Now, Shoemaker is selling the profitable and popular business. He hopes another local resident will keep the crusts flying and the chicken wings frying.
Shoemaker is asking $500,000 for Purple Monkey Pizza, which includes the turnkey restaurant operation and the two-story building in which it’s housed.
“Literally, you walk in and you’re running a pizza place,” he said. “It’s made money every year it’s been open.”
Longtime restaurant manager Abby Perkins, who’s run Purple Monkey Pizza since it opened in March 2005, will be moving to Texas soon, which is the impetus for the sale.
“I have too much going on, Abby’s moving and I’m getting older,” said Shoemaker, who also owns hardware and NAPA auto parts stores in South Charleston. In addition, Shoemaker’s adult sons are busy with careers of their own and don’t have the capacity to run the restaurant.
Shoemaker and Perkins agree the restaurant’s location at 25 W. Mound St., in the heart of South Charleston and along the paved recreation trail, is a big reason for its success.
“When I first bought the building, which used to be apartments, I demolished the inside and was going to make it into a house,” Shoemaker said. “Then I was watching all the people walk by. Abby used to manage a pizza place so we decided to do that instead.”
Not much has changed with the restaurant since then. “Everything works so we’ve just kept it the way it is,” Shoemaker said.
The business also has never closed, including during the pandemic.
“Business definitely picked up during COVID,” Perkins said. “Going to pick up a pizza was the highlight of customers’ days.”
Indeed, it’s the customers Perkins will miss the most after she moves.
“South Charleston is a very welcoming, great community,” she said. “This is a fun job.”
Anyone interested in purchasing Purple Monkey Pizza can contact Shoemaker at 937-360-7181 or Wessochas@aol.com.
About the Author