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When hardware stores sold ... hardware
Hardware stores have always been an endless source of fascination for me.Ace, True Value, Lowe’s, Home Depot … they all take me to another world. It’s a world where I feel I’m on the outside, peering in through glass windows. As I wander around the stores in search of light bulbs or nails, I pass rows and aisles of items I can’t comprehend.I find myself asking, “Do people really know how to use all of this stuff?”Growing up on South Duke Street, a “hardware store” meant one place: Fulton, Mehring & Hauser Company, then located in the 100 block of South George Street, not too far from our house.
So it was an easy walk from our home to the wonders of the hardware store.Not that we went there that often. My grandfather did not have a “Handy Andy” gene, nor did my father. It was a trait he passed on to the next generation.I use the phrase “Handy Andy” because for one holiday in the early 1950s my brother received something called a “Handy Andy” tool kit for children. It included a small size metal saw, a child-sized hammer and other useful tools for small hands.Over the years, the kit was the mainstay of our repair arsenal. If we couldn’t do it with the small “Handy Andy” tools, we would call in a true tradesman.
I sometimes think we kept many plumbers, carpenters and electricians in business.Yes, we had “our” specialists. Charlie Wise was the plumber who would respond to any emergency situation. David Miller was the electrician of choice because my parents knew him. Painting, wallpapering … call in the experts.So, my appreciation of craftsmen stemmed from watching them at work. They were the people, I thought, who could feel at home inside the sprawling Fulton, Mehring & Hauser store on South George Street. (The company later opened another location on North Beaver Street.)
Today, as I wander through one of the modern hardware/”home centers” (somewhere along the line the word “hardware” lost its retail allure) I get that flashback to my childhood years.I realize today that doing home repairs calls for more patience than skill. If you have the patience to read instructions, you can do it. Unfortunately, my grandfather, father and I must have been out of the room when the patience gene was passed out. My family history has been: If you’re trying to repair something and it doesn’t work the first time, throw up your hands and call in a professional.
Out of a deep sense of knowing my limits and the fear of frying myself, I never do electrical repairs. Except for changing a light bulb. And even that has become more confusing: incandescent, CFL, LED?Plumbing? Even changing the parts of a modern toilet tank can be confounding.Remembering the “Handy Andy” tool set, I went to the Internet and found that just the tin boxes – no tools included -- are selling for about $25. I am sure that is a lot more than the actual set cost back in the 1950s.Too bad our “Handy Andy” set disappeared as the modern world became more complex. However, those Fulton, Mehring & Hauser memories live on.
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Definitely love hardware stores! I could relate some devilish hardware stories when a kid long ago but too long for here. I still admire stores like Ace--some of them anyway. J&W in Ettters/Newberrytown everyone predicted would close when the Walmart opened. Just the reverse took place. J&W is thriving in an expanded store and is one of the best with still that homey feel and look. It's the first go-to for people in these parts.
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Certainly have been changes over the years, The upside is that in many of the big box hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowes is a one-stop shopping with even the option of having them do the installation (they make big bucks on this service as well). The downside is the hugeness itself and sometimes a lack of expertise in the area you are looking for something.
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Anybody remember Kinards in Red Lion?
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Tennyson--I would never consider the big box stores like Home Depot or Lowe's a hardware store. I still cling to the little guy who would sell a few loose nuts & bolts, a handful of washers or one of those little bags for nails. In the big stores everything is prepackaged, usually in amounts consumers aren't interested in but forced to buy.
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West York Hardware on the corner of W. Market and N. Adams was awesome, especially the back room where they had all those little drawers filled with nuts, bolts, washers, and screws. It was an honor system where you took a small bag, wrote the number of pieces and price per piece.
True Value in Loganville and Shrewsbury has that, but the drawers are styrene and the bags are see-through plastic.
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Yep. That's my kind of hardware store.
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Tarnation wrote:
West York Hardware on the corner of W. Market and N. Adams was awesome, especially the back room where they had all those little drawers filled with nuts, bolts, washers, and screws. It was an honor system where you took a small bag, wrote the number of pieces and price per piece.
True Value in Loganville and Shrewsbury has that, but the drawers are styrene and the bags are see-through plastic.
Lowes also does this as well.
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Tarnation wrote:
West York Hardware on the corner of W. Market and N. Adams was awesome, especially the back room where they had all those little drawers filled with nuts, bolts, washers, and screws. It was an honor system where you took a small bag, wrote the number of pieces and price per piece.
True Value in Loganville and Shrewsbury has that, but the drawers are styrene and the bags are see-through plastic.
I love the True Value in Shrewsbury. Great people who have the knowledge to help you solve your problem if you aren't sure what you need. When Home Depot went in I wondered how they would do with the competition.
True Value is thriving. Home Depot has a better selection of some products but you can not beat the customer service at True Value.
Last edited by Common Sense (2/18/2016 10:08 am)
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Love this place, not too far up the road from me over here in Lancaster County -
Larger store than the typical Ace or True Value, but still retains the local small-town store feel. Their prices aren't far off of the big guys either. And they have plenty of unique and oddball tools and parts you'll never find at Lowe's or HD.
Last edited by Max Power (2/21/2016 10:42 am)