Our History - Part One
Ronn moved into the first floor apartment at 712 Green Street in August 1963, bought the building in 1969 and moved to the second floor. He was a terrible landlord (or perhaps it was the tenants who were terrible, but that is another story). Ronn’s hobbies were latch hooking and macramé knotting and on a whim he announced he was no longer a landlord: forthwith the space would be a retail outlet specializing in decorations for The Bare Wall. . . That noble idea was short-lived. Ronn was public relations man for the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen and as soon as the store was mentioned craftsmen began offering their wares. Within months the space was a showcase for handicrafts. Wall décor took a back seat. . . Phyllis and Richard Vanier, Robert Rook and the young Pete Wambach and his brother Paul helped get the place up and running. We were to open in June 1972, but Hurricane Agnes quickly put an end to that. So Ronn’s birthday, October 23, was chosen for the official opening. An astrologer friend said it was the period of a “grand trine” which would assure success. I didn’t know what a trine was, but welcomed the ‘success’ part; however, I wasn’t planning to be in the same spot for the next thirty-seven years. . . We launched the place with $2000 borrowed from Commonwealth National Bank and were open four days a week. We used only the front room at the start and added the others as the business expanded. Our first sale was a one dollar bar of soap to the late Ben Benfer who lived across the street. But the $2000 evaporated almost overnight and failure was in sight. It would take a miracle to save us . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment