Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Pangle.
Hi Charles, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am an entrepreneur, visionary, and local artist carrying forward a family legacy that started in 1933. My grandfather opened Pangle’s Department Store in Pound, Virginia, and I was raised playing in the front display window of our store in Wise, where I even met my future wife as kids. He was a WWII Coast Guard veteran and world traveler who built his business on history, education, travel, family, church, and community — selling dresses, suits, school supplies, housewares, paint, fabrics, and arts and crafts because teaching and making were Pangle staples.
After growing up in that store and spending years in both retail and the food industry, I started Pangle Enterprises in 2017 to bring that childhood dream back. What sets us apart is we are not just one thing. That dual background is our advantage. Pangle Enterprises is both food and retail, building toward family entertainment, seasonal and holiday events, multiple brands, shops, restaurants, travel destinations, and attractions.
We started at our roots at 864 Park Avenue NW in downtown Norton, Virginia. We bought the 1920 building and began a full restoration. It is a dual-store concept under one roof: Pangle’s Department Store up front with that old general store feel, and Pangle’s Odd Shop & Odditorium tucked toward the back. Up front you find Christmas, toys, candy, clothing, home decor, and jewelry. In the back you find books, antiques, music, Oz collections, trains, planes, science, steampunk, aquarium, Bigfoot, aliens, and cultural pieces from Southwest Virginia to around the world. Our museum holds vault items and family-found artifacts collected over 90 years, plus gardens, Christian spiritual themes, flower arrangements, and live music.
In 3-5 years we will roll out more shops, food concepts, brands, entertainment, and attractions — gem mines, pirate ships, dinosaurs and space travel that already has our preview guests buzzing. It is Appalachian heart of home while traveling around the world, even to the stars. We want people to know who we are and invite those who want to be part of it to grow with us.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Obstacles have been setbacks, replanning, resetting, finances, COVID, family needing to come first, even flooding in the gardens and the store. You plan everything before you build, but you never know what is coming, good or bad, while you are building it.
I have learned to approach it as an artist. You have to be willing to repaint your ideas. That is not a loss. When you repaint, it opens doors you never saw and lets you reimagine things better than the first draft. In the end you smile seeing your ideas still living in the small and big details.
People ask if risking the Norton project was worth it and I say yes. I looked at the numbers, but I also fell in love with the old, broken, themed feel of the place. I knew my grandad would love it if he were here today. The store even had a 1920s studio apartment boarded up for decades. Opening that door felt like Carter opening King Tut’s tomb. That is my answer to risk — it is good when it is rooted in purpose. Our team is still restoring this old building, and that restoration itself has become part of the experience.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Pangle Enterprises?
Pangle’s Department Store
Pangle’s Odd Shop & Odditorium
What were you like growing up?
Growing up meant growing up inside Pangle’s in Wise. My playground was the front display window. My classroom was the aisles where my grandfather taught us that history, education, travel, family, church, and community matter most. Schoolteaching has always been a Pangle staple, which is why school supplies and fabrics were staples in the store.
That upbringing taught me a store is more than a place to buy things. It is where a community gathers, learns, and takes care of each other.
That shaped what success means to me. To some, success is looks, money, or status, but not for Pangles. Success is knowing you celebrated the talent God gave you with the people He put in your life. If what we are building at 864 Park Avenue brings families together, sparks curiosity in a kid, or makes someone feel at home in Norton, that is success. That is who I am, and that is the Pangle way since 1933.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.panglesdepartmentstore.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/panglesdepartmentstore
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pangles-Department-Store-1824553441137986/
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/pangle_store
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOiq78gUfT0tASCWVRuAlXA
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/pangles-department-store-pangles-odd-shop-and-odditorium-norton
