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Santa’s Secret Shoppe joins growing list of new businesses in Monongahela

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Top right: Santa’s Secret Shoppe at 211 Second St. in Monongahela. Observer-Reporter file photo

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Monongahela shop owner Dionne Malush stocks a store full of Santa Clauses.

Befitting a global pandemic during the holiday season, a new Santa Claus store in Monongahela is selling a Christmas tree toilet paper ornament.

Another ornament at Santa’s Secret Shoppe features the Jolly Old Elf wearing a face mask “for protection” against the novel coronavirus.

“It’s so nice in there,” said Dorothea Pemberton, executive director of the Monongahela Area Chamber of Commerce. “It has that cozy feeling.”

Realtor Dionne Malush’s shop is among 23 new businesses that have opened in Monongahela in the past two years, defying a global pandemic that has dealt a blow to the national economy since its arrival in the spring.

Pemberton said most of the new stores are specialty shops, ranging from a camera store to one that sells candles in a quaint city known for its antiques dealers.

“I just think so many people want to follow their dreams,” she said.

She said the area also has a strong chamber that has grown from 79 members a decade ago to 176 today.

Pemberton said Monongahela is fortunate to have a Main Street that also serves as State Routes 136 and 88, that it’s nearly impossible for a pedestrian to cross the street at 4 p.m. on Fridays.

Malush has collected Santas her entire life and was attracted to the building at 211 Second St., partly because it’s appropriately painted red and white.

“Everyone loves it,” said Malush of nearby Carroll Township. “I feel like I’m living in a Hallmark movie.”

She said people driving down Second Street have made U-turns to explore her store.

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