There's nothing like the old-fashioned hardware store (slideshow)

Do you have a favorite old-fashioned hardware store to talk about?

It was where your grandfather went when he needed hinges to fix a banging door, or where he went to get a piece of cut glass to replace a broken window.

The humble, independent hardware store still exists, despite the best efforts of Big Box stores like Home Depot and Lowes. Though these days hardware stores are a lot harder to find.

The Buck Hardware Store, 37079 Detroit Road, Avon, is run by Craig Buck, who took it over from his father, Robert, who had acquired it from his father, Arnold.

The store looks as old as the city and is one of the oldest, still-standing buildings in town. It was built in 1879 and operated as Weiler's Department Store before it was turned into a hardware store in 1948 by Lawrence Heckel, who bought it from his father-in-law who owned the department store. Arnold Buck worked in the shop for many years before buying it and keeping it in the Buck family.

A period advertisement from the Weiler days indicated that the store carried hardware, agricultural implements, glass, paint, kitchen appliances, groceries, meats, clothing, books and religious articles, among other items, according to Avon historian Taylor “Jack” Smith.

Like the other old-fashioned hardware stores in the area, Buck is a place where you can walk in and buy a handful of screws from a bucket instead of a plastic boxful of screws made in China, which always seem to strip under the slightest pressure. You can get pretty much anything you need to build or repair items in your house, and there are hundreds of machines, gadgets and tools to purchase.

Like the other old-fashioned hardware stores in Northeast Ohio, you can get lots of advice on how to build or fix things instead of blank stares common among workers in Big Box home stores.

Jim Riddle has run Riddle's Hardware in downtown Amherst for 48 years, after he bought the business from his father-in-law, who bought it in 1966 from a family who ran it since the turn of the century, the 1900's that is.

The store, operating as Wesbecher Hardware, was there since Lake Road was used by horses. Riddle said he has the building and the business up for sale, not because of competition from Home Depot and Lowe's, located just a few miles away, but because he's getting to the age where he wants to relax.

He said he always did fine at the business and was happy to be there.

“I talk to people who hate to go to work, but not me,” he said. “I love being here. I enjoy coming to work and being here for people.”

Loyal customers who know Jim can fix a screen, cut glass or pipes to any size needed, keep him going.

Home Depot never frightened him.

In North Ridgeville, the Buescher Hardware Store on Center Ridge Road has been in the Buescher family since 1936. Before that, it was a general store since the late 1800s. The original part of the building still exists, but newer additions had been added in over the decades,

The current owner, Ken Buescher, offers the typical hardware fare, including window and screen repairs.

Ken's son, Joseph, is offering something a little different. He fixes guitars.

Further south, the Stephensons have kept the Medina Hardware Store on Court Street, in the family since 1933. Current owner Rick Stephenson said his father, Willard “Steve” Stephenson, bought the store and worked it until his death in 1999 at the age of 99.

“Dad was amazing. He was working in the store right up until a week before his death,” said Stephenson. “He loved this place. He went out on a service call with me the week before he died. His mind was sharp right up until the end. It was his body that failed.”

Stephenson said the store has a “loyal following of hardware zealots” who come into the store and talk about the memories it evokes.

“It's a skinny store, but it's three stories and we have a warehouse in the back,” Stephenson said. “Our hardware store is more like a museum.”

It's one of the oldest hardware stores in the area, having first opened in 1872 as “Oatman's Hardware.”

Chagrin Hardware on N. Main Street in Chagrin Falls, which opened its doors at that location in 1857, has been around probably longer than most hardware stores in the region.

“Since 1964, our family has owned the store, my brothers and sisters and I,” said Steve Shutts. “Before that, it was owned by our great-uncle Jim Bannerman, since 1920.”

Shutts said they do a pretty good business.

“We do okay. We can pay our bills,” he said. “We know what we are doing.”