'Anything you need' at DeGreen's

By Karen Blackledge
The Danville News

March 26, 2008 09:26 pm

— WASHINGTONVILLE -- He's usually sitting in a black upholstered office chair along a display case with the TV on across from him.
White-haired and bearded, Harold DeGreen is as much an institution as is his general store on Washingtonville's main street. While the official name is DG Shopping Center, everybody calls it simply DeGreen's.
"The kids who come in call him Pap and some of the older people call him Pap. He's Pap to everybody," his daughter Dawn Heffelfinger, the store manager, said.
"We have anything you need and a little bit of what you don't need," said DeGreen, who waits on customers when they get busy.
A lot of people stop in just to chat and have for years. A man who lives across the street comes in every night to visit.
"Our customers say if we don't have it, they don't need it," said Heffelfinger who started working there when she was 10 after school and on weekends.
The cement block store has a hand-written message on the front door: "Wipe Your Feet." Hanging on the wall inside are pictures of DeGreen's 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
The store, which is decked out with merchandise on walls or sitting on shelves, offers a wide array of wares such as food, fresh produce, heaters, appliances, rope, pet food, beauty supplies, lamps, clocks, tools, seasonal gifts, toys and coveralls.
"A lot of people have told me our pipe wrenches are cheaper here," DeGreen said.
Heffelfinger said some customers travel a distance. "A guy was here the other day from above Scranton. He comes here every year to get onion sets and seed potatoes. People passing through from Florida and Mississippi have bought our Indian stuff," she said.
The store is open every day of the week, just in case somebody needs something at the last minute.
DeGreen, who also lives in the building that houses the store, has had his share of problems with the business he has owned for 37 years. "About five years ago, a guy tried to rob me by hitting me over the head with a claw hammer," said DeGreen who clenched his fists, showing how he fought off the thug. Saying "it didn't hurt that much," his family persuaded him to seek hospital treatment for the cut on the side of his head.
Still scrappy at 77 and recovering from a stroke before Thanksgiving, he said there also have been three break-ins where cigarettes, tobacco and cash were taken.
DeGreen's has been a store since 1902, having first been owned by a man named Diehl, DeGreen said. It then became Seidel's Department Store. A Foust later owned it for a few years. "I bought it from the bank. It was bankrupt," DeGreen said. The business had been closed for a month or two before he saved it.
A lifelong farmer who grew up in Mausdale, he decided to get into the store business after what is now ConAgra stopped contracting with local farmers to grow tomatoes. "I saw what was happening, and I got it at a good price," he said of the Washingtonville staple.
He lost the store to a fire Halloween night in 1982. The home he owned next door was also heavily damaged so he had the business rebuilt and expanded onto the house site. He believes the blaze was set since police found coal oil out back where it started. "It was reopened in 40 days," he said.
Besides his daughter, step-grandson Dwayne Watts and grandson Brian DeGreen help out at the store.
They also work on DeGreen's farms where they grow hay and at the garage DeGreen's son Jim owns in Strawberry Ridge. DeGreen's son Harold Jr. runs the gas station down the street.
Peggy Ranck of White Hall has been a customer "for longer than you want to talk about. I like the convenience for us here in the country," she said. "I love having Pappy and Dawn around for when I get into my projects. They tell me how to do them. I can always ask Pap about plumbing or how to do this or that. They can usually help me out."
"They are always friendly. It's a great establishment that works for me and does the community a service," she said.
E-mail comments to kblackledge@thedanvillenews.com.

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