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Comments
A Big Loss
I saw that it was closed the other day due to a death in the family and it gave me pause to see it shuttered on a weekday. It's one of the few remaining neighborhood stores where you can still get every kind of household necessity — and friendly service and advice as well. I'm lucky to have two in my area (looking at you, Back Bay Hardware and Charles Street Supply) because I'd be stuck without them. Going into the store on Salem Street always feels kind of exciting since they carry more kitchen things than those two, and all those lovely flowerpots. Life in the North End is about to become more inconvenient. It would be great if some enterprising local took it over.
Those North End residents can
Those North End residents can always drive to South Bay. There's a Home Depot for their needs.
Yes, let's all just drive everywhere all the time.
And now every North Ender can get a car in case they need to buy a shower curtain or a screwdriver. Sigh.
Assembly Square
Three stops from North Station on the Orange Line.
Still better to have something you can walk to.
If you can afford to live in
If you can afford to live in the North End, the same people could buy a car too. Interest rates are at all time lows and 2015 models are on sale.
That's ridiculous. Owning a
That's ridiculous. Owning a car and paying a bit more than market prices for rent are not the same thing, and many of us live in the North End to avoid having to pay for a car. I assure you that nobody who lives in my building is particularly wealthy. There are tons of 1BR apartments in the area that are affordable for working couples who smartly budget their money.
Cost isn't just dollars
Talking to people who have cars in the North End, spending 45 minutes after work looking for street parking doesn't make car ownership super appealing. Or of course you can make the whole thing more expensive by paying for private parking.
Part of living in that part of the city is being close enough to walk or take the T. Although there are definitely some places with super expensive rents, plenty of the north end is similarly priced to apartments all over the city.
Who are you, Ernie Boch?
Did it ever occur to you that a lot of people CAN afford to live in the North End because they DON'T need a car or God forbid two cars to live comfortably? Let alone park it. Plenty of not-rich people in the North End. And the costs of buying, maintaining a car are huge.
Maybe driving around is how
Maybe driving around is how you prefer to spend your free time but us city dwellers prefer to walk for our groceries and household items whenever possible. I love how the suburbanites on this site are lecturing city folk on getting a car and driving to Home Depot or which public transportation route to take to get to the nearest chain mega mall. You just don't get it do you! The point of living in a city neighborhood is to walk and to shop locally!
Yes, shop locally. You live
Yes, shop locally. You live in Boston so drive to your Boston Home Depot or Boston Target. I am jealous you can afford to live in the North End and own two cars and can drive two miles to a store when you run out of screwdrivers or tampons.
Whoosh.
You really don't get it, do you?
Great idea!
We all know how car friendly the North End is.
Start a gofund me to take it over
I'll kick in $500.00.
Amazon Prime does same day
Amazon Prime does same day delivery in Boston, now. Not the same as shopping locally but it can replace the need for a lot of physical shopping.
The thrill of the hunt
I always love going in that place, as you never know what you'll find. Lot's of unusual kitchen stuff along with mops and No Trespassing signs. It IS sad that it's closing.
Awful
Without that hardware store my life is going to be a lot more difficult. I can't think of another hardware store within walking distance.
Charles Street but
That's still a total PITA.
I think the big hardware store that used to be downtown is long gone, right?
On High Street?
Yeah, gone for at least 15 years.
What was the name of that place on Bromfield that was kind of like Lechmere? You'd pay for your item and then it would come down a big conveyor belt to you. Used to love that place.
Sherman's?
I think that was the place. It was in the exact spot where the City Sports, now also to become defunct, now stands. Years ago Bromfield was a magical little street with bookstores and all kinds of little places. Now it's tacky nail salons and a huge blank gray wall that is the side of a Suffolk building.
Ha! I'm old.
Though I don't think I remember hardware on Bromfield--aside from Sherman's which was just luggage?
Sherman's was a lot more than just luggage
They had appliances and all kinds of household items. I even bought an alarm clock there back in the day.
ace in charlestown is a 15
ace in charlestown is a 15 minute walk. as for the north end true value, i hear the building is going to be leveled for a new development. not sure if the true value owners have a stake in it.
92
If you can catch the 92 you can get from N End to the Bunker Hill Mall in a few minutes.
North End needs to be leveled
North End needs to be leveled and redone, all the old Buildings need to be leveled, just think what the city can do if that ever happened, several brand new 33 story glass highrises that can probably contain more than 80 spacious condos on every block in the north end with extra land for open space and commercial space, take out the old rebuild the new.
City Target?
I saw they are breaking ground on Causeway St for the building that is supposed to hold City Target. Wonder if there will be anything resembling a HW store there also.
*citation please*
I'd love to see your source of this.
I'd LOVE a City Target near there. The bus drops me off a block away.. would be super easy to get to.
If a store closes down (as
If a store closes down (as opposed to being sold to a new owner) then that's a sign it's losing money. Or is that one story building too valuable to not demolish and replace with a five story apartment building?
Not necessarily.
It could be a sign that there's MORE and easier money to be made by changing to condos. See the closing of Johnny D's for an example.
Yeah
I'd say it means, generally, that there's easier money to be made elsewhere/in another way, and that the current decisionmaker(s) care about the money more than they care about owning a hardware/housewares store in the North End. Plenty of people would rather work a 9 to 5 for someone else than deal with the hassles of running their own business.
I'd guess the issue is
the owner of the hardware store owns the building. What can you sell a hardware business for, even a profitable one, a couple hundred thousand dollars maybe (honestly, I have no idea)? That property is assessed at $1.4million, and would think it would be worth a lot more. So, even if you really wanted to run a hardware store, you'd have to come up with millions to buy this one. I'd love to see someone buy it, throw a few more floors of apts/condos above it, and keep the store alive.
Shame.
I used to go there for gardening supplies and Ball jars, when I lived close by.
Like someone said above, we choose to live in a city, so we can run errands on foot. This store carried many things that Home Depot does not.
I go to the Teue Vaue in Central Square now.
Still mourning the loss...
... of Dairy Fresh Candies on Salem Street (7 or so years ago).
Me too!!
I miss Dairy Fresh too. I thought I was singlehandedly keeping them in business.