Insurance company cancels policy, but antique shop owner persists

HARRIMAN-Don't you just hate when the big guy picks on the little guy? One local woman knows all too well how it feels. "I ain't got no idea," said Paula Hill comically. "I just kept on with my famous saying, ‘Just don't give up.'" Hill, 68, and her husband Blaine, 78, have owned a little out-of-the-way antique shop on Rake Street in Harriman for the last 32 years. Although it has no official name, Paula Hill most often refers to the shop located on the bottom floor of her 1860 building as "The Old Stone Hill Schoolhouse Shop." The Hills typically see more than 500 buyers in a year. But a letter in May from her insurance company, OneBeacon America Insurance Company, based out of Buffalo, threatened to end that when it said it would not renew their policy. Without insurance, she said, the couple would be forced to put an out-of-business sign on the basement level front door of her monstrous 19th century stone home she had lived in for nearly four decades. "We have three separate insurance policies - one on our home, one on what we call ‘the little house,' a small home on our property, and one on the shop," she said. "But they refused to renew the policy on the shop." The reasons OneBeacon Insurance Company cited for not renewing Hill's shop insurance were "due risk" and that the "business conducted on (the) premises and dwelling is a converted structure." Hill said that her broker told her that due to the attacks of September 11th and the massive hurricane damage in Florida this past year, insurance companies have "been trying to reduce risk wherever they can." But Hill said that her shop is not a risk and the fact that her shop and home is a former schoolhouse should have no bearing on her insurance policy in the year 2005. The woman also pointed out that the police station is one block away, the fire station is a block and a half away and that a hydrant is located just beyond her property on Rake Street's corner. "What kind of risk am I?" she asked. When she contacted the insurance company, she said she was told that one of the risks associated with her place of business was that there was "no lock separating the upstairs dwelling from the shop." "They claimed they came to look at it, but that's from the outside," she said. "Look," she added, turning around and pointing to the area leading to the upstairs. "Nobody (a burglar) could do a quick thing (getting up there)." She added that there is, in fact, a lock on the door but it was not a modern "centrally placed alarm system." But the news did not stop Hill, a retired social worker whose passion in life is love for children and antiques. She called friends, business associates and other insurance companies, trying to keep her shop doors from closing. Hill's shop holds antiques dating back from the early to mid-19th century. Her favorites are her dolls, which include several of her own dolls and their houses from when she was a young girl. A walk into her shop brings you instantly into the past. The walls are filled with art and bookshelves. Dolls line the shelves - dolls from every corner of the world. She has an entire wall dedicated to old children's books. A pull on one of the books might surprise you with a book from an American Indian tribe or a Russian fable. There's also one very large dollhouse in the store, covered in a sheet. Hill said this contains some of her childhood dolls. It is special; it also is not for sale. Her most recent collecting has focused on postcards. From all over the world, she collects the postcards, she explains as she goes through the massive cabinet of postcards, laughing at some, however unable to read most of them written in foreign languages. Even though she does not understand the language, she said she simply loves them for the "art." "Someone once asked me how I could spend $35 on a postcard. I told her ‘where else can you buy artwork like that for $35?'" When Hill goes to antique shows and sells some of her items, she said that the young children "always come back to me to buy. "You buy what you like," she tells them. "You buy what you can afford, and buy what's in the best condition. But the first thing is you have to like it." "You know how much I have lost for not listening to myself?" she added. "I lost wonderful things - it's very important to listen to your instincts. If you really like it, it doesn't matter how much…. You just got to listen - always listen to yourself. Hill's husband, Blaine, stricken with arthritis and is no longer able to help his wife as much which the shop and the collecting, making the insurance nightmare even "a bigger blow," as Hill put it. Finally, after several calls and following a call to The Photo News for help, a smaller insurance company, which has an office in Central Valley, agreed to insure Hill's shop. "I just want people to know that if this happens to them, there are other options out there and that you shouldn't give up - just keep on looking and never give up, ever." Looking at her vast collection she added, "When things are good, they just shouldn't be thrown out." If you would like to visit the "The Old Stone Hill Schoolhouse Shop," have questions, or would like to speak to Paula Hill, please call 845-783-7297 for more information.