Levins, furniture store known for giving back to community

Home furnishings made Levin Furniture a household name, but a strong civic spirit is what has endeared the Levin family most to the Mt. Pleasant community for nearly 100 years.

Whether it was through local sports, park beautification, festivals or donations to the borough, the family-owned company poured itself into a community that eventually became a big part of its corporate identity.

Mt. Pleasant residents returned the love, giving the business a secure foundation from which to grow.

“Mt. Pleasant was always so important and so vital for my family,” said Robert Levin, the company's outgoing president. “That has always provided a good customer base and good source of revenue for the company, so we were always grateful for those relationships that we built over time.”

Levin, 61, said the sale of the family business to Michigan-based Art Van Furniture, announced last week , was structured to keep Levin's “yoked at the waist” with the community from which it sprang.

“All of the things that we're known for — good customer service, community involvement — is going to stay. That's the commitment of the new ownership,” he said. “All of our management team, all of our employees, are staying. All of our warehouse associates.”

Levin said the mutual admiration began when his grandfather, a “peddler” named Sam Levin, opened the original store in downtown Mt. Pleasant in 1920. It was accelerated by the Great Depression in the 1930s, when both the business and the community needed each other more than ever.

“The Depression really is when Levin's developed its reputation in the community because it was hard times, and my grandfather understood that people were going to get through this — so he extended credit,” Levin said.

From the local farmers who bought furniture, Levin accepted chickens, eggs, butter and cheese as payment. After all, he was struggling, too, and had seven children to feed.

Leonard Levin, the only son, entered the business during wartime in 1943. The store increased its downtown inventory but did not start expanding into other parts of Western Pennsylvania until the 1970s, when Robert's older brother, Howard, started opening waterbed stores in Pittsburgh.

With Howard's death in 1993, Robert cut short a promising career in Washington, D.C., and returned to Mt. Pleasant to run the family business. Expansion continued into Northeast Ohio, making Levin's a regional powerhouse.

But the connection to Mt. Pleasant never ceased.

The original Levin's, at 600 W. Main St., remains an anchor of the downtown business district. It sits across the street from the clearance store, formerly Levin's corporate headquarters.

It was in gratitude for saving the latter from a 1995 fire that Levin's donated an old warehouse to the Mt. Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department. And that began a relationship with the borough that continues to this day.

The fire destroyed the adjacent George & Cunningham Hardware Store, but firefighters saved Levin's. “They battled it all night long,” Robert Levin said.

“With some good thinking on the fire department's part ... we ventilated the building and saved their building from any damage at all,” said Mayor Jerry Lucia, who is the borough fire chief.

VFD treasurer Alfonso “Al” Maida, 86, had already been in negotiations with Howard Levin over the sale of the old Stoner-Oswald Motor Co. building, which was being used as a Levin's warehouse. The fire department wanted to use it for storage.

After Howard's death, Maida was approached by Sally Levin , Leonard's wife. “She said, ‘Are you still interested in that building? We're going to donate it to you,' ” Maida said. “They even took care of the title transfer. It didn't cost us a cent.”

Maida said Sally Levin went the extra mile when he bought a house and needed furniture.

“Sally came up to my house. She said, ‘I'll send the furniture up to you.' She actually furnished my house,” he said. “Whenever you needed anything, they were there. They were definitely there.”

Fire struck again in 1998, this time destroying the old Bryce Brothers Glass Co. factory that Levin's had been using as a warehouse. The company moved its warehouse and corporate offices to Fitz Henry in South Huntingdon and donated the Bryce Brothers property to the borough in 2008.

Mt. Pleasant officials hope to develop the 6.7-acre brownfield site following an environmental assessment and any necessary cleanup.

Lucia credits the Levin's donations for spurring economic development and fostering a good climate between the public and private sector in Mt. Pleasant.

“They have always been there for the borough, I'll tell you,” he said. “We never went to them asking for anything — they always came to us and told us what they were going to do for the borough.”

“They've always been very gracious and very community-minded,” said Borough Manager Jeff Landy, who cited the example of Levin's providing a chair for Santa Claus every Christmas. “They do things that maybe other people wouldn't even think about doing.”

Not least among the economic benefits has been the employment provided to borough residents over the decades, Lucia said.

Mt. Pleasant resident Kay Colello, a clerk at Levin's outlet store, said she is happy she will be able to continue working where she has been for the past 21 years.

“I love Levin's. I loved the family. We knew the family very well,” said Colello, whose late husband, Frank, was a carpet manager for Levin's.

She recalled that years ago, the Levin family would host holiday parties at their home for the employees. “They were wonderful people all around.”

Jan Riggs Kirik, 65, said her mother, Louise “Lou” Riggs, worked in sales at the Levin's Colonial House for 35 years. Riggs worked on the renowned Christmas window decorations with Sally Levin and longtime employee Dee Henry.

“They were pretty elaborate for a little town like Mt. Pleasant ... and everyone looked forward to seeing them when they were done,” Kirik said.

Robert Levin recently praised Henry as “one of the most talented decorators in the country.”

Cutting hair at Joe's Barber Shop on Wednesday, proprietor Joe “Coke” Yancosky also was effusive in his praise for Levin's and the Levin family. Yancosky used to cut Leonard Levin's hair and occasionally saw his sons as customers.

“To me, they were the greatest family around,” he said. “They were some of the best people in town. It's hard to explain.”

Staff writer Joe Napsha contributed. Stephen Huba is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-1280, shuba@tribweb.com or via Twitter @shuba_trib.