I'm sad over a store closing

C50

C50

Senior Member
Location
Ohio, USA
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I've been going to this family run Hardware store for forty years, and it's looked the same the entire time.lol Today I was told they are winding it down, and it makes me very sad. No cash register, no computers, no credit, if the price was marked in 1960 that's what they sell it to you for. The brother pictured is checking his state of the art cardboard inventory screen for the price on some fittings I was buying. You go to their store with a problem and they'll offer four different ways to solve it, plus a cup of coffee if you want to hang around and talk about it.

No many places like this are left.
 

C50 said:
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I've been going to this family run Hardware store for forty years, and it's looked the same the entire time.lol Today I was told they are winding it down, and it makes me very sad. No cash register, no computers, no credit, if the price was marked in 1960 that's what they sell it to you for. The brother pictured is checking his state of the art cardboard inventory screen for the price on some fittings I was buying. You go to their store with a problem and they'll offer four different ways to solve it, plus a cup of coffee if you want to hang around and talk about it.

No many places like this are left.
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it's very sad when these old traditional places close down. we have had loads close here over the years.

One was a hardware in our little market town.. the only place you could go and buy just one screw etc.... it closed very recently after generations of family had run it for over 200 years.. ..it did differ from your man's place in that they had a cash till... not an Abacus...:sneaky::D
 

Yes, I'll pitch in on this one. When owner-operated businesses go out of business, I feel sad. Our local hardware store dovetails with land-based, hands-on lifestyle. It's a family-owned hardware store that stocks a very broad range of useful products. We have a sociable relationship with the family that owns it, partly because we knew them from a plant-nursery business they owned for many years before.

Besides the incredible stock they carry, what makes this hardware store outstanding is that the family was originally farm-based. So they know all the skills & processes that are part of living here — carpentry, plumbing, staining & painting, electrical wiring, minor auto maintenance, housekeeping, raising & preserving food, and more.

They've hired good staff, and the family members can offer reliable advice on selecting the product that would best suit a need. I'll add their service has included assistance beyond any good-business obligations. When our water heater failed and caused a flood in our basement, the hardware-store proprietor not only sold us the replacement we needed but delivered it to our home (even though they do not advertise such hands-on kindness).
 
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Things these small businesses cannot do includes employ dozens of people, be consistently competitive with their prices, offer even the minimum benefits required by law. And business license fees and business taxes have increased as much as 300% in the past 100 years.

I'm happy for that guy that he was able to keep his place open for as long as he did.
 
There was another old time hardware in this area that closed last year. That store was in town on the square and I always found it to be kind of touristy and pricey so was only there a few times over the years.

Also my favorite old time family tractor business sold a couple years back to some conglomerate. New owners did a great job remodeling and modernizing the store but my gosh the service is slow, and if they can't look the part up on the computer they can't help you.

Maybe I'm just aging out of this world.
 
My family had an Hardware Store in small town. My brothers and I would work after school and all day on Saturdays. Sunday we were closed. My oldest brother bought store from my folks but after he died, his wife sold store. It was sad to see the Hardware store close after all the work we all put in. You name it and we did it. Installed small windows, sold mufflers and other car parts. Assembled bicycles, lawnmowers, cut keys, mixed paint. It was a fun time working with my family but 6 days a week was rough on my folks.
 
C50 said:
There was another old time hardware in this area that closed last year. That store was in town on the square and I always found it to be kind of touristy and pricey so was only there a few times over the years.

Also my favorite old time family tractor business sold a couple years back to some conglomerate. New owners did a great job remodeling and modernizing the store but my gosh the service is slow, and if they can't look the part up on the computer they can't help you.

Maybe I'm just aging out of this world.
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Unfortunately I think we all are....
 
C50 said:
View attachment 334828
I've been going to this family run Hardware store for forty years, and it's looked the same the entire time.lol Today I was told they are winding it down, and it makes me very sad. No cash register, no computers, no credit, if the price was marked in 1960 that's what they sell it to you for. The brother pictured is checking his state of the art cardboard inventory screen for the price on some fittings I was buying. You go to their store with a problem and they'll offer four different ways to solve it, plus a cup of coffee if you want to hang around and talk about it.

No many places like this are left.
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I had a good one that closed quite a few years ago.

Now I have one that's small but you get today's disinterested customer service.

Or I can go to Home Depot that's the size of a warehouse. I needed a switch for a lamp and had to walk a quarter mile to get to where I was verbally directed by a front desk lady.

Then it wasn't where she said but she did give me an aisle number to search. After 10 minutes, I found what I wanted.

When I got it home, it didn't have a screw stop on the contact screw so I loosened it too much and the tiny screw fell to the floor and the search began.

The switch I was replacing did have a screw stop that made it impossible to make that mistake.
 
I love stores like these independent places. Huzz and I just bought a new, bigger tv and a receiver (makes the tv sound better) from a local business and the owner came out and installed it himself. It cost us more than a little more than what a big box store would've charged but the headphone setup--Huzz and I both have hearing issues--was complicated and I bet the big-box store installers would've still been here trying to figure it out and no way could Huzz and I have figured it out.

The store owner is about 15-20 years younger than Huzz and I and we hope he doesn't retire 'till after we're gone or no longer watch TV, lol.
 
I used to be able to find anything that I was after and rather quickly at a small, Mennonite-run hardware store. They were helpful, and if you wanted items like bolts or screws, you could buy them by the piece. Now huge stores like Lowe’s dominate, each the size of a city block, and you must trudge in them to the point of physical depletion to find what you want. The help is usually involved in restocking rather than helping customers, and you must waylay them to actually get help.

Want a screw? They got ‘em, but by the pack, more than you,want or will likely need for the rest of your natural lifetime... 😩
 
I love shops like that, unfortunately, not too many around now. I hope you will go back and take more photos before it all becomes a memory. :)
 
We were in the home repair business in 1990. We witnessed several hardware stores and lumber yards going out of business, as the BOX stores came rolling in. What happened? It seems like overnight, the whole business model changed. Make money was the rallying cry. Not, build it right. We adjusted the best we could until we couldn't take the game anymore. We started housecleaning instead. :)
 
A pizza chain located in most every mall,
just declared bankruptcy.
The inside scoop on why?
"Along with many Malls that are closing,
The Pizza chain simply ran out of dough......" ... (y)
 
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Gardenlover said:
The loss of knowledge is another huge thing that is lost when a store like this closes.
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That's actually the first part of this story I didn't tell. I was reworking an old air compressor and needed fittings, Lowes is the closest hardware type store to my house so I stopped there first. I couldn't find what I needed so asked the kid in the plumbing department if they had 1/4" NPT street elbows. He had no idea what I was talking about.

Went to the old hardware and Bill says, "you want that in galvanized, black pipe or brass?". In two minutes I had what I needed in my hand.
 

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