Bummer..

[PEARL DRUMS]

I just found out the little ma and pa hardware uptown is closing due to family issues with financing and who gets how much. Silly crap. I loved that shop because they had all the old school wood finishing items. Watco Danish, Tung Oil, Tru Oil, wipe on and any spray you can think of. Sandpaper and belts and of course hardware. Im going to miss that store badly.... I paid too much for everything I bought there and loved it!

[GaryR]

I know what you mean. I try to avoid big box stores and buy local. I try to buy American but we just don't make some things at all anymore. I was using the local Ace a lot cause they are locally owned and support the high schools athletics, but seems most everything they sell is Chinese. I try to make my own now.

[Pat B]

We have a locally owned ACE hardware store too. Our mayer's family owns it. We've had a charge account there for years and I buy whatever we can from there. They have everything you could need for almost any project and the personal knowledge and helpfullness you don't find at the big lot stores. They even call me by name when I walk in. 
  Sorry to hear you are loosing your store, Pearlie. That really sucks! 

[paulsemp]

It is sad. By me in chicago it is all big box stores with no hope of a return to ma and pop shops.

[sadiejane]

sorry to hear that. a good local hardware store is a real treasure these days.
we still have this one in kc
http://store.harryepstein.com/c/Catalog.html
the prices at the store are way less than their catalog...for whatever reason
i know one of the brothers who runs it pretty well.
his grandpa was the type who would buy up huge crates of tools etc when he could get em cheaper that way.
(and i think they still do that-seeking out businesses that are closed and buying up their old inventory)
the bldg they are in is 4 stories. street level is the store, the rest is filled to the brim with crates of goods.
i dont think steve has a clue what half of the stuff is. he just opens crates as he comes to them.
so many items are a one time thing from years past. lots and lots of american made tools.
all their files and rasps are NOS stuff thats been hoarded away for years.
of course much of their everyday items are new and yes NOT american made.
still its a treasure hunt everytime i step in there.
they carry a large selection of mora knives-cheap!
and wetterlings axes also at better prices than you can find online anywhere.
nearly every model of wilton vice made.
i have to be very careful tho or i will spend  way more $ more than i intended.
sometimes you walk in and there are three or four barrels of axes from soviet union or sweden.
next time a small wooden crate full of german bayonets from wwII era(for $10 each!).
the next time cases of gun sights from bombers during the war.
none of that stuff lasts long.
steve is always trying to get me to set up an acct. no way dude, i would become indebted to them for life!
with the inventory of old tools and the following they have in kc, i think they will be around for a long time to come.

if yr ever in the kansas city area make time to check it out.

[GaryR]

sadiejane, that sounds like way more than a hardware store. I wish my Ace offered WWII stuff, although my wife would hate it.

[osage outlaw]

I use to work at a mom and pop true value hardware store when I was 18.  They had a hunting department and even sold bows.  The owner built selfbows and killed deer and an elk with them.  At the time I hadn't been bit by the primitive bug yet.  I even special ordered the newest bow with 80% let off, split limbs, and a mercury filled stabilizer     Now I stop in every now and then to talk bows with the owner.  He gave me a HHB log that had been in his garage for years.  I have his name on my list of people I want to make bows for.   

[ErictheViking]

Happening everywhere unfortunatly. In our little town we had a locally owned hardware store that had been in the town since my the late 60s called "Coast to Coast".  You walk in with an obscure part for your water heater, furnace, electrical panel whatever and they would walk on over and lead you right to it. That went kapoot two years ago a box store moved in and not a single person knows anything about the finer points of house repair let alone having the weird stuff.  I once went into the box store wanting to find the lanscape plastic and got ping-ponged back and forth throughout the stupid place. sometimes lower prices are not worth it.

[beetlebailey1977]

One of our local hardware stores (Truevalue) is in the process of liquidation and closing up for good also.  I have seen this so much over the years.

[JW_Halverson]

We still have a hardware store that has people working there that know a soldering iron from a clothes iron.  Most of the people working there are "retired" from their real jobs....and they all made a living with their hands. 

When I ask a question and they give me the "Dumb Looks Are Still Free" look.  I know they have earned the right to look at me like that.  I take it from them when I'd slap it off some dumb clerk's face in a box store.  I take it because they are going to get me the parts I need, explain in simple language how to install it, and point out the right tools to use for the job.  Kinda like Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino.  I always call them ma'am, or sir, as the case may be.  I remember to thank them before I go to the checkout.  And I remember to thank them again when I come back in after successfully completing the job right the first time. 

And I know it won't last forever, we have two big box stores and a third coming.   

[Alpinbogen]

We still have one close by.  Neat place.  They have every kind of funky screw, bolt, and fitting that you could ever need.  The place has creaky wood floors and creaky old men who can tell you how to fix anything.  If you can't find something by yourself in there, you just have to ask one of the men.  Usually, they'll disappear in the back for a few minutes to rummage around and come out with just what you were looking for.  Sometimes it's in old box and they'll blow the dust off of it before handing it to you.  I always thank them before wiping the dust and spit out of my eyes, and following them up to the cash register.

[PEARL DRUMS]

The saddest part of this story is we are 30 minutes plus from the nearest mega dump. This is all about family money. One bother wants to keep ma and dads shop running after 50 years and the other two siblings want to to cash out. I loved walking in that shop and one of the four or five workers would always say, "Oh boy, now what are you up to?". I loved that part! They all knew me and didnt trust me one bit! Im a crafty sort and like to try to build before I buy so I was always in there looking for odd combinations of goods. I seen AUCTION signs on the doors yesterday when I left work.

[seabass]

i feel for you pearl.we lost all of ours years ago.all we have now is the big stores.nothing is american made anymore.

[criveraville]

Sorry to hear that Pearly. That's just Ducky When I was a kid there was a Western Auto. I loved everything about that store. It was run by a mom and pop up in age. It's been gone well over 20 yrs.

Just Ducky!!

Cipriano

[Jeanette]

Love the ol mom and pop stores if you had a ? all you had to do is ask. About 6 mths ago my dryer went out so I wanted a rotating cloths line called around to several big box stores and they did not know what I wanted. Called a Mm and Pop store and the lady said they did not have one but I was asking for the wrong thing I had to ask for a ROTATING SOLAR CLOTHS DRYER I laughed and we talkedfor awhile then I called the box store again and darn if they did not have ROTATING SOLAR CLOTHS Dryers