The gray skies and late Winter chill hung over Wetumpka’s Company Street Friday only seemed a fitting backdrop to the final day of business for M.H. Harden’s Hardware.
The local shop had been a mainstay of the city since it was opened in 1945 by Morris “Hap” Hannon Harden.
Chris Carter, who took over ownership of the store in 2013, said he found it difficult to split his time between the hardware store and Coosa River Adventures.
“It’s a style of doing business that I think is still relevant today, unfortunately young folks today don’t see it that way,” Carter said.
Carter lamented the digital age which has afforded a new generation a convenience previous generations never knew.
And, as a result, has caused businesses that rely on personal relationships, conversations and handshakes to shudder.
“It’s all about these floors,” Carter said, scanning the wooden beams beneath his feet. “The 70 years of stories and people. So many people got their businesses started because of a handshake agreement on a charge account here.”
When word of Harden’s closing spread among longtime residents of the area, they beckoned to the old days when the hardware store was the only store for building supplies among other items.
“My family moved to Weoka in 1949. I remember the times my Daddy took us to town and to Harden’s,” recalled Louise McGuinness in an online post. “We still have a metal gas can that my husband and I bought there in 1969. My husband also still has tools that he bought from there in the early 70s. Fond memories.”
“Hap” eventually brought Leo Chrietzberg on board and made him a partner in the operation around 1966.
Chrietzberg had opened and operated several hardware shops in Montgomery, and Hap was eager to get him on board at Hardens.
“Back then, there was no Lowes, no Home Depot, no Walmart,” said Barry Chrietzberg, son of Leo and nephew of Hap. “If you needed something, you went to the hardware store.”
Chrietzberg remembered that in the early days of the store, before Elmore County had a water system, Harden’s did a lot of business servicing wells throughout the area.
Further, he noted that his father would go out late at night to deliver and install parts for people who needed it.
“It really was just the general store,” Chrietzberg said. “Everybody went there.”
Ownership changed hands throughout the Harden-Chrietzberg family before long-time employee Jimmy Garnett took the reins in the late 90s.
“Jimmy had been a fixture there for a long time,” Chrietzberg said. “We made it so he wouldn’t have to go to the bank to be able to take over the business.”
“I always enjoyed that Mr. Jimmy always knew what it was that I wanted and most of the time had it, when the other places that called themselves hardware stores didn’t,” said Jonathon O’Dell in an online post. “The quality of the tools and the service there has always been great.”
Chris Carter, who took over the operation from Garnett in 2013, agreed.
“Jimmy was the draw around here,” Carter said. “People just wanted to trade with him.”
Carter recalls getting a call from Garnett in 2013 and showing up to a shop with bare shelves.
It turned out that Garnett had been considering closing the shop, so he offered it up to Carter, who had just finished a term on the city council, who happily took on the task.
“We knew we were pushing a rope up a hill,” Carter said of taking on the aging store. “For businesses like this to thrive you have to offer an atmosphere, it’s just all about the people.”
While Harden’s Hardware may be closing its doors for now, Carter is not ready to call it the end.
“We’re putting the patient in a coma and, hopefully, in the next six or eight months we can revive it,” Carter said. “I don’t really want to part with the building, there’s an atmosphere here you just can’t create in a different building.”
For the time being, Harden’s will continue to operate on an “appointment only” type schedule, allowing people to purchase bulk items and maintain wholesale accounts.
“It was Hap’s hope that the business would continue on,” Chrietzberg remembered. “There’s just so many people that started out working at Harden’s Hardware, so it’s definitely sad to see it go.”
For more information on Harden’s ongoing business options, contact Carter at 334-514-0279 or stop by Coosa River Adventures on Company Street.
