Crompton family bringing a variety of local favorites to new store in Hawk Run

HAWK RUN — From fishing poles and outdoor merchandise to local food items and products, Grace and Mark Crompton’s newly-opened Old Pop’s Corny Village Emporium has nearly anything that you might need.

Located on the busy Morrisdale Allport Highway in Hawk Run, the emporium opened its doors to the public in mid-July and has been experiencing a steady flow of business since its opening.

“We’ve got a lovely little unique shop here I’d say and so far people are really seeming to enjoy it,” Grace Crompton said. “We’ve got a nice host of all sorts of different items to offer and since we’ve opened we’ve been getting a lot of traffic.”

She continued, “I think it’s because we offer a lot of stuff around here that you don’t normally find all together in one place. A lot of times the goods that we provide are only normally found at fairs and everts like that, but we offer a place where you can find them all together in one cute shop.”

The Cromptons makes a good pair, with Grace being the businesswoman of the operation and Mark, and their son, being the brawn.

“She’s absolutely the mastermind behind all of the business ideas here,” Mark said. “She’s always coming up with new things to sell and new ideas to bring to the shop and to me, it’s really innovative. My son and I are just lucky enough to be the ones that get to make those dreams and ideas a reality.”

On the other side of the coin, Grace offered all the credit to Mark and their son.

“I couldn’t do any of this without them, no way at all,” Grace said. “I come up with the ideas and they come up with the absolute best ways to bring them into fruition. The shop looks amazing and it’s all because of them.”

However, owning a unique variety shop such as this wasn’t always in the Cromptons’ plans.

While being raised in Hawk Run, Grace Crompton later found herself owning and operating an event and wedding planning business in the south of Florida. However, after retirement from that job, they decided to move back home from the Sunshine State and buy a property in Hawk Run.

After some time readjusting to their new home, Grace has expressed interest in a property for sale, formerly Fox’s Pizza Den.

“The property was in really rough shape and it was going to take a lot of effort, but after being retired for a while I decided that I couldn’t hang up my working boots just yet,” Grace said.

The old building was torn down and the new one was beginning to take shape.

“It was almost like shaping clay,” she explained. “They always say that the finished product is already within the clay and you have to bring it out into what it’s meant to be. This property was my clay and this building was the finished product, already waiting to be brought into real life by Mark and myself.”

After years of hard work, the near-finished product is here, but the Cromptons have no intentions of stopping there.

Additional plans to the emporium include an additional room, themed like a 1920’s speakeasy to sell and sample moonshine. A frozen yogurt and ice cream shop will also be opening within the coming weeks as well. Eventually, there will be a deck added for the anyone who gets a frozen treat to sit in the sunshine and enjoy their food.

One of the most important parts of the business for the Cromptons is that their suppliers, for the most part, stay local.

“Mostly everything in this shop is brought in by local vendors in the Centre and Clearfield Counties,” Mark explained. “We’ve got products in from Osceola Mills, Houtzdale, Port Matilda, Kylertown — you name it.”

“The emporium provides people of the area to come to a spot and find all of their local favorites,” he contined.

As Old Pop’s Corny Village Emporium continues to grow, Grace and Mark Crompton will look to continue to make connections and bring new business into the spotlight with their store.

Located at 1374 Troy Hawk Run Hwy., the business is closed on Mondays, but from Tuesday to Friday it’s open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on the weekend it’s open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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