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Photo by Sam Yu
After more than 50 years in Frederick, Mays Hardware is closing its doors. Owner Karl Zimmerman paused in the parking lot outside his store Monday afternoon. |
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A business that has been serving the Frederick area for five decades has become victim to the economy.Since 1958, if you wanted anything hardware related from bolts and nuts to paint and tools, Mays was the place most locals went. But competition from big box stores and the economic downturn has hit the local store. "It started with Home Depot," said Karl Zimmerman, who bought the store a decade ago. "Now Dollar General, just about any store, sells what we sell." And the way the country's economy is going, also affected the business, Zimmerman said. Monday morning about a dozen people were waiting outside for the store's 10 a.m. opening to see what bargains they could get on merchandise. Mays carries not only the typical hardware -- tools, nuts and bolts and paint -- but also unusual and sometime hard-to-find pieces of hardware that might be needed for historic or older houses, or specific tasks. If you needed a certain type of door handle or drawer pull or hinge, Mays had it. The 4,800-square-foot store is filled with plumbing and electrical supplies, and an endless array of tools. "But you can't survive on the unusual," he said of the atypical items his store carries. The business opened in 1958 in the Frederick Shopping Center. For many years the store carried hobby items such as models and rockets, but Zimmerman did away with those when he bought Mays and moved it to 1818 Rosemont Ave. "If you looked in a phone book in 1960, you would see three or four hardware stores in Frederick , along with local auto parts stores and other businesses. There were no Chinese restaurants or nail places or things you have today. Society has changed, habits changed," Zimmerman said. He had been a partner in Trout's Liquors in Frederick before purchasing the business and later becoming associated with Orville, a national hardware distribution company. "Someone once said that if you can't fold it, eat it or wear it, then it is hardware," Zimmerman said. The store has 10 employees. Zimmerman said he hasn't set a specific date for closing the doors. "Just keep selling until it is all gone to the walls," he said.
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