I honestly don't know if the "Covid economy", death in the family or what may have ended it, but we have an old-time hardware store in town that's closing it's doors. It's been around since 1955 and it's one of those places you could find most anything that you could NOT find at the big box stores. I remember needing a heating element for an old water heater once. I tried Lowes, Home Depot and Ace Hardware, but was told they no longer exist, but they have something "close" I could probably use (the wattage was different). Someone along the line suggested this old place, so I figured, what do I have to lose? I went in and the place was packed FULL of OLD stuff! It seemed to be scattered with no rhyme or reason and much of the stuff had 20 years of dust covering it. Funny, but a few of the first things I remember seeing was gaskets for pressure cooker lids and tons of canning supplies (Mason jars, lids, gaskets, etc) The old guy behind the counter asked what I was looking for and once I told him, he immediately told me he had one. He walked back a few rows, moved some boxes out of the way, reached up onto a dusty old shelf, grabbed an element and it was an exact match to what I was looking for! There was zero hesitation, he knew exactly where it was and went straight to it. It took more time to move 20 or so years of accumulated stuff than it did to locate it. I remember staying around for a bit to talk with the old guy. I found him fascinating to talk to and I could have spent a few hours exploring the old place, but I had a water heater to fix!
Anyway, the place has been shuttered and they're having an estate sale there this week. EVERYTHING, including shelves, fixtures, furniture, etc. will be for sale. It supposedly includes over $100,000 in parts inventory. I really hate to see the place go. It reminds me of the old hardware store I used to LOVE hanging out at when I was a kid. Colonial Town Hardware. I had to walk right by the place on my way to and from school (grade 1-6) and would always stop in to look at the guns/ammo and fishing stuff ... back when you could buy stuff like that in a common hardware store. On the counter, right next to the register was a box of misc. pocket knives. I have no clue what brand they were and I'm sure they weren't anything super special, but one of them caught my eye and I instantly knew I had to have it. The box was marked, "any one for $1.00". I stopped in every day for like a week just to look at that knife, but a dollar may as well have been $100 back then (I think I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade). One day I stopped by and while the old guy who owned the store was in the back, I slipped that knife into my pocket.
At home later that night, I was admiring my new pocket knife and my dad asked where I got it. I could NEVER lie to my dad and blurted out the truth. The next day, Dad marched my happy ass straight to that hardware store and I had to confess my sins to the owner. The old guy told me that since I had taken it home, it was now a used knife and he would not be able to sell it. He then said he would hold it for me, but I had to come in every day after school and sweep out the back storage area of the store, then he'd return the knife to me .... AFTER I came in on SATURDAY to sweep for the last time. I lived up to my end of the bargain, he lived up to his and that became the first ... AND LAST time I ever stole anything! I never, EVER wanted to see that disappointed look on my dad's face, ever again. Lesson learned.
All that was the Thump way of saying this place reminds me of that old hardware store (which has been gone for many years now) and the childhood memories it evokes. There aren't too many of these places left these days and they're disappearing rapidly.
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