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Business adds to Graff Mercantile building's history
By BRAD PLOTHOW
bplothow@thespectrum.com
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Debra Ulrich pointed to a spot on the creaky hardwood floor of the Graff Mercantile building from behind a counter Thursday. At first glance, there appeared to be nothing defining about the nook -- it was just as old and brown as the rest of the floor.
But as Ulrich explained, the spot has a special anecdotal quality in the building, which was once considered one of the most vibrant economic nerves in the Hurricane Valley.
"If you stand right there, you'll have stood where Robert Redford stood," Ulrich said.
Redford traversed the Graff Mercantile building -- on the corner of Main and State streets in Hurricane -- in 1981 while filming a scene for "The Electric Horseman," in which the actor starred with Jane Fonda.
The run-in with Tinseltown was only a snippet in the Graff building's 96-year history. Since Melbourne Demille opened the building for business in 1908, the Graff Mercantile has been a long-standing business hub, facilitating grocers, a drugstore, a silent film theater, a barber shop and most recently a flower shop and the Ulrich's budding business.
"We have (customers) in their 80s or 90s who remember running through this store as children, buying candy," Ulrich said. She and her husband Steve opened the consignment shop in the Graff Building in May 2003.
The Ulrichs said they chose to open their business in the Graff building in part because its atmosphere created an appropriate ambiance for their entrepreneurial venture, which has lured lots of antiquarian items from consigners.
"You'll notice when you walk around, the floors are going to creak and moan," said Debra Ulrich.
But those decrepit boards have earned the right to whimper a little. During the Great Depression they supported crestfallen women who came to the Graff Mercantile -- which had been purchased in 1928 by Emil Graff -- to trade surplus dairy products for scrip, or store money.
Tradition suggests the floor is so well preserved today as a result of its baneful relationship with store clerks years ago. The clerks grew to detest the long stretches of hardwood that may have covered as much as 4,000 square feet, because they were required to oil the floor several times a year on Saturday nights so it would sparkle Monday mornings.
Flower Market manager Denise Davis said the structure, which is safeguarded by the Historic Register, has been a quaint means of housing the floral shop, which has occupied the mercantile's Main Street side for roughly two years.
"It just has a wonderful feel to it; it has such an eclectic feel to it," said Davis. "People know the mercantile well, so we just tell them we're at the Graff and they find us."
People in the Hurricane Valley have been finding their way to the Graff Mercantile since before it was dubbed "Graff." Prior to Graff's purchase of the building, it was called the Charles Petty Mercantile, named after one of Melbourne's business partners.
Today, patrons looking for floral arrangements, original art or antiques rummage the building's archaic aisles. They flit around mounds of aged knick-knacks or tableware. They meander to a downstairs collection of paintings. And some don't even end up making a purchase.
"This is the best girlfriend's hangout," said Debra Ulrich of the consignment shop. "You'll see herds of three or four women at a time come and spend hours."
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