2024 Was Hard on Hardware Stores
Maybe you -- yes, you! -- can reverse the trend for independent retailers in 2025
Scores of independent hardware stores shut their doors in 2024, with many of them citing a tough retail climate and competition from big-box stores.
In Lambertville, N.J., Finkles hardware closed on Dec. 31 after 107 years in business. “Over my 30 years, we’ve seen the business shrink. It’s incredibly difficult for independents to survive against the market forces of these big conglomerates,” owner Rachel Finkle told Advance Media.
Elsewhere in New Jersey, two other longtime hardware retailers shut for good in 2024, Advance reports. Cerbo Lumber and Hardware in Parsippany closed in September after 76 years. Saunders Hardware in Montclair announced in May that it was closing after 131 years.
In Corvallis, Ore., Robnett’s Hardware went out of business in March. The store’s owners, Scott and Tori Lockwood, are the sixth generation of family to run the business, which was founded in 1855.
In Keota, Iowa, Jim Malley of Malley Hardware said goodbye to his customers after a 65-year career at the store. Malley started at the store in 1959, when he was 16.
“I think a lot of people maybe took for granted that we had this here, and now they’re realizing, ‘What am I going to do now?’ ” Andy Conrad, president of the Keota Area Community Club told ABC affiliate KCRG.
In the Cincinnati metro area, Cliff Hardware closed after 90 years in business. The store, located in Sharonville, Ohio, has been in owner Eli Wickemeier’s family for 54 years, and he’s worked there since he was a teenager.
“It's just slowly declining,” Wickemeier told Soapbox Cincinnati. “And without completely changing the business, I don't think there's any way of surviving another 10 or 20 years.”
After 88 years in business, Papenhausen Hardware in San Francisco closed, citing the domino effect of “three rebuilds, two fires, and countless other major events,” co-owner Karl Aguilar told SFGate. Now, sales can no longer support the 3% annual increase on the building’s lease, said Aguilar, who has been employed at the store for 29 years. “Out of money, out of options,” he continued. “So we’re closing.”
Thank you for bringing this to everyone’s attention. Sadly we are losing our histories a piece at a time.
Bookstores have been facing the same problem. We all want these small stores, but not enough make the effort to support them. Instead, all too many order online or go to big box stores. It is a sad and irreversible trend. I do appreciate your passion for this though.