The small town hardware store

[Nolatoolguy]

Yesterday I was sitting around having some pop with the owner of a indepdent hardware store thats barely making it. We were just talking an he was telling me about how times have changed. The store has been there since 1906(not orginal building anymore) An I knew its been hard for him to stay in bussniess but it trually hit me with some things he said. What about the little man. What about the small indepdents. All these big boxes are taking over. I love the store that knows your name, the store with helpfull people. The store where you can go an just sit an talk.

Today I went to a different hardware store an hour away thats closing. I picked up a neat crescent display thats in another thread thoe. Anyway I was just thinking about the little store. It was so great but closing.

[Papaw]

Sad to see the passing of such stores.
The oldest hardware here is in its 85th year, and still viable, due to the foresight of the family that owns it. They have a feed store, a hardware store, and a large independent grocery in the same location. The are a Do It Best hardware, but have kept as much of the old timey ways as possible. I can buy one fastener, fasteners by the pound, or in the damn plastic things with the wrong number of units, all in one place. The people know the customers by name, live here in town, and are dedicated to staying in business.
Some prices are higher than the box stores, and they might be out of something, but they know what you need, and will get it if possible.

[Stoney]

We too have a local hardware that is in the 4th or 5th generation (I can't remember which) and they had to go Ace but old time customers are allowed to go up stairs to where the good old stuff is.  Even the youngsters know you by name and aliment.

[leg17]

We've still got our own here in Mount Vernon, KY
Cox Hardware.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHYiJNW0OU0

Tom

[Branson]

We too have a local hardware that is in the 4th or 5th generation (I can't remember which) and they had to go Ace but old time customers are allowed to go up stairs to where the good old stuff is.  Even the youngsters know you by name and aliment.

There's a hardware store just a few blocks from my house that's been in business for generations too, and like the one you mention, they've gone to Ace, but have stayed in business.  I get people who know what they're talking about, and always good customer service. 

The good old stuff is gone, but somebody usually knows about it. 

The best one Sacramento had to offer was Newberts!  It's become a used record shop now.  Sigh.  There are still a couple others left that seem to be doing decent business.  East Sacramento Hardware serves people with older houses, and so its stock isn't limited to bubble wrap packages.

[Stoney]

The oldest hardware store in Huntsville is Harrison Brothers.  It is the oldest in the state.  When the last Harrison brother died the store was sold to the Huntsville Historic Society.  They now run it with volunteers and mostly sell tacky stuff but in the basement are all the good stuff as for instance window sash weights.  You have to live, or be working on, a listed historic house to buy that type of item.  Can you imagine the look on a helper's face at a big box when you asked them "where do you keep your sash weights."

[scottg]

Well here we are. Some of the last people who even remember what a hardware store is supposed to be.
    But over at JC-Plastic-Mega-Mall they line up like cattle, by the mile.
 
Can't fault the warehouse stores though.
Its the people who are too stupid to know whats best for themselves in the long run.
  And the average looks to be about 95-5 from here.

    The only thing really wrong with a democracy
Is 5 minutes alone with the average voter
   yours Scott

[Branson]

Window sash weights!   When I was working with the planing mill making windows, those were gold!   We picked up any we could find!

After sash weights come the pulleys, the good pulleys.  I still collect them if i can find them, and this summer I came across nine -- heavy cast iron puppies -- and they came home with me for sure.  I don't know when I'll use them, but you can't wait to find some until you get the job.  When you
get the job, they'll disappear from the market place.  I despise spring balances...

[Branson]

Can't fault the warehouse stores though.
Its the people who are too stupid to know whats best for themselves in the long run.
  And the average looks to be about 95-5 from here.
    The only thing really wrong with a democracy
Is 5 minutes alone with the average voter
   yours Scott

Oh yeah.  If more people insisted on good quality instead of cheap replaceablility, the warehouse stores
would stock good stuff.

Ha!  Five minutes with the average voter might seem like an eternity.

[Stoney]

Window sash weights!   When I was working with the planing mill making windows, those were gold!   We picked up any we could find!

After sash weights come the pulleys, the good pulleys.  I still collect them if i can find them, and this summer I came across nine -- heavy cast iron puppies -- and they came home with me for sure.  I don't know when I'll use them, but you can't wait to find some until you get the job.  When you
get the job, they'll disappear from the market place.  I despise spring balances...

When I started Tree Trimming back in the late 60's we took sash weights (you could still buy them new at the hardware store Sigh Sigh Sigh) and cut them off about 1 or 1 1/2 inches below the eye and tied on our throw line in the eye.  We used the cutoff as throw weights to put our climbing lines up in the tree.  Throwing a pound of cast iron up in the air?  What were we thinking?  You could tell the old tree climbers by their broken noses/crushed cheekbones and missing front teeth.  It was not long until the weighted rubber throwball was invented.
Pardon the blast from the past.  And no I don't have any of those problems, I learned to tie a weighted monkey's fist in the Navy so that was what I used.

[Branson]

Not just small town hardware stores, but also old survivals.  I stumbled across one of these in San Francisco's North Beach.  It's gone now, of course.  I walked in and noticed the old oiled wood floor.  Yellow ware bowls were on the shelves, and I bought one for a friend whose yellow ware bread mixing bowl had finally died.  Looking around, I saw bright brass upholstery tacks in the floor.  Odd, I thought.   Then I noticed there was a pattern, and at one end there were three holes drilled in the floor, about one inch each.  A little more looking, and I realized the floor had been marked out as a giant ruler.  They had three different diameters of rope, and those had been stored in the basement, pulled up through the holes, and measured on the floor.  Rolls of chain were close by, too.  They must have sold a lot of rope at one time...

[Papaw]

In the feed store section of our old hardware store ( the section that is 85 years old), there are measurements still to be seen on the old wood floor. Used for rope, chain, fence, whatever.

[johnsironsanctuary]

This is my favorite. Boehlke Hardware. Built in 1927. It is in the unincorporated crossroads of Freistadt Wisconsin. I used to live nearby. I can still get hardware by the lb.. Steel roundhead rivets sheets of galvanized steel, farriers tools, I think that they still stock an anvil and the floors are made out of delightfully creaky wood.
the owner is third generation and also runs a plumbing and heating business out of the building. I have used the sheet metal forming equipment in the basement. They stock horse supplies, vet stuff. The store is tiny by today standards, but it is hard to stump them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77646587@N00/267298062/sizes/l/in/photostream/

[Stoney]

And I'll bet Johnsironsanctuary that they can put their hand in a pile and come up with what you want.  At least that's how they do it at Lewters Hardware in Huntsville, Alabama.

[johnsironsanctuary]

Inside, the Cox Hardware Store in the video that leg17 posted above looks exactly like Boehlke Hardware. All those cool old wall cabinets with the tools displayed in the door. In the spring, they sell live baby chicks and ducklings.