(Greenville, NC) Twelve months after being severely damaged by
Hurricane Floyd, the ParkerStore has reopened its doors for business. The store originally
opened in August of 1999. On September 17, 1999 the store was flooded and the employees
limped along until renovations could be made.
"Our goal was to have the biggest open house ever," said ParkerStore manager George Koonce. "We had heard that another ParkerStore open house had over 350 people attend, and we wanted to do better. We really wanted to tie it in with Donny Schatz's World of Outlaw sprint car team. Racing is really big in this part of the country."
City
officials from Greenville were on hand for the 'Grand Re-Opening' ribbon cutting
ceremonies. The store actually decided to have the event in two segments, the grand
reopening on Tuesday, and a full-scale open house and "pig pickin " on Thursday.
Donny Schatz and the ParkerStore sprint car team were competing at the nearby Lowes Motor
Speedway in Charlotte, and could only fit in an appearance on Tuesday.
"This
is truly one of the premier stand-alone ParkerStore facilities," said Harry Waldron,
ParkerStore Manager. "These guys did everything right when it came to laying out the
store. For the walk in customer, it doesn't get any better than this. They also provide
excellent service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and you don't get an answering machine
when you call their number."
More than 430 people attended the very successful event, making it one of the most highly attended ParkerStore functions. Keith Teel, a locally sponsored ParkerStore driver was also on hand with his Monte Carlo.
"All
of the ParkerStores should look into using these drivers for their events," added
Koonce. "We received a lot of positive comments about Donny, his family and his crew.
My hats off to them."
(Article by John Strand)
(Photos provided by George Koonce)
