Back in business: 120-year-old hardware store under new but familiar ownership
Mark Hofmann/ For the Observer-Reporter
Jim Cottrell, the new owner of Jim’s Point Marion Hardware, looks through the 120-year-old store’s original drawers used to store hardware accessories.
Mark Hofmann/For the Observer-Reporter
Jim Cotrell, new owner of Jim’s Point Marion Hardware, stocks the shelves of the store that has become a staple in the community.
A Fayette County hardware store that’s been supplying local customers for 120 years old is getting a new life from a former employee.
When Point Marion Hardware on Penn Street shut down in October, everyone started asking Jim Cottrell if he wanted to take over, which was more than just a business in town.
“It’s a meeting hub for people in town,” Cottrell said, adding that the “old-timers” would spend their mornings at the diner next door and then stop at the hardware store to shoot the breeze. “This is kind of a cool place. It’s in the middle of town, and Penn Street is the main street that runs up through town.”
Cottrell should know. The Point Marion Borough councilman – a certified licensed plumber with his own plumbing business – has worked at the store multiple times, from 1982 through 1997, returning in 2000 and spending five more years there helping his uncle when he purchased the place.
Cottrell said, counting himself, the hardware store has seen 10 or 11 owners stretching as far back as prior to 1910.
Because of his previous experience and his plumbing background, it seemed that everyone in Point Marion associated him with the store and suggested he take over when the previous owner closed it down in October.
Cottrell said he hopes to open the new Jim’s Point Marion Hardware sometime this weekend and intends to keep it stocked with the typical goods found in hardware stores as well as a few other items and services.
Cottrell said he will include a plumbing installation service for water tanks, toilets, garbage disposals faucets and the like.
Also new will be an automotive section, bicycle parts and accessories for those coming off the nearby bike trail, and a full line of garden and cleaning supplies.
“The goal is to get it amped up,” said Bobby Delansky, the owner of the building, who’s pleased to see the store continuing in Cottell’s care. “We want to get it fully stocked with a little bit of everything.”
What’s not going to change will be the look of the store, especially the hardwood shelves and drawers for smaller items like nuts, screws and bolts.
“It has an old-fashioned feel to it, and I wanted to keep that,” Cottrell said, noting that Delansky even brought in antique items that have been placed above the top ledges that run around the store to complete the old-fashioned look and feel.
“The old woodwork and nook and shelves are all original from when it was built,” Delansky said. “It’s like stepping back in time.”
Cottrell said they the store will have a Facebook page in the near future, and the tentative hours of operation will be from 7:20 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and closed on Sunday.
Credit and debit cards will be accepted.
Jim’s Point Marion Hardware can be reached at 724-505-3299.