Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 30, 2024

My corner hardware store did not outlast the mega-marts. There are a number of ACE’s near me, which are sort of mini-marts.

Our local hardware store that’s been in town for more than a century just went out of business. The family couldn’t find members who wanted to take it all on… and couldn’t find a buyer who wanted to deal with that old… OLD building. The location wasn’t all that great either.

Made me sad.

From Not Always Right: What Came First, The Chicken Or The Hardware Store?

Customer: “When did you stop selling fried chicken?”

Me: “Excuse me?” thinking didn’t hear him correctly

Customer: “When did you stop selling fried chicken? I know I bought it here.”

Me: “We have never sold fried chicken here; this is a hardware store.”

Customer: “I know, but you use to sell the best fried chicken. I know it’s been a few years, but it was the best.”

Me: “I am sorry, but I have worked here since we opened ten years ago; we have never sold chicken, fried or otherwise.”

Customer: walks off muttering about how great our chicken was and why we stopped selling it

Me: to the manager “What are we pumping into the air today?”

NOT my story.

The kid is so wrong (as usual). Nearly all the small hardware stores in my area shut down a while ago. These days it’s hard for most small businesses to find people to hire.

Depends on the bolt you need. Some are getting harder to get without having to order them online.

Usain Bolt can never be bought!!

Good comeback, Caufield!

Grade school humor? It was hilarious moment?

I am pretty sure the small specialized hardware stores here died pretty much in the 1970s, when the larger chain stores entered the market (here the first chain was founded in 1960). There are some specialized hardware stores, that mainly sell to business clients, but that’s about it. We have one smaller electronics store left. I am actually surprised that it is still open, because their selection is simply terrible, the prices are three to four times the prices on ebay and I barely see customers there.

I only go to local hardware stores. If there’s any retail business where you need a knowledgeable person who can answer questions, that’s it.

And where I used to live, the local Government went on a frenzy of making all the giant stores tax exempt for several years, which is completely unfair to the smaller stores, and it actually got me angry.

Last time I went to Home Depot (years ago), I asked the guy to cut me some 11-inch boards. He looked at me like I had two heads and angrily informed me that 12 inches was the minimum. He said it like I was an idíot to not have known that.

So I went to my local lumber store (Dykès), and he not only had no problem cutting 11 inches, he pointed out that I could cut every board I needed from one piece of plywood and save money.

So now they have a customer for life.

You know what’s ridiculous? That I just had to edit the comment for not good reason to please the bot. But the bot would not allow me to reproduce the text in the 2nd panel of this comic strip.

With earlier stores there usually was at least one person working and labeling the stock and available to help find necessary parts, and-or answering questions for ‘Harry Homeowner’ about minor fixes or maybe suggest someone local who could do the more difficult jobs. Same person knew the stock and what went with what.

Nowadays when I have a question I usually can’t find anyone working the section, much less providing answers. When I do find a living being, he-she usually has to call someone else for info. In one store, couldn’t find anyone working the aisles. Turns out they all went to lunch at the same time, which might have been fun, but it also is when people turn up during their own lunch hours to pick up necessary parts or new equipment.

To say times have changed for the worse is to say the sun is a light.

Caulfield might be right but lots of decades will pass before local stores will return to dominate the market. Tools, equipment, merchandise, other material costs are too high now and will continue to rise. Add building costs, rents, loan interests, etc, and the average individual is unlikely to come up with enough of the gelt to open a phone booth.

But, don’t worry. By then, the ‘burnt earth’ policies of the growing population of private equity firms will have destroyed much of the economy anyway. No problem.

If you’re stuck with something in your house, the old guys at a local Ace Hardware will be happy to try and steer you in the right direction. But Home Depot and Lowe’s killed off the other two in town.

During the pandemic, I stripped my downstairs workshop to the studs and built a custom designed workbench and cabinets from scratch, just to keep from going insane. I started by trying to get materials from the usual Home Depot and Lowes… I took hours to get any kind of material out of Home Depot and two days out of Lowes. I decided to give my local Home Hardware a call. Anything I needed was waiting for me at the door before I hung up the phone. They had an outside counter with an attendant at -20C. I’ve never looked back.

Yeah. I really liked having those great hardware stores about 30 years ago. Our last one just bit the dust about 1½ years ago. Now have to go to a much bigger but not better, mind you, hardware ware warehouse. It is like when on King of the Hill when Hank went to Mega Lo Mart and not only couldn’t find anything but also got no professional help. RIP Buckley

I love our local independent hardware. I’ll go there before Home Depot every time.

We have Lowe’s, Menard’s – and a locally-owned hardware that’s been there (and in the same family) for over 100 years.

If I need lawn furniture or a weed-whacker I’ll hit one the big guys. If I need hardware, not so much…….

Corner Hardware ten blocks from me has very helpful guys, but limited stock; last time I went there, the guy spent fifteen minutes trying unsuccessfully to find a part that I was able to show him on my phone screen, and the time before that, I brought in the latch mechanism from the door to my room, and was told that they don’t sell them at all.

If I try to shop local but only end up wasting my time, eventually I’ll have no choice but to go to the big boxes.

We are lucky to have our ‘go to hardware store’ to find nuts and bolts for a 130-year-old posthole digger or cotter pins for really old tricycles.

Both our local hardware stores are gone. The best one closed because the owner retired. The other was purchased by an “investor” who promptly got rid of the most experienced employees, filled the store with garbage, and thus drove away long time customers. Now, if I need something, I have to drive to the next town over, or go to Home of the Deep Pot.

There are two local hardware stores within 30 miles, and we have no problem going that far to actually find what we need, be it obscure parts or tools, or vegetable seeds by the ounce. Reminds me of the old hardware store in my home town.

Sigh. Jef sure loves his fart jokes.

We have several area ACE hardware stores – a chain but with local ownership – and these are excellent. Very knowledgable and helpful employees.

We used to have a lot of local hardware stores around. They were the kind that sold a little bit of everything and the closest one always provided summer jobs to local high school students. A triple calamity of Hechingers, then Home Depot and Lowes put most of the local stores out of business. Walmart online and Amazon put the final nail in the coffin. They are all gone now. (as are the farm supply stores.) We still have a few auto parts suppliers, but they are disappearing, too.

The small family owned Home Hardware near me has a good selection of housewares as well as hardware and much of what the don’t have in stock you can order online and pick up for free in the store. I try to support them as much as possible. I have found compressed air cans in the Dollarama. They get cold when used so I’m thinking they would be good to cool down an overheated appliance

It seems to me the “mega-mart” is far more likely to have just the right kind of bolt. And that’s been my experience.

Ah, the typewritr repair store…only closed when the owner died.