cable, pink lipstick, apricots, magnifying glasses, umbrellas, paintbrushes, French horns, pepper grinders, safety pins, candy canes, ashtrays, construction paper, canned peas, undershirts, clocks, towel racks, piggy banks, placid skirts, slippers, sausages, bathtubs and newspapers.This store basically sells everything![1]
Trivia[]
- "Last Chance" is a common name for real-life stores located on the verge of long, uninhabited stretches of road.
- The store is an example of the many anachronisms present in the series, as it still offers telegram service while simultaneously selling fiber-optic cables.[1]
Appearances[]
- The Hostile Hospital
- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (film)
- A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV series)