Landmark Unity farmhouse opens as home furnishings store

A landmark of Westmoreland County’s farming tradition is entering a new chapter as a home furnishings store.

Just in time for Christmas shopping and, unfortunately, new pandemic-related restrictions on retailers, Frye Farm Place had a soft opening last week on Frye Farm Road in Unity.

Operated by Unity residents Dave and Marie Tomko, the store occupies both floors of the 200-year-old brick farmhouse on the former Clair Frye dairy farm.

While looking for a place to set up shop, the Tomkos discovered the iconic home was on the market in the summer of 2019 and bought it last December. With the previous owners’ blessing, they’ve retained the Frye family name for their business and maintained as much as possible the home’s existing features, including a central staircase and hardwood floors.

“We’ve been going down this road for over 30 years and we’d seen the farm,” said Marie Tomko. “The down-home feeling that you get, the peace and what this iconic, historic place stands for is everything that we stand for.

“We just wanted to keep that legacy going.”

The Tomkos both have experience in the retail industry — Dave in selling furniture, Marie in selling apparel.

Operating their own store was “something we’ve always wanted to do,” said Dave Tomko. “The impetus was that our kids are growing and we thought the timing was right.”

Each of five second-story bedrooms now part of the retail space is named for one of the couple’s five children. A granddaughter, in-laws and several pets complete the extended family.

The Tomkos put together a business plan for Frye Farm Place with assistance from the Small Business Development Center at nearby Saint Vincent College. But, Dave Tomko acknowledged, “We’ve had to alter it a couple times because of covid.”

Meeting a new state directive requiring most retailers to limit occupancy in their stores to 50% of capacity shouldn’t be a problem for the Tomkos. They’ll still be able to have 25 people in the farmhouse at a given time, and they have face masks on hand for customers.

“We do have new furniture that is on order,” Dave Tomko noted. But, he added, “The supply chain in the furniture business has been just slammed due to covid. The supply has not been able to meet the demand.”

To start with, the Tomkos are offering locally made, vintage and antique furniture and unique rustic pieces fashioned from barn timbers and farm equipment. Dave Tomko has done much of the needed antique restoration.

One room is filled with older desks, chests and school furniture — prized items that are in even more demand with the pandemic-fueled proliferation of home offices.

Additional merchandise includes table linens and other country-style home decor and accessories, greeting cards and Melissa & Doug toys, which the Tomkos discovered during family vacations at Rehoboth Beach, Del.

“We thought is was really cool stuff because it was nostalgic,” Dave Tomko said. “It’s real metal and wood, unique kids’ toys.”

“They’re toys we used with our own kids,” Marie Tomko said. “Everything that’s here is a story about us. It’s everything that we love ourselves and we would use in our own home.”

There is room for potential expansion on the property, with outbuildings that include a spring house and a brick structure that served as a smokehouse and summer kitchen.

Holiday hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Visit fryefarmplace.com for more information.