I was out in the Sacramento, CA area a couple of years ago, and made a side trip over to Placerville, CA. There is a little hardware store, looks like it must be 200 years old and probably in operation every day since then.
Gorgeous little place. Another Case dealer. They had some new old stock knives that I had been looking for, but were looking for a little more than I wanted to pay at the time.
Coicidentally, on the way back into Sacramento, the air dam on the rental car I was in decided to bust loose and drag along under the car. I had to pull off the highway at the first exit and there was another little non-chain hardware store there. Didn't sell knives to speak of, just some of the cheap no-name modern style knives in a jar on the counter.
Not only did the owner of the store find exactly the right fasteners I needed, which cost me all of about $1.15, but he got out his tools, slid up under the car in his parking lot on a hot Sacramento summer day (mid 90s) and fixed it for me right on the spot. For free. I gave him $20 for labor anyway, and gave his store a glowing review on a couple of Internet web sites. Interestingly enough, he already had several other positive reviews from loyal local customers.
So you are right, Frank, there is just something special about these old-time hardware stores and other small, family run businesses that is lost in this day of maximizing big corporate profits. Kind of like GEC, another small business where the owner's and the company's reputations are one and the same (trying to keep it knife-related, your moderator-ship).
I think a point I would like to make more often is that it is not just the design of knives that makes them traditional. Part of the tradition, at least for those of us who grew up in the US, was the small store that sold the knives off the counter or the nicer ones behind the display, and looking up at those brand names on the fancier cases. Hardware stores. Sears (back when it was the coolest store in the world, and it was.) Western Auto. Service Stations (when there was actually, you know, Service). I'm sure we've gained something in the last 50 years of mega corporations, supply chain optimization, and globalization. But we have lost many things too. I'm glad a few of the traditions are still hanging on. Mike. Derrick. Barry. Bob. Mr. Howard. Mr. Daniels. Even Mr. Duke (thanks for keeping Case open and in the US). Thanks guys.
Edit - oops, I was wrong about the nameless hardware store in Placerville, CA. 162 years, not 200 years, and it is the oldest continuously operating hardware store west of the Mississippi River.
:thumbup:
