Neighborhood Hardware Store closing

[Deleted]

Of the four hardware stores my dad frequently took me to as a kid, only one is still in business.

Dorn Hardware had one Emerson Casablanca Designer Series brown 52" in the center of the store, and one Emerson Friction Drive brown 52" in the back room. They gave me the friction drive as a kid, the Designer is still there. This store is still in business and doesnt appear to be going anywhere. One of their other locations has the 4 GE vents I installed.

McKliman's (and I might be spelling it wrong) closed when I was in middle school. They had 6 Envirofan Gold Lines over the sales floor and at least another 2 in back. I tried to get the fans but I was too young.

Wolf Kubly closed when I was in high school. They had one CEC 42" spinner (pb) over the clock/watch counter. There's a picture of it somewhere in the Yahoo Group.

Meadowood Hardware is closing this month. They have these Concords installed, they used to sell these same models. I could probably buy the fans but at the moment they're not worth the time and money:

[fancollector12]

Nice! Out of the hardware stores I've frequented:

-A True Value has no fan display, but they had two NOS fans on the shelves: a 5B white with cane bladed Encon 52" Casanova (someone got it), and a 4B AB Encon 42" Casanova. They started to get in 52" Westinghouse Contempas and some Westinghouse Vintages, but they never had much.

-An Ace Hardware has two floors. One floor is a furniture/home decor shop. They have a textured black Hunter Outdoor Original with wicker blades and a textured white Hunter Madison, a white Hunter Captiva. Downstairs, they sell Hunter Prestige fans (surprisingly not Westinghouse) and have a small display and selection. There's a bright brass Hunter Builderfan hanging up for demonstration purposes but not hooked up. Out in what used to be their garden center but is not just a storage facility, there is a gray-colored Hunter Lugano, which got moved from their fan display to get put out there.

-Of course in addition to the Hampton Bay, Hunter, and Westinghouse fans that Home Depot carries (this is an HD with a walk-under display), there are several 56" white Dayton industrials hanging up throughout the store and in the storage room.

-Lowe's has only a fan display (no fans hanging up throughout the store or anything like that), with Allen & Roth, Hunter, Hunter Prestige, Harbor Breeze, and Hunter fans on it.

-Wal*Mart (had) a fan display with beat-up fans, but the newly-built one in my area doesn't even sell fans (only portables) in season, and the other Wal*Marts took their fan displays out and just have fans on the shelves. Wal*Mart has only Mainstays and Better Homes and Gardens fans for sale. My local Wal*Marts are warehouse-style ones without drop tile ceilings, so no fans inside the stores themselves.

-An Ace Hardware I visited while in North Carolina two years ago had a single white Hunter Mayfair 5B with a schoolhouse light hanging over the checkout. They had no fans, just fan accessories.

-When Hechinger was around, they had brands (what did they sell?) including Hunter in a display, and some white or gray-colored industrials throughout the store. I was only three or four, so I don't remember exactly what they had both on their fan display and inside the store itself. This Hechinger got turned into a Kohl's.

-Sears had a fan display up until the late 90s or early 00s that had both Designer's Choice and Hunter fans on display. They removed the fan display and they kept one single Designer's Choice fan up running on the display for about a week or two before it was premanantly removed. They sold Heritage fans for awhile, but then stopped selling ceiling fans altogether. Only portable fans are still sold by them. The local Montgomery Ward turned into a Sears in 2001 or so and no fan display was added, though MW probably had one way back in the 80s, as my local mall was built in the late 70s. There was a Sears hardware-only store that got turned into either a Ross or Bed, Bath, and Beyond that had a small fan display, but no fans inside the store. Again I was three or four at the time, so I can't exactly remember anything about the fans themselves.

That's about it.

[Cole S.]

It's a real shame they're closing, I love the small town-type hardware stores that have all the things you could never find at the big-box stores.

I remember Dorn, and that Designer very well. Super cool location, one of the coolest hardware stores I've been to.

[Deleted]

I forgot I sent you to Dorn. It used to be ALL of the Dorn locations had cool fans. Now it's just this one, the downtown location has a 36" Designer, the Oregon location has TATs, and the north side location has the GE vents I installed in place of the various Emersons. All of the locations that closed had various Designers IIRC.

When it comes to shopping, the west and north Dorns are the far best. This Meadowood store wasnt one I typically shopped in, except they had the best specials on CFLs.

[Deleted]

when they gave you that squeeky when you were a kid,you still got it?

[Deleted]

I have some of the parts from it, which I planned to send to you. I parted it out YEARS ago, before the forums, because it didnt run well.

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2012 21:50:21 GMT -5 @spiffy said:

I have some of the parts from it, which I planned to send to you. I parted it out YEARS ago, before the forums, because it didnt run well.

oh that is the one you had then?? sweeet yes i still intersted in it

[Rick M.]

Shame they're closing...I like the install with the Concords.

[Deleted]

Me too. The one wood/ornate one always threw me as a child, I couldnt figure out what it was.

[Deleted]

Here are some pictures of Craftwood Hardware & Lumber in Highland Park, IL. There are 9 4 blade blenderfans, 7 Hunter Comfort Breezes, and one 3 blade blenderfan:

[Andrew G.]

*DROOLS*

This set-up TOTALLY reminds me of something I saw in a local 60s/70s-era supermarket back in about 1994.. coincidentally enough, also one of my very first blender sightings.

[Deleted]

Andrew, almost all Farm & Fleet stores are some variation on this install. Some of them are even cooler.

[Deleted]

Here is Dorn Hardware . . . it's huge, two stories, with lots of side rooms. Only one fan remaining:

[Rick M.]

I absolutely LOVE that Blender fan/Comfort Breeze install at that Craftwood place! The lone Emerson at Dorn's is cool too.

[Cole S.]

Love both of the added installs!