Howard L. Smith Hardware

“To a kid like me, who had been tinkering and building stuff with bits and pieces gleaned from the town’s rubbish bins, the hardware store was like Nirvana. Here all the tools were new and shiny, the nails were straight, bolts had nuts that fit and there was a ton of things I knew absolutely nothing about. It was wonderful!

One of the first jobs I was given was sweeping and dusting. The store had wood floors that the nail heads stood proud of the boards from years of feet shuffling through. There was always dirt on the floor so that my sweeping could have been a full-time chore. Considering Ocean Grove had sidewalks everywhere, it amazed me how much grit was tracked in. Dust was another problem. All the display shelves holding house wares and dishes had to be dusted daily. If you missed a shelf the dirt would pile up so fast the glass would become opaque.

Yes, we sold dishes in a hardware store. We sold a little bit of everything. Think of a Home Depot with a garden center and a kitchen store all crammed into the space of a typical 7-11.”