After nearly 60 years, historic venue to reopen

Brother and sister plan to revive DeBruce shop

By Diana Fredenburg | Manor Ink Mentor

DeBruce, NY – The buzz word of the past couple of months is “reopening.”

That is an understatement for the DeBruce General Store, which has been closed since 1963. The store first opened in the 1850s, when a post office was approved for the growing hamlet and was housed in the Hammond & Benedict Tannery. Gradually, the tannery became a place for its many workers to get their tools, tobacco, clothing, fabric, dairy and farm products. It also became a gathering place for the community – the General Store.

When the tannery closed in 1855, the store remained open. As all successful businesses do, the General Store evolved and began catering to a different clientele – second home owners, tourists who came to fly fish and workers employed by DeBruce’s new veneering mill. In 1918, a 1,700-acre resort opened that offered golf, tennis and prime fishing. To serve the increase in automobile traffic, gas pumps were installed at the store in the early 1930s. The community was growing, and the DeBruce General Store was there to support it.

Changing times led to closure

By the 1960s, the Catskills resort industry was in decline. Many establishments in DeBruce were shuttered, including the DeBruce Club Inn. The hamlet’s post office, which had been in the General Store, was moved to nearby Livingston Manor. It was then that Mahlon Davidson, the last proprietor of the DeBruce General Store and in his eighties, decided to close the century-old shop.

Fast forward almost 60 years, and the DeBruce General Store is getting ready to reopen. The property has been owned by the Kocher family since the 1940s. Bill Kocher and his sister, Marilyn Lusker, have been restoring the cottages on Goff Road and operating a farm complete with chickens, Angus cattle, ducks and a produce garden. Manor Ink recently sat down with Kocher and Lusker at the Rose Cottage in the hamlet to talk about their plans for the property.

“I love history, and I think I got it from my husband. He couldn’t see an old building without seeing the beauty in its history and he’d always want to renovate it,” Lusker said. “We renovated this, and I said next we’re going to renovate that. So hey, we’re on a roll.”

“If you looked at some of the letters of support we got when we went to the zoning board, you’d see that an awful lot of people around here remember the store,” Kocher added. “It brings back memories – I think that’s part of it.”

Just the basics – with history

Bill and Marilyn plan to offer essentials at the reopened store. They already sell firewood, eggs and produce from their garden, and will add items as requested. “It really depends what the people want,” Kocher said. “We’re going to have ice and soda and bread – the basics – and we’ll get what we can sell.”

“We’re open to suggestions,” said Lusker. “We’ll see what the demand is, because that’s what we’re there for, to make people happy by giving them what they need.”

A unique aspect of the store is its historical component. “So people can learn about the area, we will have no shortage of antiques, memorabilia and other stuff,” Kocher noted. One of the signs from the store’s past will serve the reopened shop.

One final hurdle for the plan is its approval by the Rockland town board at a hearing on July 7. “After they listen to whoever wants to make comments, then they will make a determination,” Kocher said. “And then the fun begins.”