BUSINESS CLOSES —Blanche and Dent Pugh take a moment for a photo outside their long-running business before closing its doors May 31. The grocery served the Piney Creek community for about 40 years.

Pugh's Grocery closes down in Piney Creek

With the purchase of available land in Piney Creek, Blanche and former Alleghany Sheriff Dent Pugh returned from Winston-Salem to Alleghany and opened a grocery store in January 1967.

"We decided to give it a try," Pugh said of the couple's purchase, adding with a chuckle, "We didn't think we'd be here this long, but we have been." She then added the primary reason behind closing the store was the fact both Mr. and Mrs. Pugh were having health problems. "If I was still able, we'd still be here," she said.

When the Pughs opened the grocery in 1967, Mrs. Pugh remembers "It took us a while to get started. We started with not too big an income, not too big a bank account, we had to go at it slow."

At that time, the store was open from 6:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. and offered drinks and snacks, as well as fertilizer and feed.

After serving the area for seven or eight years, the store was expanded and its hours were changed to 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. Through the years, other items that were available to customers at the store included men's work shoes, hardware and plumbing items. For a short period of time Mrs. Pugh sold homemade sandwiches at the

store. During another period of time, the business offered delivery of store items to elderly and ill individuals.

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