It was a good run for ‘our’ hardware store

Published 5:00 am Saturday, March 12, 2005

Ken Schuricht has a wry sense of humor.

Shortly after he and wife Mary Hall purchased Bainbridge Hardware back in 1994, Ken cleaned out the back room and held a sidewalk sale – in the alley behind the store. It was an unlikely site but a grand event, chockablock with several decades worth of unsold stock that included quaint, vintage kitchen items, greeting cards and party favors.

The items Ken unearthed – hedge trimmers from the 1940s, a curling iron at least that old, everything except “old, dead employees” – spoke to the store’s enviable position as a downtown institution. Islanders had been supplied with durable goods from the storefront for more than 40 years before the new owners came along. But even with reorganizations and restocking, Ken assured all that the business would still be “the island’s old-fashioned hardware store,” and he and his wife made good on that vow. Mary, who grew up just down the street in the Hawley neighborhood, became something of an icon herself, with her smiling TV-ad promise that “the coffee’s always on.” Indeed it was, and a new generation of islanders came in to share a cup.

That, it turns out, was not enough to sustain the business. The growth of the paint department and downtown parking constraints drove the development of a new store on Hildebrand Lane. The hardware trade itself languished, and while islanders publicly revered the storefront, it’s apparent that many quietly bought their hammers and nails elsewhere.

To the couple’s credit, when sitting down with the local

newspaper this week to explain their decision, Hall was emphatic that the story not come across as sour grapes and imply that she or her husband blame anyone for their hardware business’ demise. (The writer dutifully wrote the word “BLAME” in this notepad with a “circle/slash” around it; they smiled, and the interview proceeded from there.) They are, they say, responding to the changing economic circumstances downtown. They understand the gravity of their move – Mary, to the point of emotion – but simply feel the business has run its course. It’s a classy way to go out.

At the same time, there is a cautionary element to this story that we hope does not pass without some consideration, particularly as our community plans the downtown of the future. The failure of one of Winslow Way’s signature businesses – invariably cited as a shining example of that rarest union, local ownership and useful merchandise – should make us ask whether our financial commitment to downtown merchants matches our rhetoric. Knowing what we know now, it’s not hard to imagine that Winslow Hardware as it existed before Ken and Mary took over would have vanished from our Main Street years ago.

The coffee is still on at Winslow Paint up on Hildebrand, and you can find Mary there (Ken too, if she decides to let him meddle with “her” business). No doubt they will continue to be active in the local community. And no longer encumbered, they can perhaps speak with authority, clarity – and credibility – on the challenges facing downtown merchants.

Ask them what they know. We hope they’ll share.