Oldest general store in southwestern Pa. gets new owners
This photo of the Ruff Creek General Store was taken in 1929. Standing in front of the store is Earl Shirk, who was the store owner at the time. The general store was built in 1925 by Earl and Ewing Shirk and has had several owners over the years, including the most recent previous owner, Raymond Stockdale. Last month, the Coen Oil company took over ownership. (Photo courtesy of Raymond Stockdale)
The Ruff Creek General Store, as it looks today. The store is believed to be the oldest general store in southwestern Pennsylvania. (Photo by Ed Hughes)
RUFF CREEK – Raymond Stockdale was just four years old when his father, Jack, came to work in the Ruff Creek General Store. Just back from World War II, where he fought in major battles in France and Germany with Company K from Waynesburg, he moved his family into the apartment on the building’s second floor after taking a job as a clerk.
In 1959, Jack Stockdale bought the store from Guy Lemmon, the owner at that time, and the oldest general store in southwestern Pennsylvania remained in the Stockdale family for two generations. On May 1, the Coen Oil Company took over ownership after signing a purchase agreement, and the store changed hands for the first time since 1974 when Raymond Stockdale purchased it from his father.
Built as a general store in 1925 by Ewing and Earl Shirk, the basic structure of the two-story building has remained the same over the years. Ewing Shirk and his family set a precedent when he and his family lived in the second floor apartment. Subsequent owners followed suit.
Around 1949, the store changed hands for the first time when Guy Lemmon purchased the store. Raymond Stockdale remembers it well since he worked there as a child and grew up living in the second floor apartment. He didn’t leave until he graduated from West Virginia University in 1965 with an accounting degree and went to work for Quaker State Oil’s plant in St. Mary’s, West Virginia.
“When Dad was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1974, he and I had a long talk,” he said. “I’d always had an interest in the store, and Dad asked me to make a decision about taking over. I ended up buying it that year and have been here ever since.”
Like their father before them, Stockdale’s two children, Thea and Brad, worked in the store since childhood helping out by stocking the shelves and manning the cash register. Stockdale’s wife, Karen, kept the books, and took care of billing, inventory orders and paper work.
“I couldn’t have done it without her,” Stockdale said.
When asked how things had changed over the years, he said he tried to maintain the structure of the original building but did add on two sections; one for his feed inventory, another for additional food items.
“The only thing that’s permanent is change,” he said. “Since I took over, the concept of the general store remained the same, but the products and the companies that made them changed, and we adapted to it.”
The biggest impact that he remembers is the completion of Interstate 79 in the area in 1966. The new thoroughfare doubled the store’s gasoline sales, but, because people had easier access to other markets, the store’s inside sales declined.
“We were once what I consider a superette with a whole line of groceries,” he said. “We used to cut a full line of meat, but scaled back to a deli concept selling lunch meat and cheese soon after the interstate was completed.”
During Stockdale’s ownership, the store employed eight to ten people plus his wife and children. Over the last 30 years, he became a Purina agent, selling food for dogs, cats, horses, goats, cattle and sheep. The store’s line of work boots also expanded to include the Rocky and Wolverine brands.
Besides selling a gamut of general store goods, the store also became a meeting place for area residents and politicians alike. Archie Trader, Chuck Morris, Dave Coder and Tim Solobay come in frequently, and Stockdale considers Pam Snyder a good friend. Bill DeWeese held town meetings in the store, and Representative Tim Murphy recently scheduled a town meeting there as well.
The store has also had its share of luminaries that include former Governor Ed Rendell and Chelsea Clinton, who stopped in twice.
Now 66, Stockdale went through a bout with cancer last year. Following an operation, he said his perspective changed.
“Running a store takes a lot of time,” he said. “After the operation, I began wanting to spend more time with my family and let someone else take the store into the future. Deciding to sell the store was a hard decision. Giving it up after all these years was hard; it’s like losing a best friend.”
Since relinquishing control of the store on May 1, he said he’s enjoying his time off, seeing more of his family, including his granddaughter, Emma, who lives in nearby Washington. He’s also been asked by Coen Oil to serve as a consultant and goes down to the store early each morning to visit friends and employees, about 80 percent of whom have been retained by the new management.
One of the employees, Mary DiBuono of Ruff Creek, has been a clerk at the store for the past five years.
“Nothing major has changed since the new owners took over,” she said. “We’re still trying to keep the general store concept going.”
Ruff Creek native, David Phillips, the store’s new general manager, said Stockdale gave him his first job at the age of 13 when the store’s gas station went full service. He worked there until he graduated from Waynesburg High School in 1987 and enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania at Edinboro, where he majored in communications and computer science.
Following graduation, Phillips worked as a land surveyor, then segued into restaurant management in the Pittsburgh area. His last job before moving back to Ruff Creek last fall was food and beverage manager for the Montour Heights Country Club in Moon.
Currently overseeing eight employees, including himself, Phillips said the store is in a good location at the juncture of Routes 19 and 221 and serves both local residents and traffic off the Interstate.
“Luckily, Coen Oil is owned by two men originally from Greene County who recognize the history here,” he said. “While there will be some changes, like sprucing up the interior and exterior of the building, the changes won’t happen overnight.”
Phillips believes that managing the store is a good opportunity.
“Because I’ve known Raymond (Stockdale) all my life, this position means a lot to me, and I’m looking forward to carrying on the store’s tradition,” he said..
From his home in Ruff Creek, the now retired Stockdale has nothing but good words for the new owners.
“I think Coen Oil will do a good job running the store,” he said. “We’ve sold their products since 1961, and I grew up knowing the owners of the company. I feel the store will be a good part of their organization.”