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ABOUT O
This year’s th
Go,” looks at how
es and organizatio
logistics, geograp
ment of products
Along with sta
Herald invited bus
tries and organi
readers about
through stories an
A small label
“The Outlook” acc
report from a local
ganization.
Saturd
ORANGEVILLE
By Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer
Anyone can come and join
in the conversation with the
“coffee crowd” at Wilson’s
General Store and Deli in
Orangeville, but only a select
few are permitted to pull up
a chair with the regulars.
“You have to have a pen
knife to be able to sit down,”
quipped Dick Wilson, the
resident sage of the morning
group.
Wilson used to own the
store – he bought it from his
dad – but sold it in 2006 to
Brian Difford. He still comes
by to swap lies, tell stories
and drink coffee.
“Some of the girls behind
the counter look real good,”
Wilson said, giving his politi-
cally incorrect version of why
he stops down every day.
“I’m retired and that’s
what I’m supposed to do,”
Wilson said. “Most of them
are retired. In other words –
parasites.”
Difford, who dubbed the
group the “coffee crowd,”
keeps chairs in the corner,
and up to a dozen men a day
join in.
“Sometimes we run out of
chairs and someone will pull
up a beer case,” said Fred
Sydlowski, a retired carpen-
ter, pointing to the stack of
Busch and Busch Light cas-
es sitting under the stuffed
head of an elk, a Difford tro-
phy.
During the cooler months,
the group sits between the
shelf holding 24-ounce beer
cans and drink mixes and
the displays of chips, candy
and gum and the wine cool-
er.
A stuffed coyote howls
silently from on top of the
wine cooler, keeping watch
over the coffee bar. The
members of the coffee crowd
brew their own.
When it’s warm, the group
sets up chairs in front of the
store.
“We talk about anything
from dog bites to someone
getting shot,” Sydlowski
said.
The topic of conversation
can turn on a dime, said Bill
Palumbo, a machine operator
for a Youngstown firm, who
stops by on his days off.
Noting that Wilson and
Sydlowski were talking about
funeral homes, and that he
had heard Wilson broach the
same subject with someone
else earlier, Palumbo said of
Wilson, “He’s our version of
Tivo.”
“We come down to catch
up on the news, research
things and try to run the
country,” Sydlowski said, not-
ing that the group has a “li-
brary” on one of the shelves
that includes a Bible, a dic-
tionary and various reference
books.
“When we get into an ar-
gument, we can settle it,”
Sydlowski said of the library.
“The globe is our latest
addition (to the library),”
Wilson said.
Although Palumbo, who is
the youngest member at 40,
tosses out zingers aimed at
the others with the best of
them, it’s clear he holds the
rest of the guys in high es-
teem.
“A lot of knowledge –
that’s why I come down,” he
said.
Although current events
are regular fodder for discus-
sion, the conversation fre-
quently turns to the old days,
when Orangeville was a
much more bustling town
than it is today. Wilson said
the village, which is on the
Ohio side of the Ohio-Penn-
sylvania line, is about 75
miles from Cleveland and
Pittsburgh, making it a logi-
cal stop for travelers in
horse-and-buggy days.
Things changed when the
Army Corps of Engineers
dammed the Shenango River
in 1965, wiping out half of
the town. Old pictures show-
ing Orangeville as it was are
posted in the store and the
post office next door.
The hotels are gone; the
beauty parlors and barber
shops have shuttered; and
the walk-in, outdoor movie
theater on the Pennsylvania
side of the street is just a
memory.
“Our town is so small we
don’t even have a town
drunk,” Wilson said. “We
have to take turns.”
Larry Foltz, the town fire
chief and street worker, said
he loves to hear the old sto-
ries because the town has
been pretty much as it is
now for as long as he’s been
around.
“You can get a real educa-
tion, especially on the old
stuff,” he said. “It’s a history
lesson.”
The store’s history starts
in the mid-’60s, when Wil-
son’s dad, Paul, started it as
a place to sell milk. He
worked for what is now
Dean Dairy.
Eventually, people asked
for more kinds of goods, and
the selection increased. Al-
most from the beginning, it
was a gathering place.
The original store was
next door to its current loca-
tion, 7395 Stateline Road, but
Dick Wilson built a new
building after a motorist
killed himself crashing into
the old structure, knocking if
off its foundation.
Jim Wade’s dad, Grandon,
was one of the original coffee
crowd members, and Wade
inherited his dad’s seat when
Grandon died in 2008.
“I got a chair, but I don’t
have colorful stories,” said
Wade, a retired teacher.
Vickie Marrie, who is
working the cash register
this day and gets the joy of
cleaning up when the coffee
crowd clears out by 10 a.m.,
said the guys “get louder
than the women,” and that’s
why she thinks there are no
women in their numbers.
“Most of them, their wives
have probably kicked them
out because they want qui-
et,” she said.
Seriously, Ms. Marrie said
the coffee crowd is one of
the perks of the job.
“It’s nice knowing every-
body’s face,” she said. “With
crime as bad as it is, I feel
safe because I know a face.”
While Palumbo wants to
keep the coffee crowd tradi-
tion going – “These guys are
gonna croak and someone
has to keep it on,” he said –
Wilson said the day will
come when Wilson’s General
Store will no longer be
around to host it. Beer sales
have fallen far from what
they used to be, and the tax-
es on cigarettes keep shrink-
ing their profitability.
“This store won’t be here
much longer,” Wilson said.
“Unless you have gas, it’s
hard to make it in the con-
venience store business.”
Wade did not want to
think of life without the store
and the coffee crowd. As an
old picture showing a group
of guys playing cards in a
long-gone barber shop illus-
trates, Orangeville used to be
a place with any number of
public buildings in which to
gather. Not anymore.
“It would hurt socially, I
gotta admit that,” Wade said.
“That’s a good question –
what would I do between 8
and 10 in the morning?”
Joe Pinchot/Herald
Wilson’s General Store and Deli is a morning gather-
ing spot for a group of gentleman, mostly older, who
are dubbed the “coffee crowd” by store owner Brian
Difford.
The coffee crowd’s “library” includes a Bible, a dic-
tionary, a globe and various reference books. “When we
get into an argument, we can settle it,” Fred Sydlows-
ki said of the library’s value.
Coffee crowd
keeps alive
small-town
tradition
Joe Pinchot/Herald
Jim Wade, left, talks
news with Larry Foltz.
Wade’s father, Grandon,
was an original coffee
crowd member.
Joe Pinchot/Herald
Previous store owner
Dick Wilson, right, seen
with Fred Sydlowski, often
tells stories of Orangeville
as it was.
Norma Struth
feels right at
Divine guida
Norma Struther
unexpected mo
ership of a M
tate office
Working for t
Amity Messe
a career makin
others – partic
– just a little bi