MOST of the family owned hardware stores like we had here in Huntington are long closed
and the inventory scattered.Cavendish-Cyrus here still had shotgun shells in wooden crates
with dovetailed corners when Sally Cyrus closed it in 1995.WalMart and flea markets were
a big enemy for her store.One time,the day after a break in I found saw blades from her store
at a nearby flea market and told the vendor "I will take them all"he then said "That will be"
and I told him I was TAKING them back to the rightful owner and then served notice on the
flea market owner that I was going to have the state tax commissioner and the IRS dump a full
ration of the finest problems they could think of on that den of thieves.He nearly lost bladder
control over that and I did notice a lot fewer vendors afterward.
Those long gone stores were a real source of NOS inventory of screws,bolts and anything else.
I kept the Cavendish-Cyrus in the pipe threading business by maintaining their threading machine
working and not charging for the time.Memories of people long gone and another America.
Bob Roller
PS
Turley's hardware store in the East End of the city still had muleshoes in a wooden keg when
Carolina Lumber bought them out.