“Like many independent
businesses, we can supply more
of the specialty products our
customers want, where with the
larger retail stores, those products
would turn over too slowly.”
Records kept by Murray, and later donated
to the Historical Society, indicate that much
of the store’s inventory arrived by train,
while larger pallets of goods, such as salt,
arrived by steamship to Sewickley Landing.
Included in the records were invoices for
both horseshoes and tires, highlighting the
massive societal shift that was taking place
with the advent of the automobile.
Records show that in 1943 the store was
sold to Charles E. Sickeler, who also was
the superintendent of the Singer estate in
Edgeworth. In the mid-1900s, the feed-andgrain business transitioned into a hardware
store and then into its current model as
a home and garden store in the 1960s.
Kenneth Robinson began working at the
store in the 1960s and purchased it from
Sickeler in 1989.
“We’ve been told that in the early1900s,
they used to keep horses in what is now our
back room,” says Richard, 50, who started
working at the store when he was still in high
school. “The store used to be two separate
buildings, and the back area was where they
kept the horses.”
At some point in the 1930s or ‘40s, the
two buildings were eventually joined into
one large building. The Robinsons have tried
to maintain most of the building’s historic
charm.
“It’s such an old building that the
basement is like a dungeon,” Richard says,
laughing. “You can see where we patched up
the walls, since it used to be heated with potbelly stoves.”
They have kept most of the building’s
essential structure, except for a few necessary
improvements. They have replaced the
store’s original light fixtures and windows,
and removed an old grain elevator, having
heard that a worker had been seriously
injured from a fall from it. An original
wooden barn sits on the property, reinforced
but still intact.
The store has managed to survive when
others have failed for a number of reasons,
explains Richard. The Robinsons have kept
their prices competitive and, because of
the store’s small size, can provide specialty
products that many of the larger retail chains
don’t carry.
“Like many independent businesses, we
can supply more of the specialty
products our customers want,
where with the larger retail
stores, those products would
turn over too slowly,” explains
Richard.
Still, it’s never easy to run a family
business. “To stay competitive, we have to
work seven days a week, and we average about
75 hours a week,” he adds.
It helps that the family actually owns the
building, so they are not forced to deal with
increasing rent. Their location has also helped
since it is convenient for shoppers, and
residents don’t have to drive outside of the
neighborhood.
The business has remained fluid in its
adaptation to customer demands. For
instance, the demand for wicker furniture
and baskets has