On Wednesday evening 9/23/26, residents and neighbors gathered in the parlor of the Round Hill Community Church to hear Chuck Royce and Ryan Brumberg, the new owners of the property, discuss their preliminary thoughts and answer questions about the next chapter at this historic location. The future of the community landmark has generated a lot of interest as over 50 people attended the meeting, and over 100 have expressed their thoughts in an email survey on the subject. Round Hill Association (RHA) president Brendon DiSimone opened the meeting, introduced the owners, and shared some of the findings of the survey.
Here are a few of the broader take away points from the meeting with Chuck, who is moving to Round Hill Road from Riverside, and Ryan, who lives in backcountry. Ryan is a member of the RTM and the RHA Board of Directors.
This purchase is not a new idea. They have been talking about it for two years with the Strain family.
Before finalizing plans, they have made it clear they want feedback, ideas, and any concerns from people in the Round Hill community.
This will be a non-profit ownership named The Round Hill Preservation Society (RPS), and they will be knocking on the doors of residents in the area in the future to help fund the project.
Their main goal always was, and is, to protect the location from unwanted development.
There will be two stages of development. The short-term first stage will be to improve and “polish up” immediately what exists today. The longer-term second stage will consist of reconfiguring the property and planning for any new development which is important to the area.
Initially, the RPS is considering a Round Hill Village Center which would provide multiple options from a cafe with seating, gourmet coffee, a selection of quality prepared foods, and space for small gatherings. This could include the use of other small buildings for pizza, ice cream, flowers, or other specialty products. There may be outside seating and perhaps the use of the second floor of the current store building for meetings, etc.
Resident feedback from the meeting was expressed on several issues:
Keep the service station, along with John and Hector if they want to stay.
Eliminate parking in front of the store which compromises traffic visibility at the corner, but also have adequate parking space for increased customer volume.
Keep providing deli sandwiches for lunch customers who work in the back country and have been a big part of the store’s customer base.
Have a U.S. Post Office drop box within the store or in close proximity to the store for the convenience of customers.
Continue to stock household items in the future.
Keep some of the current old antiques like the cash register and trains to preserve the historic feeling of the store.
Put in some kind of signage, lights, or a crosswalk to slow down the speed of traffic on Round Hill Road.
