This NJ family-owned hardware store is closing after 107 years

You might say mom-and-pop hardware stores are an endangered species. Over the years, they’ve been largely put out of business by the mega-corporate places like Lowe’s and Home Depot.

You know, the places that try their best to help you find what you need, but you can still feel lost inside.

I wish I could remember the name of an old hardware store in downtown Rahway where I grew up. It’s long gone, but when I was a kid, my dad would take me along there.

I recall they had these open bins filled with every type and size of nail you could want, and I used to run my hand through them, just taking in the atmosphere while listening to my dad talk guy stuff with the man who ran the place.

It was a community feeling. It's a basic kind of place, and I loved it.

These types of local stand-alone hardware stores are harder and harder to find. There will now be one less of these stores in New Jersey, and it has been around for 107 years.

Finkles in Lambertville is permanently closing at the end of the year. Officially, the name is Joseph Finkle & Son Inc., but locals have always called it simply Finkles.

It has served customers since 1917 and was taken over in 1990 by Rachel Finkle, the granddaughter of the man who launched it.

“Over my 30 years, we’ve seen the business shrink. It’s tough for independents to survive against the market forces of these big conglomerates,” she recently told NJ.com.

They’re having inventory clearance sales as they gear up for the end.

“I’m so appreciative of my longtime salespeople. They are so knowledgeable. Each one of them has their little area of specialization and their cadre of customers that follow them. It wasn’t just my family that made it what it is,” Rachel shared.

This quote perfectly explains exactly why losing places like Finkles after 107 years, Parsippany losing Cerbo after 76 years, or Montclair losing Saunders after 131 is such a sad thing.

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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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