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Thread: Old Hardware Store Finally Throwing in the Towel

  1. #1
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    Old Hardware Store Finally Throwing in the Towel

    We have lived in this area now for about 10 years. Most of the time we go into the town east of us for shopping. The nearest town to the west of us only has a very small grocery store and a few other retail businesses. Often when we have been to Cathlamet we have driven by a hardware store and it has always been closed and looks rather disheveled from what can be seen from the outside. Asking around about it rendered vague stories about how it has been closed for a long time and the family was going to do something with it someday. My recollection is that one time someone took our name and address saying something "was in the works."

    Then last week an envelope with a return address of the hardware store in Cathlamet came in the mail. It announced a pre closing out sale open to those who received the notice. The store had originally opened in 1933. No one was quite sure when it was last open for business. The prices on the stock mostly looked to be from about the late 1980s to early 1990s.

    At the approximate time of opening upon my arrival the line was around the corner and parking was hard to find. The line was actually moving, albeit slowly. It took me not much more than an hour or two to walk through the store by way of the back "employee only" rooms which were open to all. Some with signs saying enter at your own risk. Found a few items. One of the first things to find that was of help was a few empty 5 gallon buckets sitting on the floor. Grabbed one to use as my shopping basket. Grabbed a couple packs of wedges, a 13/32" drill bit that is missing from my fractional set. Found a 1/4" bell hangers bit. (a bell hangers bit, besides being extra long, has a hole through the flutes so a wire can be threaded through and pulled through the hole that was just drilled, handy for a bell installer.) A couple of hinges for a future project were also bought.

    The rule was that if something had a tag the price was half what was marked. If no tag ask one of the employees to price it. When standing in the pay line one of the employees held my place while another went with me to ask about an unpriced item.

    The crazy part was they had a bunch of snaths (scythe handles) my offer to the pricer was $5 he told me he wanted $15. My attempts to get it down didn't work.

    After going home and knowing the crowd that would bother Candy was likely dwindled a bit we went back. It was my intention to try again on the snath. One of the other people who was in line with me earlier told me the snaths were now tagged at $8. Only one of them in the bundle was. After cutting the bundle string and extracting one of the nicer ones, my request to get it tagged at $8 like the other one was met with a claim that it should be $15. The guy gave me a strong vibe that if the one marked $8 wasn't taken by me, the tag was going to be removed. So one with the $8 tag was taken. We got to talking about the blades. It turns out they had all already sold. My blade is good, but the snath is a bit rickety. My blade is marked Shapleigh, when told about this and how that name was changed to Diamond Edge the guy told me the blades they had were Diamond Edge.

    Since the store was less crowded it was a bit easier to go through things. Found a spoke pointer ($5) with the brace/crank. Found one handle among all the others set aside that looks like it will work for my cant hook or peavy. Also found a nice short D top handle for a shovel. Candy says it is just the right length for her for a walking stick. May have to go back again to get another.

    Found 15/32" and a 31/64" bit for my fractional drill index. Now there are only two bits missing from that set.

    It is one of those places that you could get down on the floor with a flashlight and come up with something interesting that has been lost there for 50 years. They even had a bunch of car parts in the upstairs area. Mostly oil filters, a couple of old carburetors, lots of different light bulbs for automotive use. Some guy looking for an oil filter for their '54 Packard might have a chance. They even had some vacuum tubes and old radios.

    Maybe the early birds got some of the best worms, but there were still plenty left for the rest of us birds.

    The haul:

    Cathlamet Hardware 2019-5-16.jpg

    The little bottle brush was thrown in for free.

    There were also a bunch of files there. Hmmm, maybe they need a better looking over...

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 05-17-2019 at 2:44 AM.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  2. #2
    Jim, About 15 years ago we lived in central Jersey. There were a few small towns that still had their original local hardware and grocery store. Sadly, I got to witness the closing or modernization of a few of those stores. They were definitely from a different era.

    With the transition in retail sales, some of the stores that drove them out of business have now closed.

  3. #3
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    Sad to see the old stores close. If you needed one bolt, you could actually buy ONE bolt, not six or eight in a package. The old hardware store in our town, now closed, used to sweep down the wooden floors on a daily basis with that red oiled saw dust stuff (I forget what they called it). It had a distinct smell that gave the whole store a wonderful smell. And of course there were the sliding wall ladders on rollers that moved along the walls, providing access to the higher shelves on the outside walls. A time gone by.
    Life's too short to use old sandpaper.

  4. #4
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    Locally, Ace Hardware does a pretty good imitation of the traditional Mom & Pop hardware store. Not quite the range of products as the store Jim describes, but a good selection of the things you'd need for plumbing, electrical, painting and general household repairs/upkeep. They still sell hardware by the piece, on the honor system - collect what you need in a plastic bag, mark the bag with quantities/prices (3@$.05, 6@$.10), and take it to the cashier. Always at least a couple of people on duty who (a) know where everything is in the store and (b) are reasonably knowledgeable about how to do a variety of projects/repairs. Best of all, I can get there and back in less than half the time it takes to go to my nearest HD.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gary Ragatz View Post
    Locally, Ace Hardware does a pretty good imitation of the traditional Mom & Pop hardware store. Not quite the range of products as the store Jim describes, but a good selection of the things you'd need for plumbing, electrical, painting and general household repairs/upkeep. They still sell hardware by the piece, on the honor system - collect what you need in a plastic bag, mark the bag with quantities/prices (3@$.05, 6@$.10), and take it to the cashier. Always at least a couple of people on duty who (a) know where everything is in the store and (b) are reasonably knowledgeable about how to do a variety of projects/repairs. Best of all, I can get there and back in less than half the time it takes to go to my nearest HD.
    Ace is often my first choice over the local Borg Stores. (one of each and a few of the Borg wanna bees in the Longview/Kelso area)

    The old business model of having a wide variety of everything on hand with a large 'behind the counter' system gave way to a 'more efficient' cost analyzed model. Ace appears to use a hybrid with a central warehouse for rapid dispatch of customer orders. As Gary says there always seems to be a few knowledgable workers on hand. Often if something is needed it can be phoned in and picked up a few days later.

    Many of us will see even more changes throughout the social networks where we once lived in a warm friendly comfort.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  6. #6
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    The Dickinson Texas store is that kind of store. I frequent it often.

  7. #7
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    Our local Ace is pretty good about what they stock it they’re really good about service. However, the best old time hardware store was Seven Corners Hardware in St Paul, MN. They had everything and someone who knew about everything, which was good because there was so much stuff you’d never find it on your own. They even had rope coming up through holes in the floor. Then upstairs was their woodworking tool store. They operated Tools On Sale, perhaps the largest woodworking tool purveyor in the US before the advent of the internet. They closed up shop five years ago.

  8. #8
    I remember them. I also remember a great hardwood supplier. I think they were called Youngblood. Not too sure, it’s been many years.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Hampshire View Post
    I remember them. I also remember a great hardwood supplier. I think they were called Youngblood. Not too sure, it’s been many years.
    Sad to say, Youngblood is going out of business, too, just within the last few weeks. That is a big loss for anyone serious about wood in the Twin Cities. Acme tools is a good source for tools, but it doesn’t have the personality of Seven Corners.

  10. #10
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    You just can't keep bargain hunters away. My brain was going crazy this morning thinking about what was left behind.

    So another scenic drive to Cathlamet today. There were a lot of 7" full size saw taper files, so one box came home with me. Most of the bigger files were already gone. Found a few that looked to be something that could be purchased for a contribution to my lifetime supply theory. May end up selling some eventually.

    It used to be my tendency to not reach into places with a lot of cob webs. Great that it doesn't bother me much now. This little pretty was found by reaching through the dust on a high shelf:

    Sensible Pat July 18 1893.jpg

    For those who have never seen one of these, they used to be in just about every store. They hold a conical roll of string for tying packages. There is a conical roll of string already in my shop just wanting a place to hang proudly in this appliance.

    Also found another useful item in a box on a shelf:

    Round Scraper Steel.jpg

    At first my thought on this is since it is tapered it might be useful for draw boring. Maybe if the ebay crowd wants to pay a lot for one of these NOS...

    By my count 70 files came home with me today:

    Files +.jpg

    Most of them are Simonds Red Tang brand.

    There were some square profile files yesterday. They were gone today. There were also some large bastard files that went to another home. There were still some small flat bastards and rat tail bastards that came home with me today. Now to find a place to kee them all.

    One thing to remember when you go into an adventure like this, do not be afraid to open boxes and pull out drawers. Some of the best things are at the back of high shelves where you can not see them without a ladder or reaching up to feel around.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 05-17-2019 at 6:05 PM.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Haugen View Post
    Our local Ace is pretty good about what they stock it they’re really good about service. However, the best old time hardware store was Seven Corners Hardware in St Paul, MN. They had everything and someone who knew about everything, which was good because there was so much stuff you’d never find it on your own. They even had rope coming up through holes in the floor. Then upstairs was their woodworking tool store. They operated Tools On Sale, perhaps the largest woodworking tool purveyor in the US before the advent of the internet. They closed up shop five years ago.
    OMG! I remember Seven Corners at Saint Paul as I purchased a lot of stuff there in the very beginnings of 1990s... including most of faucets of our home and some tools we have until today. Great memories.

  12. #12
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    There is a store like talked about here still in business AFAIK - Finkles in Lambertville N.J. Their site doesn't seem to be responding right now but it's been owned by the Finkle family for many years. There are employees that have been there since I first went there in 1995 and I'll bet that only they know where some of the more obscure things are located.

  13. #13
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    Just an addendum: It turns out one square profile file made it into one of my boxes of files. There were also three small diamond profile files. It appears two of the corners are at 60º and the other two are at ~120º.

    Maybe it would have been a good idea to purchase a few more handles.



    All four that came home today now have files mounted in them. An old chisel handle has been modified with an added ferrule to take one of the flat bastard files. Last but not least an old cast iron handle is holding a very smooth round file.

    The Files are Handled Well.jpg

    Found a place on a shelf where all the boxes fit.

    A Home for the Files.jpg

    The blister pack 6" double extra slim files will go in a drawer.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 05-17-2019 at 8:00 PM.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  14. #14
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    Great haul Jim! I would have loved to be one of the first few in.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Manning View Post
    Great haul Jim! I would have loved to be one of the first few in.
    It is also good to have something to carry all the small things in, like a bucket.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

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