"A wagon load of cats and chickens found its way into these diggins' a month or so since and have found an excellent market. Cats brought $10 and chickens $5 each. Chickens have come down to $36 per dozen, but cats maintain the former rates with an upward trend. Dogs are a drug on the market."--"Idaho World" 1863 report on the Boise Merc.
The Boise Basin Mercantile, or Merc as its known by the locals, is located on the corner of Main and Commercial Streets in Idaho City. The Merc is three separate buildings built during a 3-year period (1867-69) of reconstruction after a devastating fire in 1865. The new building was constructed from brick and iron to prevent another fire from destroying the place. Today, the Boise Basin Merc is the oldest mercantile market in Idaho and still in operation as an antique store during the summer.
During the 19th-century mining heyday of Idaho City, the Merc was the miners' supply and grocery store, then known as the Universal Store. Miners could find almost everything they needed to survive in the mines in the hills outside of Idaho City.
It was very busy at the Merc on our Memorial Day visit, with the antique shop bustling and the little souvenir shop in the Merc hopping, too. Most of the shop owners of Idaho City were working in 19th-century costumes for the tourists' entertainment. 
The antique store was a very interesting place to visit. They had a lot of their wares outside for a sidewalk sale, and it was fun for Mom, Linda, Rita, and I to look at the old skis and washer boards on display. Loki and Katie got restless and knocked over a metal washstand, but I picked it up before there was trouble. Rita loves antiques and shopping for antiques and went inside the store to see what they had while Mom, Linda, and I waited outside with our dogs. Many of the locals loved seeing Loki and Katie, our dogs, and our little brats loved the attention! One lady rolled down her car window as she and her family rode down Idaho City's main drag and wondered what kind of dog Katie was. Mom told her that Katie was just a mutt who had just been shaved for the summer, and I quipped, "She's an Ewok!" When that fur grows in and with her chubby body, Katie starts to resemble one of those furry creatures from Return of the Jedi.
The Merc is open daily and good for buying modern-day supplies or just to looking around to see what life was like in the 19th century.