Coolest Hardware store in Paris Texas

[crabo]

I have been to Paris a bunch of times, but never knew about this store.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78yUxDVr6h0

The old "true hardware stores" are becoming a thing of the past. I would have stayed around longer and looked, but it was just too hot.(no AC) We had been out in the heat for most of the day so I didn't take any pictures myself.

I will call them later and ask about their square footage. The video clip that you see is the store that just goes on and on forever, just like the video.

Anyone been there?

[StratsMan]

I've not been to that one, but had one like it in my area... stuff piled up all over the place... basement too!! When a local college decided to expand, they made offers that people couldn't refuse and that business relocated... but it was fun to walk through there and ask where something was... guys who had worked there for years could look into a nook or cranny and pull out whatever you needed...

[texassako]

I have when we need something out at our pond near Clarksville. It is almost to old school. Elliot's in Dallas is my favorite, but I am never on that end of town anymore.

[crabo]

I called them and they don't have any idea how many square feet are there. The guy I talked to says it takes up the whole city block plus the two warehouses out back. I have a friend that retired from the hardware business and I will see what he knows.

[LIMPINGJ]

I went to one in Omaha several years ago. It was on the edge of downtown,they had a little of everything. I even found a pile of lead roofjacks, that filled both winglockers on the King Air for the trip home.

[FredBuddy]

I'm tellin' ya, I can top that by a bunch. I work 2 days a week in a store with old wood floors, and big people can't get thru some isles. The owner of 34 years knows where everything is and is a brilliant "cobbler". We stock a lot of old fashioned stuff because we have a large and loyal Amish trade. And yes, we have a hitchin' post in the parking lot and it's usually occupied.

Ya'll come to Danville, Ohio !

[popper]

Elliot's in Dallas used to be that way, the new one doesn't have much. If you get to the Amish store south of Hutch, it's really old time. Restaurant next door has really good food - especially the pies.

[nicholst55]

Sampson's Hardware in Fairbanks, AK was like that when I was up there. I dunno if it even still exists.

[Bad Water Bill]

A couple years ago I called Mt Greenwood hardware in Chicago and talked to Phil (he has since retired at 80) and asked for staples for an antique stapler. Sure do have them, as you come in walk back to the stairs turn right to the wall open the left door of the top cabinet and reach all the way back on the top shelf on the left hand side and there should be 3 boxes there.

By the way should I drop them off at your house on the way home?

The store is now run by the 4th generation of the family.

[mroliver77]

The Klein Brothers Hardware in Malinta Ohio is our version. Good guys! The try to sell American made when possible. They go way out of their way to help! I buy my (American made) bibs from them. I could find things cheaper but like doing business with CONSERVATIVE friends and neighbors.
http://www.kleinbros.com/Kleincart/index.php?route=common/home

[smokeywolf]

Fifty plus years ago, we moved to a small town in Ventura County, CA. No supermarkets, just 2 neighborhood markets and a General Store. General Store still had a pickle barrel with a checker board on top of it. Frequently there'd be 2 or 3 old timers sitting around "chew'n the fat". They still sold food, blankets, cast iron cookware and whatnot out the front door and feed, seed and farm & garden implements out the back. Hardware store was across the street; 2 floors, had everything imaginable. Still had flat leather belting and lacing for drive belts. Owner knew where the last nail, screw, nut or O-ring was.
Both of those places were closed by the time the 70s rolled around.

A few miles away in an even smaller town, a few of the kids still rode their horses to school.

Saddest part of those times and that culture disappearing is that the standards, morals and ethics that were part of them were traded for fatter profit margins.

smokeywolf

[oneokie]

If Swaims don't have it, you don't need it. Been going to that store since the mid 50's.

[Hawkeye45]

I try to spend as much time as possible in hardware stores like that when I can find them. It has always been my impossible dream to own one. We can all dream.

Mr. Ed

[Blacksmith]

It looks like Texas may have a corner on cool hardware stores. My brother sent me another one, and the tour guide is pretty:
http://vimeo.com/39807181

[crabo]

That was a good store and a cute presenter. The next time I am in Paris, I think I will do a non-stop walking tour with my phone.

[Jailer]

There's a place just a few miles down the road from me called Fowlers farm supply. The old joke around town is they have one of everything......if you can find it. :D

Went scrounging with a buddy of mine years ago for some tires for his 67 vette. He wanted original type bias ply checkered wall thin stripe. We dug around in that place for a couple hours and found 2 sets of gold stripe, 1 set of white stripe and a single red stripe tire still wrapped in the original shipping paper. He bought the white stripe and we buried the gold strip tires so he could come back at a later date and buy them. They are probably still buried in there.

357maximum can affirm what I'm talking about, I'm sure he's been there. 8-)

[km101]

Reminds me of a store in my hometown in E. Texas. C.B. Starnes General Merchandise. It was not a hardware store, it was general merchandise, because he had everything! The stock ranged from caskets and burial clothes, men's and women's clothes and furniture upstairs. There was produce, canned goods, "dry staples", fresh meats and cheeses, milk and dairy products, and more candy that a kid could imagine on the main floor, along with an incredible stock of nuts, bolts and hardware. Downstairs was all the farm machinery and equipment parts and pieces. There were parts for plows (mechanized and horse drawn), harvesters, hay mowers (again, mech. and horse drawn) and parts for equipment that no one but "Mr C.B." himself knew what they were for, but he could tell you what each part was for and where it went in the machine.

He carried firearms and ammo until he had a disagreement with a "government man" about his FFL in the late 60's, and he quit carrying guns. He would sell .22 ammo to the kids in town by the brick, by the box or by the round, depending on how many you needed or what your finances were at the time! When he had to start logging .22 ammo sales, he quit selling ammo. But until then if you were big enough to put the money on the counter, you could buy .22 ammo. It was a great old store. Part of a different era and a different kind of merchant.

[TXGunNut]

Evers Hardware used to occupy a spot in the square in Denton, TX for over 100 yrs. It's still there, I think, but it's not the same. New owners are selling much of the stock as antiques. Lots of brand-new cast iron and enamel cookware, housewares and more hardware than I can get my feeble mind around. They sold ammo and an occasional gun but I'm sure the new owners gave up the FFL.
They even filmed a movie in there with George C Scott, don't think anyone outside of Denton saw it.

[bob208]

the one where i grewup was alberts. it had to old wood floors was not too wide but 4 floors high. you come in the door and first thing on the right was the "gun shop". bought my first mold there. he bought alot of cast bullets from me. then a counter then the very large pot belly stove that heated the place.

[LUBEDUDE]

Evers Hardware used to occupy a spot in the square in Denton, TX for over 100 yrs. It's still there, I think, but it's not the same. New owners are selling much of the stock as antiques. Lots of brand-new cast iron and enamel cookware, housewares and more hardware than I can get my feeble mind around. They sold ammo and an occasional gun but I'm sure the new owners gave up the FFL.
They even filmed a movie in there with George C Scott, don't think anyone outside of Denton saw it.

Yeah I used to go to Evers in the 80's. And even passed George C Scottt on the sidewalk on the Square one day. I remember being surprised that he was small man.

[longranger]

White Sulphur Springs Mercantile, White Sulphur MT., Sports Lure Buffalo WY. Still have stuff on their shelves from the 60's and these stores price their stuff at current price,no going back and changing prices,what it cost 1962 is what cost in 2013. I have got some amazing deals on some cool stuff.

[Frank46]

Don't know if it's still there but when I lived in nyc there was an old time hardware store in astoria, queens. Wood floors and all. Forget what I went in there for but spent close to a half hour just wandering around. If they didn't have it you didn't need it. That was about 17 years ago. Frank

[Gliden07]

We had a place like this, I say "had" its still in business but the original owner is of course gone. The Business has been streamlined and is affiliated with True-Value now. When the original man owned it the store looked like it was in total disarray! But just ask the Gentlemen do you have a "Purple Widget" without hesitation he would B-line over to a shelf reach behind 3 other items and pull out the "Purple Widget"!! Its a memory I'll always have! Very few places like that left!

[TXGunNut]

Yeah I used to go to Evers in the 80's. And even passed George C Scottt on the sidewalk on the Square one day. I remember being surprised that he was small man.

Hope you made it into Pearce's and T & Sons, two gunshops where I spent many a Saturday and more than a few paychecks. Jim Wilson and his wife owned Pearces and L T Hensley (and his sons) ran T & Sons. Both stores are gone now, as is L T. (Sheriff) Jim Wilson headed south and finally made his break as a gunwriter.
I heard George C Scott spent a lot of time in town, never ran into him. Another location was the Y Motel, one of the roughest parts of town. It was torn down soon after that. Lots of local PD guys were extras, and no, I couldn't find any images of yours truly in the finished product.

[Fishman]

I have an Ace Hardware next door to the office "Keith's" after John Keith the owner who is unfortunately deceased due to cancer. Friendly folks that know where everything is, almost always have what you need, and a gun shop! There has been more than one time where I went over to buy a fastener or a can of spray paint and came out with a cool new to me toy.

So it's neat and tidy, but the spirit of the old hardware store is there and 25 years from now I'll be saying "remember when . . . "

[LUBEDUDE]

Hope you made it into Pearce's and T & Sons, two gunshops where I spent many a Saturday and more than a few paychecks. Jim Wilson and his wife owned Pearces and L T Hensley (and his sons) ran T & Sons. .

Yes Sir, I even bought me an 1887 Winchester Lever Action 12 ga at Pearce's. And I still have it.