Parade set to bid farewell to Bill’s Feed & Garden Center in Charleroi

By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com

With retirement on the horizon, a longtime Mon Valley business is looking to the future.
Bill and Debbie McGavitt, owners of Bill’s Feed and Garden Center in Charleroi, have taken an opportunity to retire.
The couple purchased the business 25 years ago from Bill Zimcoski, the store’s former owner. Zimcoski opened the business at the current location, 130 McKean Ave., after the end of World War II.
For the past 25 years, the couple has worked on their own to supply Mon Valley residents with supplies to take care of their pets and gardens.
When an opportunity presented itself to sell the property, the couple decided to move forward with their next chapter.
On Friday, a parade and retirement party will be held to honor the long-standing Charleroi business owners.
Neighbors to the former Atlas building, the couple has worked for decades to make sure area residents have needed supplies to upkeep their lawns and take care of their animals, including cats, dogs, pot-belly pigs, birds and a variety of farm animals.
A family run business, Debbie said she and her husband could not pass up the opportunity to retire.
“It’s just time,” she said. “That is the best way to put it.”
The building that housed Bill’s Feed has been purchased by the Mon Valley Alliance, along with adjacent homes, and will be converted into developments to coincide with recreational property projects.
The former Atlas site, which sits adjacent to Bill’s, will be part of a river-front development project.
The Alliance, which purchased and tore down the former Atlas building four years ago, was always kind to the couple, they said.
The McGavitt’s purchased a new home in California, Pa., and will prepare to move on being full-time grandparents.
“We are both approaching retirement age and did not want to pass up this opportunity,” she said. “As we move on, the best part about this has been meeting and getting to know our neighbors and customers, who have become more like family over the past 25 years.
“That has been the best part, seeing people succeed, children grown up, and always providing them with what they need. There have been so many nice people that we have been able to help, that we really consider friends.”
The couple, who ran the business together, prided themselves on top-of-the line customer service.
“We wanted to be there, for whatever anyone needed,” she said. “That was the joy it brought to us.”
With Rick taking care of the warehouse and Debbie taking care of the business on the books and in the front of the store, they established a legacy in the Magic City.
“The community, the Mon Valley Alliance, everyone who has made this so successful and enjoyable for us, we can never repay,” she said. “We truly are so honored to have been here, to have met so many wonderful people.”
On Friday, the couple will be celebrated with a parade, kicking off at Third Street around 10 a.m.
The parade will be followed by a retirement party, which is open to the public, at the business from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with Fourth Street Packing and the Mon Valley Alliance providing sweet treats for those in attendance.
“I never expected such a send off,” she said. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought something like this would happen, for everyone to show up and show how much they appreciate us.
“I feel like I need to perfect my princess wave.”
She said the Alliance, who have purchased the property, have big plans in store.
“They have been so wonderful,” she said. “They are truly working very hard to improve their community and help our area. They are giving it the best they have and I pray it works out for them.”
She said she will be indebted to residents of the Mon Valley.
“We are honored,” she said. “To have been so successful, to have so many friends, loyal customers. If there is ever anything we can do, we absolutely will. Whatever it is.”
Additional details of the future use of the property will soon be announced by the Mon Valley Alliance.