by Vickie Holt
When most people think of Floyd, Virginia, they think of the charming downtown district with its shops, music venues, and art galleries. But there is so much more to be found in the wider community of the county. Floyd County contains the towns of Check, Copper Hill, Indian Valley, and Willis.
It’s in the town of Willis, Virginia, that S. Peter Willis and Silas Garrett Conduff got together to open a general store for the community. This was around 1883, and the wooden-built shop could be found just about eleven miles southwest of downtown Floyd along Floyd Highway South.
Originally, this little community was called Greasy Creek, but in 1880, the name was changed to Hylton. This was to honor the Helton family who operated a store and post office there. It was around this time, however, that the Willis family settled in the area and began operating businesses in the community. Because of their influence, and because the Hylton Post Office was getting confused with the Hilton Post Office in another part of Virginia, the name of the town was changed to Willis in 1894. S. Peter Willis was a member of that influential family, and his partner, Silas G. Conduff, was the first postmaster under the town’s Willis name.
After a few years, Conduff became the sole owner, and the store served as a hub for folks in Willis. In the years before mass auto ownership, towns and villages were far more isolated. Travelling the eleven miles to downtown Floyd for food and supplies would have been a large undertaking. But thanks to Conduff, folks and farmers in Willis could purchase everything from harnesses to fine China, to clothes, meat, groceries, and even dynamite!
In the following years, the little store by the highway in Willis became a center of growth. From 1914 to 1935, the Post Office could be found in a corner of the store. Blue Ridge Bank also became part of the complex. Situated just up the hill from the little store, visitors could walk along a plank sidewalk that extended from the street in front of Conduff’s to the top of the hill for their banking needs. Eventually, even gas pumps were added.
In 1953, Jimmie and Hilda Harmon purchased the store and continued to carry most of the same merchandise as Conduff. They even kept the pennies that Conduff had put in the cracks of the wood-plank floor near the front counter. It was a conversation piece the Harmons would enjoy for the next twenty-five years. Even though they sold the store in 1978, the Harmons are still a part of Willis. Hilda and her daughters still live there.
In the years before that sale in 1978, a young couple were just starting out together in life. Shirley Moran was working on an assembly line at the Panel Sewing Machine factory. Her husband, Stanley, was working on the assembly line at Valleydale Meats in Roanoke, Virginia. Together with their new son, Stacy, the couple lived in a basement on Stanley’s mother’s property. At the time, the basement was built as a first step toward creating a family home. Like all solid endeavors, the Morans started from the ground, up, and for some time, lived just in the grass-covered basement. Eventually, however, they saved enough money to build a first story on top. That’s when they heard that Harmon’s store was up for sale.
In the spirit of entrepreneurship, and wanting the work for themselves instead of others, the Morans took a leap of faith. They were a very young couple with a very young son. It was a huge risk, but they gave up all they had worked for and all they had built – literally – and traded their house for the store. With the addition of a loan, the Morans sealed the deal and became the new owners of Harmon’s. They didn’t change the name of the store, as it was already so established.
Almost upon the day they took over, however, an auto accident destroyed the gas pumps! It was a huge setback. The goods in the store were staples for the community, but the gas pumps where what brought in the passers-by. None-the-less, the Morans moved into the apartment above the old, wooden store and got to work.
The Harmon’s Meats building. You can see the sign of the Willis Village Mart on the left in the background where it was built behind Harmon’s Meats and back from the road.
In 1978, Shirley was just twenty-six years old, and Stacy was just seven. With a tragedy on the first day, it wasn’t looking good for the Moran family. But Stanley had an ace up his sleeve. Thanks to the experience he’d gained at Valleydale, Stanley was able to add meat processing to the services offered at Harmon’s. He was Harmon’s first butcher, though others were also hired for the job. First order of the day was to process the USDA inspected case meat that was sold in the store cases. After filling the case each day, work would begin on processing hunted and farm-raised meats for the local community. As Stacy tells us, that is still the ways it’s done today.
Shirley and Stanley got off to a shaky start, that’s for sure. But they knew people and they knew how to work hard. To run a business, however, you also need admin. For this, they enlisted the help of their good friend, Roger Hollandsworth. Roger worked in banking and was able to help by ushering the young couple through a bookkeeping course. “They knew the people-side and the work- side,” says Stacy. “They just needed the books.”
It had been almost a hundred years since Harmon’s store was built, and Shirley soon came to realize it was a money pit. The furnace was old, and just couldn’t heat the building, anymore. As Stacy recalls, during clear nights in the stock room where feed and bottles of soda were stored, moonlight could be seen streaming in from the spaces between the boards that made up the outer walls. On many a winter night in their store-top apartment, the family could even hear the gentle “pop-pop-pop” of frozen soda bottles exploding.
However, despite sinking money into the old building each month and writing off ruined inventory, the Morans were able to move out of the apartment and into a family home in 1983. A few years later, Shirley and Stanley would go their separate ways, leaving Shirley the sole owner of an ailing property. This left her facing a tough choice: cut her losses and start over in a business she didn’t know, or adapt, rebuild, and move forward. Though there were no gas pumps, and the building was costing more and more in maintenance, Shirley didn’t sell.
“I am just so proud of her,” says Stacy. “Being a single mom, she just went for that venture at such a young age and took the risk to make it happen.”
It wasn’t easy. In the early 90’s, Willis was an even more quiet area than it is today. Hours would go by between customers. If Shirley didn’t hear the bell for an hour, she’d become really worried for the day’s books.
Shirley Moran had grown into the store business from the age of twenty-six. She knew it well and was very good at it. But there was just no way to expand the business with what she had on-hand. No way to offset the increasing costs. In 1993, she’d made up her mind. It was time to adapt. Time to rebuild.
By the end of 1994, the old, white store building was gone. It had stood for over a hundred years, but the time had come to let it rest.
In its place, a new, modern brick complex was built farther back from the road. Not only did this allow room for a parking lot that the original building never had, Shirley was even able to re-introduce gas pumps. With nothing of the old store remaining, she also decided it was time for a new name, and so Harmon’s store took a step into history and the Willis Village Mart was born.
In addition to the new store, the new meat processing area, the parking lot, and the gas pumps, Shirley was even able to bring banking to Willis! Prior to this rebuilding, Willis customers using Bank of Floyd would have to drive the eleven miles to downtown Floyd to do their banking. When Shirley moved the post office out of the building it had previously occupied in her complex, she entered into an agreement with Bank of Floyd to upgrade the building and make it secure. Now, folks in Willis can do their banking right there in the Willis Village Mart complex.
Shirley says that she couldn’t have done it without all the friends and locals who supported her and helped her throughout the process. She’s so thankful for all those who helped to move the merchandise, equipment, and products from the old store into the new one. Twenty-seven years later, and Shirley is still so grateful, offering a million thanks to everyone involved. They put in a lot of long days and a lot of long hours, but in the end, the job was done.
It was time to open Willis Village Mart and get back to normal, but even then, it was an uphill climb. “She did an incredible job moving forward,” says Stacy, “but without the employees and locals, she wouldn’t have stayed in business.”
Willis Village Mart has consistently provided local people with employment, allowing high school students to begin their employment learning experience. In 2018, Vicki Turpin started out in the meat processing department, helping to process deer and other meats for the local community. Three years later, she is now store manager, and says the Morans are great to work for, and that they treat their employees like family. “And that’s the thing,” says Stacy. “The folks who have been with us a long time, all our employees, they are part of our family.”
One employee, Susie Overstreet, even retired after working twenty years behind the counter! She was very valuable as a local and an employee, and it was a tremendous loss when she left. “If you needed to ask any question,” says Stacy, “no matter if it was about who or what, Susie knew!”
There is also Mike Keith, the Moran’s butcher, and Meat Department Manager. Mike has been working at Moran’s off and on since he was in high school in the early 1980’s. Stacy recalls when he was eight years old, Mike would teach him how to clean the meat department. Mike came back to Moran’s in 2004 and has been with them ever since.
“We are thankful for our outstanding staff,” says Office Manager, Judy Hylton. “Our employees are a tremendous help in keeping the store running smoothly. With the strong support of customers and a friendly community, you have a win – a win in the neighborhood that we are proud of.”
Fast-forward a couple more decades, and Shirley was not only successful, but she had also been able to open two more stores; the Dugspur Deli-Mart and the Hillsville Deli-Mart, both of which can be found by continuing down Floyd Highway south!
Eventually, however, the time came when Shirley wanted to step back from the grindstone and take more enjoyment from life. By this time, Stacy had moved to California and started a family, but returned when his mother asked him to take part in the arrangements that would place her responsibilities into the hands of her key people and managers. Little did Stacy know at the time, but he was getting ready to move back to Floyd to personally take the reigns of the company.
From left to right: Back row, Stacy Moran & Shirley Moran. Front row, Kai Moran and Koen Moran.
They say old habits die hard, but lifestyles die even harder. After four decades of working hard for her own company, Shirley still checks in on all her stores and is still involved. But when there is a choice between store work and spending time with her two grandsons, there really is no choice. The boys win.
Looking forward, a very deserved, happy retirement is in Shirley’s future. With Stacy managing the business, and with the help of folks like Judy Hylton and Vicki Turpin, Shirley can retire without worry, knowing the business she worked so hard to build will be in exceptional hands. “But,” says Stacy, “she will never be able to completely leave. Even though she’s not in the store, customers still ask about her every day.”
Though the year is now 2021, both Shirley and Stacy Moran have tried to continue the location’s General Store tradition. When customers walk through Willis Village Mart, they may be reminded of a friendly country store offering local products such as honey, wines, craft beers, seasonal fruits and produce, handmade potholders, and wooden utensils. In the Spring, visitors can find garden seeds, seed potatoes, fertilizer, and mulch. The Greenhouse also opens with a great selection of seasonal plants and flowers.
Willis Village Mart’s USDA inspected, fresh meat case is famous, both near and far, thanks to a staff with over thirty years of experience. Willis Processing is well known for its customer service, carefully catering to everyone. The skilled and knowledgeable butchers take time to ensure that steaks and roasts are cut to customer specifications. They also cut a variety of other meats, including venison, elk, lamb, bear, and pork. In recent years, seafood has also been added and has become a local favorite, as has the in-house ground pork sausage, select pork, ham, and chicken.
For hunters or fishing enthusiasts, licenses are also available, along with a selection of fishing accessories and bait. Folks can also find hardware, stamps and post cards, farm needs, automotive supplies, newspapers and maps, animal feed and pet supplies, canning supplies, household supplies, tobacco and CBD oil products, groceries, pizza by the slice, fresh coffee, lottery, an ATM, kerosene, a propane exchange, and of course, gasoline at the pumps!
The Willis Village Mart complex is located at 5602 Floyd Highway, South, and includes the General Store with Meat Processing, Jim Grill, Post Office, and the Bank of Floyd. The Willis Village Mart store is open Monday through Saturday, 5:00am – 10:00pm, and Sunday, 7:00am – 10:00pm. For more information about products and services, to contact Willis Village Mart, or to keep up to date with WVM news, follow them on Facebook by searching Willis Village Mart Inc.
The Willis Village Mart
Shirley Moran & Stacy Moran
5602 Floyd Highway South, Floyd VA • 540-789-7241