Company History
By Bill Ryan
The Middle East turmoil of the mid Seventies caused a spike in home heating oil prices. My father Theodore J. Ryan took action with his own personal oil embargo. He installed a woodburning stove to keep our family warm and to reduce dependence on oil. Starting on March 17, 1977, St. Patrick's Day, he sold Efel and Waterford stoves out of a former dairy farm building owned by Russell Showalter, calling the business The Stove Shop. As demand increased, The Stove Shop added more stove lines such as Nashua, Garrison, Morso, Jotul, Atlanta, Elm, Schooner, Better 'n Bens, Russo, Citation, Godin, Alaska, and others I've forgotten. In 1978 I graduated from Drexel and came on board as a part timer; never did I suspect that a long career in stove retail awaited. In 1981 our little family business was thriving. My dad entered into an agreement with Vermont Castings, then a mail-order company, and became appointed as the first Authorized Vermont Castings Dealer in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Customers from hundreds of miles away drove to Phoenixville in their pickup trucks to get their Vermont Castings stove. Many of those stoves are still in use today. We retained an advertising agency, Boyd Tamney Cross, which is when I met my wife-to-be Cynthia Mellon, who was a graphic designer for the agency. We married in 1983 and opened a second store in Medford Lakes, NJ. Then, the economy began to change, and the stove business suffered through a difficult period. We closed the shop in New Jersey, moved back to Pennsylvania, and refocused our efforts in Phoenixville. In 1986 my dad retired from the business, and I took the reins. The growth area in the hearth business was with gas fireplaces and pellet appliances, so we expanded to meet the demands of the baby boomers of the Nineties. We continue even now to respond to the changes in the marketplace, always keeping current with new products, and always treating our customers as friends. Today, in addition to Vermont Castings, we handle Harman and Quadrafire products. I enjoy my reputation as the local stove guru. I get a kick out of my past customers from twenty five years ago when they bring their grown-up children in to purchase a new stove for their family. It's 2008 now, and we are again witnessing worldwide political and economic upheaval, causing instability of oil prices. The demand for alternative home heating appliances is stronger than ever. It's deja vu all over again.
By Bill Ryan
The Middle East turmoil of the mid Seventies caused a spike in home heating oil prices. My father Theodore J. Ryan took action with his own personal oil embargo. He installed a woodburning stove to keep our family warm and to reduce dependence on oil. Starting on March 17, 1977, St. Patrick's Day, he sold Efel and Waterford stoves out of a former dairy farm building owned by Russell Showalter, calling the business The Stove Shop. As demand increased, The Stove Shop added more stove lines such as Nashua, Garrison, Morso, Jotul, Atlanta, Elm, Schooner, Better 'n Bens, Russo, Citation, Godin, Alaska, and others I've forgotten. In 1978 I graduated from Drexel and came on board as a part timer; never did I suspect that a long career in stove retail awaited. In 1981 our little family business was thriving. My dad entered into an agreement with Vermont Castings, then a mail-order company, and became appointed as the first Authorized Vermont Castings Dealer in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Customers from hundreds of miles away drove to Phoenixville in their pickup trucks to get their Vermont Castings stove. Many of those stoves are still in use today. We retained an advertising agency, Boyd Tamney Cross, which is when I met my wife-to-be Cynthia Mellon, who was a graphic designer for the agency. We married in 1983 and opened a second store in Medford Lakes, NJ. Then, the economy began to change, and the stove business suffered through a difficult period. We closed the shop in New Jersey, moved back to Pennsylvania, and refocused our efforts in Phoenixville. In 1986 my dad retired from the business, and I took the reins. The growth area in the hearth business was with gas fireplaces and pellet appliances, so we expanded to meet the demands of the baby boomers of the Nineties. We continue even now to respond to the changes in the marketplace, always keeping current with new products, and always treating our customers as friends. Today, in addition to Vermont Castings, we handle Harman and Quadrafire products. I enjoy my reputation as the local stove guru. I get a kick out of my past customers from twenty five years ago when they bring their grown-up children in to purchase a new stove for their family. It's 2008 now, and we are again witnessing worldwide political and economic upheaval, causing instability of oil prices. The demand for alternative home heating appliances is stronger than ever. It's deja vu all over again.