John Bonafide, preservation analyst from the New York State Parks Commission, said of the building, “As constructed, Ford’s Store is a representative example of Italianate style commercial architecture, popular in America during the third quarter of the nineteenth century.

The last of the Fords to enter the business were George and Lionel, sons of Leo, and together with their father and great uncle they worked in the store until illness forced Ernest into retirement in the late 1950s.

Oak Hill post office will continue to occupy a portion of the store and will be operated by Leo and George Ford and Gledon Hulbert.

For a time, George Stevens ran a business called The Electric Farm out of the building, selling plants, especially African violets, that were grown under lights.

In 2020 the building was painted a solid charcoal gray when poet Kostas Anagnopoulos took over the space as Pidgin, selling antique furniture and objects with select contemporary items.

Kostas said of the store, "A pidgin is a simplified form of communication; an informal language, often developed in trade, allowing those from different backgrounds to convey thoughts to one another.