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Star Supply owner had an eye for items people wanted or needed
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Lisa and Seth Rosen- thal can remember trips as children with their late father, Richard Rosenthal, who owned Star Supply on Mahoning Avenue, when he would go to closeouts or other functions looking for items to stock in his store.
They said they would look at merchandise and think of it as a pile of junk, but not their father, who could see in it things that people would want or need and he would take it back to his store.
“He had an eye and a lot of experience,” Seth Rosenthal said.
Richard Rosenthal, who died July 30 at age 77, celebrated his 50th year in business in 2018 and his children recently said the business would remain open and would remain in the family.
The pair remembered their father as someone with a great sense of humor who also had a unique vision for what his customers wanted that was borne through experimentation. He would try lots of different things in the store to see how they sold.
Their father’s sense of humor can also be found on signs for merchandise inside and outside the store. There are giant steel urns that are “Martha Stewart Approved!,” pieces of pipe labeled “Star Wars Blow Guns,” and more.
“He had a sense of humor,” Seth Rosenthal said. “He loved to tell a joke or horse around and that comes through in a lot of the signs. He loved to come across peculiar things.”
Lisa Rosenthal said when her father started out, the city was a manufacturing hub that gave him a base of customers. He was able to stay around after Black Monday in 1977 and even thrive because in the preceeding years he was able to find products that people needed and could afford, she siad.
“He had a niche that worked for him,” Lisa Rosenthal said. “He was creative enough to figure out a way to adapt.”
One thing her father was good at was anticipating what people would need, whether it was a home improvement project or something else mechanical. He would always be able to have what those people needed in stock.
“He knew what you needed for you to do the jobs,” Lisa Rosenthal said.
Richard Rosenthal also helped to make the area around his store look better, they said. He took an old gas station at the corner of Mahoning and Edwards avenues and fixed it up so the block would look better with sculptures and unique displays. He also helped supply a crew to a Cityscape cleanup on Mahoning Avenue just before he died.
The store has been a fixture for so long Lisa Rosenthal said it is not uncommon to have people who have moved away come back when they are in town and visit.
“I think a lot of people in the community have stories about the store,” Lisa Rosenthal said.
Their father was also a supporter of the arts but he liked to help out behind the scenes, Lisa Rosenthal said. A lot of times he would help by donating materials or goods if they were needed for a certain production, she said.
Richard Rosenthal was heavily involved in the running of the store up until his sudden death, Lisa Rosenthal said.
“We miss him,” she said.