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Thread: Another Hardware Store Closing.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Default Another Hardware Store Closing.

    Our local ACE Hardware store is closing......have been in a strip mall for years...in several spaces.

    Kinda sad as a lot of the Mom and Pop stove have closed down.....my favorite was a small store, with lawn equipment mechanic, on duty....rentals and...."The Guy"sitting on a bar stool right inside the door directing traffic with his cane.

    Walk in, He said what do you need....said 2" 1/4-20 bolt
    He said "what are you going to use it for"...
    Said "Put new ceder slats back on the porch swing...
    He said..."You want carriage bolts.....asle 6, left side, bin about at your knees....."

    Today I stopped in the ACE to get a screen replaced for my front combination door....Dogs put some holes in it jumping and barking a passing dogs..LOL

    WTH ....store was 1/2 empty.....

    Asked,...What's up, ..store closing ...still fixing screens?

    The guy says...'Yeah, we are still fixing screen, just leave it we will call you...."
    "The mall has been sold and the new guy wants the land....so building are going down.... gotta be out by end of september."

    Said "OK...And I want metal instead of fabric...." and left...

    Kid calls me back about 5:30.... new hours closing s at 6:00.
    Went right over to the store....about a 1/2 mile.

    Walked in...Young kid puts down his phone,and Taco Bell soda..."Are you here for the screen....?
    Said "Yup..."
    Hands it to me..points at the cashier in the front...then follows me up...sucking on the soda a playing with his phone.

    Get to the cashier....She is ringing it up...I noticed is was fabric...NOT metal.
    WTH?
    Looked at the kid...it was obvious he had just finished it.....asked "What's up?'

    I point to the ticket in my hand....said....."Replace with aluminum"

    Kid had the deer in the headlight eyes.....stopped sucking on his soda....and said..."Well, it was fabric...Aluminum is a PITA. "

    Told him."Yeah I know THAT's why you got it to do....and tough to keep it straight. (bad habit of twisting

    Handed it to him and said...Call me when you get it right......and left.

    I wanted so bad to say, "I you put down the phone and soda... pay attention to the job at hand....maybe your store wouldn't be closing"

    Couldn't do it as he had a severe case of "Oh Ship.....My butt is in trouble...and won't make any money today"

    Still gonna miss Mom and Pop hardware stores.....
    Go to Lowes...can't find anyone to pick on.....

    Oh well.
    Last edited by hunter63; 08-11-2017 at 09:42 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by hunter63 View Post
    ...
    Go to Lowes...can't find anyone to pick on.....

    Oh well.
    God, ain't it the truth?! And when you do finally corner somebody with a Store Tag on they either point you to the opposite end of the store or say they will call someone. One young goofus listened attentively and let me get all the way through my explanation of what I wanted, 3068 left hand exterior metal door, and told me he didn't know anything about doors and that he would call someone. I guess he was just hiding in the door section because there were no customers there.

    The Lumber/Hardware store in our town is locally owned and run. I know everyone there (most are former students). I start a ticket every month get what I need and they add it to the ticket and send me a bill once a month. I call up, tell them I need a gallon of my house paint and they look it up, mix it and have it ready by the time I get there. They will also hand pick lumber and not just make you take what is on top. They will pick the best boards for their customers and sell the culls as culls.

    I had about a mile of fence to build and I priced materials at all the major hardware stores and the local store. The local store was cheapest and they would deliver for less. That was about 20 years ago and I've bought everything I could from them ever since. They make money based on good materials and great service.


    Alan

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    This store that is closing I have been going to...in one or other of their locations for 45 years....Middle store, moved to the end store...expanded....then reduced space....Over the years.

    Working on the kitchen sink...in the evening....bought the parts.....went home...need more parts.
    Went back...foundthe right washers, but only needed one,. not the 5 in a package, so was complaining to the girl....
    This when she says..."I keep a tab.....you look like a 3 tripper"...???

    WTH???, She says you will be back then we can settle up...."
    So two more trips... was 8:45... closes at 9;00......

    Needed some plumbers putty, to reset the drain that I had knock loos working on the water lines.
    Asked the guy that I had been complaining to,... all evening...for plumbers putty.

    He hands me a 1 pound can......I gave him a funny look....and said "What am I supposed to do with a pound? all I need is to reset that drain"

    He take the can back...walks over to the screw drivers..prys the can open...grabbed a putty knife off the rack.....Scoops out a big dollop. puts it in a paper towel....Says..."Here get out of my store"

    I was paying for my stuff....The girl says "The putty in on the house...BTW that was 5 trips".....LOL

    Hard to believe I retired as a Journeyman HVAC Service tech....45 years later.....

    BUT...I carried a lot of that stuff in my service truck ...
    I miss that truck.
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    Ah yes, the "Ten Minute Job". #1 wife starts thumbing through the yellow pages when I say that. I used to buy hardware by the box. A 25# box of nails, nothing less than 100 nuts bolts washers screws, etc. That stuff adds up after a while. In these last years I've been going through my tool shed and culling the hundreds of coffee cans of nuts, bolts, fasteners, and general hardware nicknacks I have accumulated over the years. I load it in boxes and call #1 son. I say, "Are you home?" He says, "No?" I say, "Good!" He says, "Oh ****!". I load it in the truck and take it to his shop and set in in the middle of his workbench and leave. I call him and tell him what was in the box, that it is good stuff, too good to through away just yet.

    On the other hand, after about five such trips, I can actually work in my workshop!

    Alan

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    For years....I gave "gag" wedding gifts....
    30 cal ammo cans...full of nuts bolts, washers, tacks nails , screws, hinges, latches and various "I only need one...not 10 of something".

    Was always kinda laughed at....but after a few years I had a lot of those that I had gifted....Thank me...with a "that is a gift I use all the time...the silver is in a glass case.
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    I am a 3 trip guy. Plumbing guaranteed. Repairing something. Eeeh. Maybe 2, maybe 4.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Three is pretty much average.
    Service guy "makes a parts run" (lots of stuff on board)...when it bad weather and you on the roof somewhere.

    Pulled into Granger at 2;00 PM on a rainy afternoon....was 4 of our company's trucks already there.
    Walked and said..."Union Meeting?"
    Everyone hiding out till 3:00...LOL
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    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    I used to work at one of those mom and pop hardware stores on the weekends. It was a hoot!

    Some of the houses in our town were near 200 years old. No kidding we had one street where every house for over a mile was built before 1870 and two or three were from the 1830 era. No house on that street was worth less than $1,000,000.

    Trick was that all of them were on the historic register and no drastic changes could be made inside or out.

    I got the job of cobbling together water distribution manifolds copied from corroded blobs of metal that had been installed by the first plumber ever to lead solder a drain in our town back when Queen Victoria was still middle aged!

    Talk about "off grid", Most of those houses had been plumbed before city water was known and before pumps were available. They took water off the roof and had a storage tank in the attic which fed water all over the house. And that was hi-tech for the rich folks in town back in 1840.

    We kept a running tab on how many trips it would take to finish a job, and sometimes had to carry it over to the next weekend. Three was average for a guy that knew what he was doing. If it were a difficult job, like retrofitting one of those old houses more were expected.

    Lowes and HD are the pits for service. You can always find three or four people to sell you carpet, appliances or double glazed windows, paint department is usually staffed, but the electrical and plumbing isles look like the dead zone after a nuclear war. Just us zombies shuffling around looking for the right gauge wire caps or help.

    My local ACE seems to be thriving but they are a 25 mile run, and that is a a problem when I just need some little trinket to finish a project. I am not driving up $5 in gas to get one brass screw. No real close suppliers and there have been attempts. My little village will not support a hardware store.
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    Senior Member Manwithnoname's Avatar
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    God i miss those days. Some call it progress but I cant help but think it regress. My oldest and her husband buy virtually everything but groceries off Amazon and it goes all through me. I believe those mom and pops are vital to a healthy local economy, not to mention the only places real customer service still exists. The area I live we have a Lowe's and a couple of other lumber yards. The locals have a little higher prices and not as much selection but if you want good quality lumber they are who you go to. Not to mention good knowledge of what they're selling.

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    Our Ace seems to be doing well, too. Great service. If they don't have they can order it but they have a great selection.

    Kyrat - I hear you on those old home. I've worked a few of those. One foot thick sandstone foundations and solid oak beams that turned to steel about 75 years ago. I once burned up six bits trying to drill an oak beam in one of those home. Almost all of them were three story and the only good thing was they all have a water closet that runs from the basement to the attic that all the plumbing runs it. Makes running wire a whole lot easier.

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    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    Back in 1982 I moved into a farm house that had been built in 1869. 5 light bulbs and stove and fridge hook ups with one plug in each room. That was it!

    Water was drawn from a well in a gazebo at the end of the porch, had fixtures for a rope and pulley.

    I went to one of the last of the mom and pop stores in our town to buy the necessities. I walked in and asked the old man if they had a tube well bucket?

    He went upstairs and came back with one. The original price tag from who knows when was on it. Ridiculously cheap but he would not think of raising the price to 1982 level. I asked about a pulley and he set me up properly and not with what I would have bought. Also sold me rope to reach the center of the earth.

    That became my go too store for the next 10 years. You need a good hardware store and a "guy" to ask about things when you are on a homestead.

    The old man finally died and they tore the place down. That was 30 years and 400 miles ago
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

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    ACE Hardware is my go to if I have questions or need service (Stihl dealer and service). I think we have 16 ACE Hardware stores in Jax.
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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Went back and got my screen today...did it right....
    THis store was caught up in a real estate deal.....But the owners didn't want the hassle of opening a new store.

    Worked in a lot of real old big houses down by Lake Michigan........
    Some were 2 ft thick concrete...Talk about a problem running wire and ductwork.

    One house had a servant's stairway from attic 5 floors to basement...I was using it to bleed the radiators on the boiler.....floor to floor.
    The attic had the servants quarters ....one radiator for the whole attic.....not very good living conditions.

    Was work in he entry and living room study....had a big sweeping stair case.
    White shag carpet....
    I had my booties on.....but was pushing down the shag by walking on it.....then the maid would rake them out...every time.
    I don't know spanish...but I think I was getting cussed.
    Last edited by hunter63; 08-12-2017 at 05:52 PM.
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    Senior Member Manwithnoname's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kyratshooter View Post
    Back in 1982 I moved into a farm house that had been built in 1869. 5 light bulbs and stove and fridge hook ups with one plug in each room. That was it!

    Water was drawn from a well in a gazebo at the end of the porch, had fixtures for a rope and pulley.

    I went to one of the last of the mom and pop stores in our town to buy the necessities. I walked in and asked the old man if they had a tube well bucket?

    He went upstairs and came back with one. The original price tag from who knows when was on it. Ridiculously cheap but he would not think of raising the price to 1982 level. I asked about a pulley and he set me up properly and not with what I would have bought. Also sold me rope to reach the center of the earth.

    That became my go too store for the next 10 years. You need a good hardware store and a "guy" to ask about things when you are on a homestead.

    The old man finally died and they tore the place down. That was 30 years and 400 miles ago
    That my friend, sounds like the way it supposed to be. The house and the store!

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    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    I keep telling you guys I have been over the mountain and seen the elephant!
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

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    I was working a new construction. The lady had white shag down in the house. I had finished he outside and was going to change boots so I could work inside. My boots had mud about two inches thick all around. I had just stepped up on the drive when she pulled in. She got out looked at my boots, looked at me and said, "You don't think you're going in the house like that do you?" I said, "Just came out." She gave birth to eight cats there in the drive way. Turns out she had no sense of humor...at all.

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    I worked for Alamo Lumber Co. in the early to mid 80s. Each store was run as a separate entity, almost mom and popish. Then the new blood came in and ACE told us how many of everything we had to carry and that we had to carry stuff that was NEVER going to sell in our location. It was the beginning of the end for Alamo. They had local people selling to local people and business was good. When that stopped then business slowed down. A bunch of stores closed. I heard today that they are opening a store here. Their in is going to be the concrete plant and the fact that they will be open on Saturday. Our local store which I like very much is closed all day Saturday. I have brought the subject up with them and they remain closed. We'll see how that works.

    Alan

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    In the small town to the north of our Place...5 miles....has a hardware store.
    Has one of everything....so if you want 2 of anything you need to go to the bigger store 15 miles away.
    So for a quick trip on something common ...I try it first.

    The store is also a feed and lumber store....You order....they get it in, or deliver it to you in a couple of days.
    This is kinda the way a lot of those stores were back when.....

    Drives the "Paypal" one click checkout and the Brown truck ...generation crazy.

    And yes, the store has horse tie out rails, for the Amish.......Not uncommon to see and couple of buggies tied on Saturdays
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  19. #19

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    Ah old houses . Work on one a few years ago . The original house was one room with a loft . The walls were five logs tall . Squared , notched and wood pegs on the floor boards . The first addition was smaller logs squared , notched and cut nails . This was with a dogtrot between . The " new wing" in closed the dogtrot and came on back . This was built of rough sawn lumber and nails . When we removed the old tin on the roof the decking was signed and dated 1927 .

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