IHardy's Ace Hardware
loffers best of old and best of new
THE PONCHATOULA TIMES, NOVEMBER 28, 1985, SEC. B., PAGE THREE
Staff Report
Hardy's Ace Hardware, 177 West
e, is an example of how a business
m stay in one family for three genera-
bns, retain all of its old-time charm
Mile modernizing.
The Richardson family got into the
rdware business when a Mr. Willis
Id Wilmer Hardy Richardson I his
lardware store, after Richardson
oved here from Sunny Hill, Louisiana.
He ran the store until his death. His
an, Ned. spent his early years living
th the family above the hardware
re, before moving to the West Oak
eet home where Bill and Margaret
Wkins and their family currently
'ee store under its first generation of
hardsons boasted the first gasoline
p in Ponchatoula and offered a
Ide range of products, from roofing to
Idoors, kitchen appliances of the day,
Llrse collars wagon wheels, everything
at could be loosely considered hard-
lare in the first part of this century.
I, Son Ned assumed the helm after
aving fought for his country in World
War II and returned to the business he
had grown up in.
Of course, he put his own modern
business practices in place, including an
vertising program which got him into
m ownership role of the first offset
rlewspaper in the state.
But the second generation Richardson
also valued the good old days. He had
e old Pine Street balcony reconstructed
and added back onto the building in
1975.
, He didn't stop there. The entire
:ilding was renovated and became an
early example of what downtown
Ponchatoula could do if it gave itself a
telift.
Richardson liked the old look and
Obviously felt there would be some
nefit in preserving it at his family
siness. He began a unique wall mural
nsisting of antique tools he collected
[tom his trips and received from
CUstomers. That wall today is one of the
tOwn's top tourist attractions. "We have
ts of tourists who come in just to see
lke old hardware," commented current
lner W. Hardy Richardson II, who
took over the store from his dad in
1981.
He renamed it Hardy's Ace Hard-
•are in 1984. signalling another
generation's modernization of the family
business. Richardson is now linked to
the Ace hardware cooperative, which
means he pools his purchasing power
with other Ace Hardware affiliates.
This cooperative approach has
enabled Richardson to slash his prices,
and has opened up a whole catalogue
sales department at the store, where
you can now order everything from toys
to galvanized nails and have them
delivered to Ponchatoula within a week,
if they are not already on the shelves.
"The variety is the biggest change in
this business since my" grandfather had
it," says the corrent owner. "Take pipes
for example. It used to be just galvanized.
Now we deal in galvanized, copper and
three kinds of plastic piping. It's like that
across-the-board."
Now a computer screen takes its
place on a desk in front of the wall of
antique tools and customers can order
from microscopic film files projected
onto the screen just about anything they
could ever need, from camping and
boating supplies to specialized har.Jware
items.
And still the store boasts bins and
shelves stocked with a wide variety of
items traditionally purchased at the
store.
The wooden elevator that the original
Richardson hardwaresman used to
reach his family's living quarters upstairs
is still working, albeit with an electric
motor now and not the hand cranked
assembly it originally had.
It is still in many ways the kind of
place old men remember visiting as
young boys with their fathers on a
Saturday morning.
The third generation of Richardsons
in the hardware are bringing in a new
crop of fresh ideas for Ponchatoula's
downtown, and a positive attitude
about the city's future.
"I think the downtown area is trying
again to revive. The first time the
recession hit us. Now it will be different.
We have the Pflanze Hotel renovations,
the mayor's promise to replant our oak
trees, and a new main street. I feel very
positive about our future," said Hardy
Richardson.
The hotel project he referred to
typtified the kind of contribution three
generations of Richardsons have
presented to the downtown
community.
Hardy and his wife Paulette have
Before the renovation
This was the shape downtown
Ponchatoula was in in the early
1970"s when the Richardson family
tt the pace for downtown renovation
transforming the faded facade of
the family hardware store into a
lhowpiece which attracts nearly as
! any tourists as Ole Hardhide does.
! Ned Richardson liked the old balcony
that was in place when he was a little
boy living above the store, so when
his turn came to run the store after
World War !1 one of the first
renovations to the building was the
reconstruction of the spacious Pine
Street balcony, as well as the full
restoration of the main street facade.
Pace setter for main street improvements
joined Douglas and Judy Johnson,
Tom and Janice Waterman to purchase
and completely renovate the Pflanze
Hotel, which only recently was one of
the most neglected large building in the
city.
Thanks to the investment of the six
young Ponchatoulans and their
families, the old German hotel and
restaurant is about to begin a new life as
a retail and office complex intend .d to
be a real estate and commercial anchor
to the entire business community
downtown, spurring new business, new
jobs, and setting the tone for Poncha-
toula future.
Hardware museum
The computer screen in this photo of
the antique tool display on the wall of
Hardy's Ace Hardware hints at the
progress three generations have
made to the family hardware business
owned by the Richardson family.
(Times Photo)
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