One city paint store has remained at the same historic location for more than 60 years.
Fink's Paint Store, 338 Mifflin Place, began with Robyn Fink opening the store in 1947. Since its founding, the business has been a Benjamin Moore retailer.
Robyn's son, Michael, now serves as owner making it a family-owned, generational business. Customers who shopped with parents and grandparents also still visit the store, associate Stacia Abernatha said.
"We have generations of people who still come here," Abernatha said.
The building has a history richer than just the paint store.
It started as a stable house to hold horses. The area where the office now resides housed the stable hand's bedroom, which Abernatha said hardly seems big enough to hold a bed.
During the Prohibition era, associate Craig Myers said a Cadillac parked in the building that transported illegal alcohol. Myers said he did not think any alcohol was kept in the building though.
Decades later in the 1970s, Fink said they found a pistol hidden in the rafters.
Now in their 64th year of business, Fink kept using the same building because he thought it was in a good location and also for novelty's sake.
"The location is in a pretty good area for when family brought their children here," he said. "Customers like to bring people to older stores. There's not many left. It has a homey atmosphere."
Myers agreed that the building felt 'homey,' unlike so many other stores in the business.
"As opposed to a big boxy atmosphere," he said.
Nestled in a sidestreet from Millionaire's Row, Myers said a challenge comes from maintaining the historical district.
"It's hard work preserving the area to some degree," he said. "There are codes, regulations and what the historical board wants."
The busiest time of year for Fink's Paint Store normally is spring and summer, but this year, Fink noticed a decline. While people usually spend those seasons doing exterior work, such as painting their houses, this year, Mother Nature stopped people.
"It was three months of rain and 100 degree temperatures," he said.
The store helps more than just residents, however. Myers said they also assist with commercial and industrial painting.
"It's not just the average people walking off the street," he said. "Even though we take good care of them, too."
One thing Abernatha said the paint store is known for is custom color matching. In the back of the store, several bookshelves are dedicated to large wallpaper books.
"We have a couple hundred wallpaper books," she said. "We spent a good amount of time coordinating wallpapers and paints."
For Fink, matching colors is one of his favorite parts.
"I enjoy helping and working with people," he said. "Matching colors is a daily challenge. You have to find the color the person likes."
For a long time, she said they also provide coffee and cookies for customers every Thursday as a weekly appreciation day.
