Saying ‘good-bye’ to Garrett Hardware after 62 years

Saying ‘good-bye’ to Garrett Hardware after 62 years

Longtime local business shutting its doors this month

news@theeveningtimes.com

It’s a personal thing. That is what Walter E. Remington once wrote in the Commercial Appeal about the West Memphis fixture, Garrett Hardware. The dingy undated newspaper clip still hangs next to the post by the cash register.

Long before Post-it Notes or posting on social media, the post was the place where, founding brothers Joe and Earnest “Bo” Garrett hung all the charge tickets. The hardware store moved there into it’s current building in 1960.

That’s where the slips have always hung since. There were charge tickets from the fire station (neighbors from just across 7th Street) hanging there Saturday morning as Glenn announced the end. The Wonder City era family run store goes dark Feb. 18, closing the charge accounts books in a couple of weeks. As Glenn Lewis (his mother was a Garrett) pointed to the post he pointed out the trust and personal service always the hallmark at the hardware store. The Garrett family personalities and those of the store’s mascot cats camped at the counter created the atmosphere.

“90 percent of the people took care of their tickets,” said Glenn as he plans to retire ushering in the end of the family business. “My uncle always told the fire chief, in case of fire save the post.”

Glenn recently found his pay record from 1963, he made $123 for a month working a full 6 1/2 days a week. His uncles opened the store at 5:00 a.m. for farmers and the mornings in the store were often a Norman Rockwell like scene, a who’s who community coffee clutch.

While the meetings have waned, nothing has changed in the store. The Garrett family built their business by providing personal service. Just ask anybody that ever shopped there. Last Saturday, the family store looked just like it did in 1960. The company opened in 1955 and was next door, when they moved into the ‘new’ building the brothers shuttled the inventory in a single wheel barrow.

There is still new old stock for sale including kitchen sink, pitcher pump parts, television tubes, and ice block tongs. They’ve kept things on the shelf even after becoming old or obsolete. Some dusty plastic blanket storage bags on the shelf have a manufacture date of 1963 on the wrapper. Nothing’s changed.

“The walls have never been painted, except some sample spots from when we handled paint,” said Joe’s son Joe Jr. AKA Spud during a nostalgic weekend walk around. “The last Johnny Cash movie filmed around here, they came in and bought lots of stuff.

They loved it here. I just sold our last slop jar two weeks ago, they call them thunder mugs up north.

People in West Memphis used to need these.”

The personal service is required at Garrett. Customers have to get help to find whatever you need in the hodgepodge shop. The same kind of jumble on the sales floor carries to the back office too.

“If you want a ceiling fan pull chain it’s over here,” pointed Glenn. “If you want the connecting link it’s in a drawer over there,” pointing to the opposite side.

The filing system never changed either.

“When I started working with accounts I went looking for West Memphis Schools,” said Glenn. “I Couldn’t find it. Then, one day I found it still listed under Hulbert West Memphis. You just had to get in my uncle’s mind to figure some things out. He went to Hulbert and told stories of shooting rabbits on the way home for dinner. That was West Memphis a real long time ago, pre W.W.II.

That’s how he thought about it, so that is how he filed it.”

The place was never robbed but burgled twice according to Spud.

“The last guy got stuck in the backdoor,” said Joe Jr.

“They called the police.

Uncle Bo was threatening him with a sledge handle.

The police had to hold back that seventy year old man.”

Remington wrote about his personal shopping experience at Garrett back when the big box discount stores were the new thing and he pined for the personal mom an pop businesses, especially at Garrett in West Memphis. He typed out the story of his first checkout at a discount store: “The little associate cashier scans the 13 ounce pound of coffee and says, ‘What’s your zip code?’ ‘I beg your pardon,’ I reply.

And she says, ‘I gotta have your zip code before I can ring you out.’ I’m a little put out to say the least.

‘You mean I can’t buy coffee unless I give you my zip code?’ She smiles politely, ‘No zip code, no coffee.’ That would never happen to me at Garret. Bo and Joe never did that to me.”

Garrett endured the age of the big box store by sticking to the nuts and bolts of service. The hardware transcended retail eras. Garrett Hardware was the thing before Ace was the place.

Garrett saw the going of Rigg’s up 7th Street. The 7th Street late comer True Value start up came just before the 55th anniversary at Garrett. Garret’s enjoyed longtime time friendly competition from Barton’s.

“We’ve always had a friendly competitive relationship with Barton’s,” said Glenn. “We’d stocked some stuff they never did.

If they didn’t have that little something they’d send folks here. We’d have it.

Some stuff has been here longer than me!”

Big box stores did not spell the end for Garret Hardware, but they definitely changed retail in West Memphis.

“Walmart was instrumental in that,” said Glenn.

His uncles joked that they were slowly running Walmart out of town as each new location for the discount chain moved further from Garrett. Walmart went from Meadowbrook Plaza, to where Kroger is now and finally onto the service road.

Founders Joe and Bo are remembered in the community. Joe was a very patriotic W.W.II veteran and was instrumental in founding the local VFW post. Bo was distinguishable for the whinny tone in his voice.

Jokes abounded. Bo’s real name was Ernest. He got the nickname from his brother as the two escaped boyhood mischief in a neighbors water melon patch. Who is that, yelled the farmer. His name is Bo lied Joe.

“Joe worked here almost until his death in 2001 and Bo stayed on until 2005,” said Joe Jr.

Now Glenn and Joe Jr. explained the end.

“I’ll miss this,” said Joe Jr. “Every local Garrett has worked here. Its been a family business. I’ve been coming here on Saturdays for 48 years.”

“I’m 67,” said Glenn. “I want to retire and enjoy my grandchildren.

It’s been a real pleasure and honor for our family to service West Memphis. Our feeling for our customers here is strong. It is a fun place to come. The one place to come and see everybody was here. The association with our customers has been real good.

On the 18th I’ll shed a tear when I lock that door.”

With a little more than two weeks to go, Glenn looked down at the ticket books on the counter used to personally hand write each customer’s receipt all these years.

One of them will represent that end of the personal service at Garrett Hardware.

“The only ones I have left are in these two machines here,” said Glenn. “We might not make it.”

By John Rech