Long Island → Greenville
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Henry & Stephanie Russo moved to Greenville, PA from Long Island, New York in 2006.
What were your first impressions of Greenville?
Henry: People usually ask me the same thing, “Why did you move here from New York, a major metropolitan area, to little “podunk” Greenville, Pennsylvania?” and for a while that caught me off guard. And then I realized after telling that to people and traveling a lot that it’s a really nice place to live. It doesn’t have major industry like it did, it doesn’t have a particular mountain scene in the background like some areas do, like a big raging river that attracts tourism. It’s a very quaint, mountain town, an Appalachian mountain town, that has survived a rough stint and has been going uphill since. The housing has been getting better, the town’s getting better. We bought an restored this old Victorian for pennies on the dollar and it’s turned out to be an excellent place to live and an excellent choice for us.
Stephanie: I think with Greenville, for me, if you could just sum it up in one word it would be the word community. I think the fact that, when you think of a small town, there is always that negative conception that, “Everybody knows everybody, everyone knows everyone’s business.” But there is something positive to that too. It’s just so sweet and so quaint to be able to sit out on my front porch and strike up a conversation literally with my neighbor. She walks off of her front porch and the we’re standing in the middle of the street having a conversation and the next neighbor comes over and sees us and she’s bringing us cookies or that neighbor down the street, “I’ve got some tomatoes.” And then we’re all in the middle of the street having a conversation and going into each other’s homes and inviting each other over for dinner the next day. I think just living, not necessarily just on Eagle Street, but living in this community, you have those opportunities to get to know each other on a deeper more intimate level, where you begin to really care for one another and it blossoms and grows into something bigger.
Henry: We’ve lived in other parts of town before living where we live now, and it’s been the same. The community is always there. Everybody is always getting together for something, whether they are on their front porches or during the winter, we all help each other snowplow and stuff, you know, clear sidewalks for old people and what not. It’s definitely community. I would not have that living in New York and it’s really cool to actually have neighbors that you like.
Stephanie: Yes. And that you can get to know, and that you want to get to know. And to look out for one another. We have elderly neighbors here that we genuinely care about and really do look after. And we’re curious to know, “Did you see Harvey today? What’s he doing? Did you bring him something to eat?” It’s more of a family-oriented atmosphere and lifestyle, I think. And that’s what Greenville means to me.
As a homeowner, how affordable is Greenville?
Henry: The house you see in the background here is an 18th century Victorian that we purchased and restored. We bought it for $22,000. It was in dire need of restoration, but it’s placed in such a beautiful little town that it was worth the effort. Plus the big thing is that you can actually afford to fix it. This particular region has a very, very good income to cost-of-living ratio that a lot of places don’t have. They’ve been bought up, just simply priced out of competition so to say. These little Appalachian mountain towns, that Greenville’s a part of, have the ability to do really good financially if you are willing to fix up a home. If it wasn’t for the market that Greenville has, and the surrounding area for housing, we wouldn’t have been able to do it. I’ll put it frankly, I would not be where I am today, if I didn’t live in Greenville. Because of the people we’ve met have helped us. I’ve had help from the neighbors. We were putting in a pipeline in the backyard and I was digging by myself, and the one neighbor saw me digging, and I didn’t know these people, and he came over with a pick and said, “Do you mind if I help you?” And I was like, “Sure, start digging!” Then before you know it, there was another guy, and another guy, and we had 12 guys digging this ditch and I didn’t know their names. So that was, that was a moment I realized, there is something here that wasn’t any where else I’d been. I can speak honestly on that, the community again is just phenomenal.
What is it like being an entrepreneur in this community?
Henry: If you think about it mathematically, the more money you keep to put into your business, the better your business is going to get off the ground. You are going to be spending less overhead, less for the property. And there are still plenty of people out here, and plenty of business opportunities. It is definitely easier to get started here because of the cost-of-living. We’ve been getting into purchasing a shop for auto repair and it would not be possible for me to be able to do what I am doing here in let’s say New York, where we lived, just because the vacant lot would be 2.3, 1.2 million. Where here you can buy a functioning business with all the land and all the stuff for 250 - 500 (thousand) and immediately be in business. You won’t make less money because of the area, you’ll make the same amount of money, but you’ll be spending a lot less. So as far as entrepreneurship and building up a business of your dreams, these small towns are where to do it, and that’s from experience.
Stephanie: From my perspective and my standpoint, just having the support of the community and having the support of the people that I have met just from being in this community, the networking opportunities, for me personally, have been phenomenal. Just being able to utilize the word-of-mouth from the people I’ve gotten to know from working at my previous jobs and just from living here in Greenville and living on this street has really given me the opportunity to expand and grow my business based on word-of-mouth.
Sum up Greenville in one word.
Stephanie: Okay, I think I have it.
Henry: Do you want to think about it for a second?
Stephanie: The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Greenville is quaint.
Henry: Cozy. There’s nothing like looking out the window with your warm cup of coffee as the snow comes down on these beautiful manicured homes on these beautiful brick lined streets. It is something from a Norman Rockwell painting.
Stephanie: I was going to say Thomas Kinkade, but yeah.
Henry: Both. Again it’s that community.
Stephanie: It’s like a comradery.
Henry: Yeah the community just binds everybody. We all live in a small space. I remember one of my mentor mechanics said to me when I was fresh out of the city. He was dealing with a customer, and the customer was just being irate with something he just took care of him and everything was fine. I wondered to him, coming from the city, why he didn’t just tell the guy to pound salt. He said, “We live in too small of an area to make a bad name.” I didn’t understand that fully… until I did. It’s the word-of-mouth, your reputation means a lot out here because people know you. You’re not just a face in a crowd. I think that does add to the lack of crime. People know each other and they care about each other and they also know that whatever they do is going to stick to them in this small town. Take that for better or worse, but it has definitely been for better.
Stephanie: At least from our perspective.
Henry: It’s a great place to have dogs too.
