Once upon a time, any home repair or home improvement job meant a trip to the local hardware store where the man behind the counter was often an invaluable source of information and conversation. The store was filled with gadgets and parts that go to just about anything one could imagine fixing at home. Bins upon bins of screws, nuts and bolts in every size and shape imaginable lined the walls and barrels of odds and ends stood at the ready. A store like this was in every hometown, just around the corner. Not so much anymore. Where have all the hardware stores gone?
Hardware stores are specialty stores in that, while one can find a wide variety of items, it really is hardware they focus on. Tools such as hammers and screwdrivers, allen wrenches and ratchets, even those tools that are rarely needed that perform a specialized job can often be found in the dusty depths of the local hardware store. No food items beyond the occasional candy bar or popcorn, no clothing or beer, just the necessary items for any home repair job.
Perhaps one of the most important things found in the local hardware store is the intangible sense of camaraderie and community. The man behind the counter was a neighborly sort who had been working there for years. One could bring in just about any little piece of pipe or such and he could produce a new or, tell what piece was needed next or why the idea you have would not work. While doing business with him, other people would come in and often join the conversation, laughingly mocking the job at hand or seriously offering helpful advice. Community, it is in short supply these days. Where have all the neighborhood hardware stores gone? Many proprietors have died or retired with no one willing to take on a business on Main Street in Small Town, USA. But most often, the hardware stores have had to close down due to the inability to sustain themselves in this day and age. Not enough business to pay for the business. Young people move on from the smaller towns and those that do stay and live there start to travel farther afield for shopping.
In this day and age of big box stores where there is always a new one coming to a town nearby, the hometown hardware store has suffered greatly and all but disappeared. With such seemingly limitless resources, the big box stores have brought low hardware prices that the average consumer may love but at what true price? So nowadays, instead of the community and convenience of the local hardware store just down the street, people have to spend time traveling to the nearest big box store in search of what is needed.
Unable to cut their prices way down to compete with the bigger stores, specialized local hardware stores have largely gone the way of seamstress shops and general stores—from open signs to closed doors.
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