“Making St. Clair Great Again”
In July of 2022, Bobby Pickenpaugh came to us and said it was time for him to sell St. Clair Lumber. Dominic and I had previously talked about us doing just this and fulfilling his childhood dream. Around age 15 when Dominic moved to the area, he befriended Bobby while working for Bunky Loy at Loy’s Building Center. Dominic told Bobby, “that he wanted to own this place someday”. I’m not sure if Bobby thought this 15 year old was a dreamer or crazy. Either way, flash forward almost 30 years Dominic’s dream came true. While I wanted to be a supportive wife, I also knew this might have been the hardest thing Dominic has ever asked me to do. I told him if we can get a loan from the bank, we can do this. I think he was shocked that I agreed but I knew how much this means to him. If I agreed to this, my other stipulation was he had to give me complete control of updating and remodeling the store. He reluctantly agreed because as his wife of 20 years, he knows I am a big dreamer and I like to remodel. I told him that we needed to revitalize the building and modernize it. The windows were boarded up since the 1980s. The floor was original. The paneling was covering original redwood boards. The Pittsburgh Steeler memorabilia filled the office walls. The old business cards covered every wall. The old St Clairsville Youth Baseball pictures covered walls. The bathroom was light pink and as old as the building. Bobby called it nostalgia and patina. I called it an opportunity for much needed updates. My best friend and photographer came to take pictures before the work started. My brother came and took drone pictures of the property.
Once we closed on the 12,000 sq/ft building in August of 2022, the work began. Dominic and I knew we couldn’t do this alone. We had so many friends and family step up more than you can ever imagine. I can never repay or thank them enough for what they did to help us. We also had many contractors and local businesses offer support to get the business back open. So many people reached out to say they were thrilled that Dominic and I were able to buy the store. All of these things were a huge factor in keeping us motivated to get this incredible task done. I had huge plans but was working on a very small budget. Luckily, the building was structurally very sound. It was mostly cosmetic work that needed done. Dominic and I were very experienced in remodeling. I knew we could do anything we put our minds to. He knew that I wouldn’t change my mind once I made a decision as he almost never could get me to change my mind. Having said that, the first big dispute was the front windows. They had been shot out many times and Bobby just covered them in the 80s. We were going to lose approximately 300 sq/ft of wall space if we took down the boards and opened the windows up. Not only was Dominic unsure if we should do this but he also couldn’t believe how much black trimmed windows were. We knew black would be more expensive than white but never thought it would be that much. We shopped around until we found a more reasonable price on windows and Dominic finally agreed to proceed. Just before we installed the windows, we painted the Briar Hill stone on the building bright white with black on the sandstone trim. The front of the building required almost 15 gallons of paint. We only painted the front of the building to start and that old stone just soaked it up. We also painted the original wood garage door black. While we had to get the outside wrapped up before winter, we cleared the trees and overgrowth from the side lumber building and the back. We actually had a neighbor stop down and tell us that he lived in the neighborhood for 10 years and he never even knew the side building was there because the overgrowth had covered it. We also cleaned the fence line and brush. Hundreds of loads went to the dump and burn pile. When I say hundreds it may have even been thousands. We donated what we could and send the rest to scrap or the landfill.
Once we had the outside mostly wrapped up, we really worked on the inside. We installed a new floor in the main shopping area, we install new LED lights and drop ceiling. We gutted the walls down to the studs and new drywall was applied with updated wiring and plumbing were needed. The entire store was cleaned and bright white paint went everywhere. There was no doubt that I was going for a modern farmhouse theme. It went from being a dark, paneling covered building with green flooring, to a bright white room that you almost need your sun glasses on to be in. After we got the front room mostly wrapped up, we moved to the back room. This room was basically off limits for the past decade. Again, all nine windows were boarded up and not used. The floor was original oak that was so beautiful that there was no way we were even considering covering it. Once we got it cleaned out, we opened the windows and repaired the few damaged glass panels. We removed the old insulation and reinstalled new efficient insulation. We also installed new LED lights and removed the old heating ductwork. We installed a new natural gas heater to heat that room.
We continued to move down to the next two levels. The wood shop had not been in use for years. It has industrial tools and equipment that needed TLC to get working again. The roof and drain was leaking into this room causing a major mess. It was all cleaned up and you could finally see the floor again.
Once we got the front room remodeled and the back room cleaned out, we had to get inventory back in there. We tried to clean and paint the old shelves but there was no rehabbing them. We had to be creative as we couldn’t afford new shelving. With some stores at the Ohio Valley Mall closing, they had shelving from a few different stores for sale. We were able to get enough gondolas to fill the store. As you might expect we painted all of them white to continue our modern farmhouse theme. With all of these updates we needed to think about computers, internet, security, and Wi-Fi. The previous business was paper only and no computers or point of sale. No digital anything existed. We basically had to take it from the 19th century to the 21st century. This actually made things easier than expected. We were able to just wire things with the most modern cable and not have any restrictions. So a new video security system was installed, digital phones, and wi-fi throughout. That was a huge transition for the former customers.
I could continue for hours about the work that was done but will spare you anymore details. Every person that walks in the door that was in the old store says they can’t believe it is even the same place. Everyone loves the updates and says we’re doing a good thing for our community. Nothing makes us happier to think we’re making an impact on the neighborhood and the community. While our customers tell us this daily, it was very humbling to receive the 2023 St. Clairsville Chamber of Commerce Community Improvement Award. We’re blessed to have this opportunity and to have so many people in our lives that helped make it happen for us. I want everyone for their support and promise that we’re not done making St. Clair great again. We strive to may St. Clairsville proud and to serve the community the best way we can. Hope to see you soon. Keep an eye out for more upgrades.
Be well everyone!
Crystal Pietranton
Entry 10.15.23