Legacy San Francisco hardware store closing after 88 years

[@paulxavier431]

This place was my life saver for many urgent projects during the 80s. A loss for everyone.

[@HomeSkillit]

Yeah I know right?

[@billlumbergh9251]

Americans are being priced out of their country . Make way for home depot only , where the lumber is trash and the employees don't know anything

[@marvnuts]

I bet Home Depot doesn't even want to operate in San Francisco.

[@John-1984]

Another thing that's sad is when the employees at a real hardware store don't know anything either. The town I live in, our last real hardware store closed earlier this year. You would go in there know exactly what you need, but the employees would argue with you saying it wouldn't work. All of the experienced guys either retired or passed away and the people that replaced them don't know anything. All I needed was a nut to mount a brake hose and the guy kept arguing with me saying it wouldn't work because it's a special thread. I had to eventually just go and find the drawer myself and prove I knew what I was talking about. And that's just one example. I just stopped going there and started shopping at the big box stores.

[@JD-cd5sq]

Good luck even finding an employee in a Home Depot.

[@mrsleep0000]

@@JD-cd5sq Which is fine, they are useless anyways.

[@jazbone]

Not exactly true. Ace Hardware is thriving. New Hardware stores are opening up constantly and current owners are expanding as well with new stores.

[@evan7743]

West Portal used to be a bustling neighborhood filled with regular people going about their regular daily lives. It consisted of shops catering to the needs of a wide SEC range of locals and their families : a movie theater, a Round Table for pre or post-movie pizza, an authentic cheap diner (original The Manor), dry cleaners, bank, bookstore, kids karate class, beauty salons and barber, this hardware store, and more. Now it has a more desolate, kinda depressing feel, filled with mostly restaurants, including high-priced restaurants and wine bars for high budget folks living in the surrounding $$$$$ houses. Or thrift shops (Goodwill). Unless they inherited the house, not sure how many middle-class families can afford to live there now. Sign of the times.

[@scotthonor2800]

It still has pretty much everything you listed out… it’s never been nicer. And maybe the best urgent care in the city. Like round table is a keeper. Mozzarella di buffalo is still around and lil joes has the best pizza west of Tony’s.

[@Variety1985]

FEWER STORES ... FEWER CHOICES ... LESS COMPETITION ... HIGHER PRICES 🤔

[@armedandready9181]

and imbecile government officials that you vote for.

[@Tvso9813]

They’re widening the class gaps in CA pretty soon it’s poor or rich. Then socialism.

[@kingofskulls6384]

​@Tvso9813 You just described capitalism, not socialism.

[@neilf4128]

Sounds like communism.

[@johnbravo2315]

Back in the 1960's Maury always took great care of your needs and thanked you for your business! Very sorry to see them shut down.

[@yonatanmakara6856]

Small hardware store are the best. They help you more then those jerks at the Home Depot.

[@kskeel1124]

SF city council sure is doing a great job...😂

[@stuwest3653]

90 years in business and still paying rent?

[@MR-xc3sw]

Do you own your home and business?

[@ronbennett7885]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. However, doubt it would have mattered much in the long run. Big box stores are squeezing out the independents plus the internet too. A local one near me that owned a prime location for nearly 70 years closed earlier this year. And they weren't forced out, but rather the younger relatives didn't want to continue it despite still being profitable at the time. Many prefer the big box experience. More selection, lower prices, and ease of shopping.

[@hkraytai]

Why not? Are businesses supposed to own their own buildings?

[@donlee.4308]

@@hkraytaidepends on location

[@American-Recreationist]

62 to 65% of homes are rentals in San Francisco.

[@raygordon3728]

It's the people that are changing, newer generations shop on their iPhone, the days of going in person to stores in person is near an end. These young kids with moustaches are not coming into small businesses unless it's a coffee shop with 9.00 lattes.

[@adamyoung480]

Aloha. This is happening all over the country. It’s sad.

[@MR-xc3sw]

Big blue cities mostly. SF has been driving away businesses like it's the voters goal to drive down the tax base and drive up rent. Well if that's the goal they are very successful. SF will have nothing but homeless shelters and people complaining they can't afford rent .. Texas on the other hand is gaining business .

[@tonamiller6850]

I worked for a woman who had a small downtown business. She would often complain about all the "business fees."Our salaries, rent, utilities, lunch ect. One day she said "Oh, please come to the party." I said "Sure, what's it for?" She replied "I just paid off my mortgage!" I said "Your house ?" She said "No, this building the store is in!!" Never once, in the years I worked there, did she say that she was paying on that building. Of course, she went on to open other businesses in the same downtown area. Smarter than the rest of us!!

[@guybassett12]

If you own a small business, and you do not own the building, you’re going to go out of business

[@MR-xc3sw]

In blue cities.

[@ronbennett7885]

Yep, Sam Walton learned that the hard way. Afterwards bought the land for future stores whenever possible. In recent decades, Walmart appears to lease more, but better able to negotiate favorable long-term leases that can stretch upwards of 50-70 years or even more. Also, often landlords need the big box store more to keep a shopping center viable.

[@MR-xc3sw]

@ronbennett7885 owning the building doesn't eliminate cost increases. The rent goes up because taxes go up so either way SF is driving out businesses by tax increases. Same reason everyone else is complaining about paying rent. This building will probably remain vacant like so many others in big deep blue cities that enjoy paying for illegals addicts and homeless. Oh then add in insurance increases and here we are . SF voters are hurting themselves. The question is will they ever understand economics well enough to fix the problems they created ?

[@guybassett12]

@ I live in Gilroy now, and I know that the Walmart here got the land almost for nothing and they also didn’t have to pay sales tax for five years

[@MR-xc3sw]

@guybassett12 I think you mean property tax , not sales tax.

[@dng2000]

This is sad news to me. I used to shop for hardware at Papenhausen Hardware when I lived in the Parkside neighborhood. Nowadays, I shop at Lowe's whenever I need to get something in person and not online, simply because I moved to the southeastern part of San Francisco where Lowe's is much closer to where I live. But I still like Papenhausen Hardware better since things are easier to find and the staff are much nicer.

[@8489-e8u]

I mp

[@tonys4751]

People just don't know how to fix things themselves anymore and pay contractors who don't get their materials from a community hardware store.

[@neilf4128]

I feel the pain. I used to frequent Cole Hardware on Mission and 29th just near Safeway. But there was a mysterious series of fires one year, that burned down 20% of the properties in that area and Cole was one of them. Now its all fancy apartment units.

[@DocPop]

There have been numerous dangerous accidents within a block of this store: a family of four killed by an SUV driver while waiting for MUNI, a driver crashing into Walgreens and injuring a customer inside, and another crashing into Miraloma Club, injuring three patrons. Those last two just happened this month. Why mention "lack of parking" and not "unsafe for pedestrians"?

[@sunayakong8537]

My question is why haven’t they bought the property. If they have been there so long, instead of paying rent. It makes no sense not to have bought the property.

[@quidproquo3933]

“deep discounts” a bit of an understatement

[@kenjones6046]

It is not surprised many small mom and pop shops are closing due to lack of foot traffic and more importantly San Francisco has lost significant amount of population. If you look at Polk street, Castro, West Portal, Noe Valley, these neighborhoods are like ghost town. With high crimes and continuing loss of population, I am sure there will be more stores closing. It is very sad to see this city has been declining and no politicians in city hall is doing anything to remedy current downward spiral of this beautiful city

[@Kosmokatgirl]

It’s not just high crimes - what’s the reason behind the Crime? It’s because of capitalism and you know it. It’s pushing everybody to the seams of the thread. if there wasn’t so much capitalism within California, everybody would be able to survive San Francisco’s always had crime, but it’s never been this bad until the rise of tech and then when the tech basically emptied our jobs for most individuals .

[@Harry_Tick]

This is by design. Stealth urban development by tech oligarch that run the progressive movement they coopted after the Occupy movement scared them. And they sent operatives to infect them with the woke mind virus.

[@chinatownboy7482]

Everyone is shopping at Home Depot and Lowe's.

[@captng]

It's unsafe to shop there in a lawless wasteland😂😂😂

[@chinatownboy7482]

@@captng Daly City is a lawless wasteland?🤣

[@captng]

@@chinatownboy7482 not suitable for business especially a small business..but you keep the faith friend. How's you town doing? again I hear Chinatown is doing well

[@chinatownboy7482]

@@captng Many factors to businesses being profitable. Labor rates. Real estate. Competition. Wholesale inflation. Sales volume. Many factors.

[@captng]

@@chinatownboy7482 we agree the cost of doing business and location are factors that will be consideed as the owner pulls the plug or not

[@DRventura333]

Unfortunate that all the mom and pop stores are closing down. The customer service hands on shopping is being crushed. Now, you will have at least 15 people out of a job due to the closure. Imagine, 88 years at one location, within the community, forced to close down. Very sad indeed.

[@stuwest3653]

The real problem is Amazon not the pandemic.

[@MR-xc3sw]

The problem is the government.

[@TheDrumLife2]

That first comment by the customer "without this place, where can you go?" EXACTLY, which is why I would never curse myself by living in that city. You're at the mercy of the local businesses. I have everything I could every ask for where I live and everything else is within 5 to 10 minutes away.

[@John_Fugazzi]

I'm sorry to see thhis close. I'm in West Portal faily often and have shopped there many times.

[@mikeicee]

lol “the market” decides rent prices they say. This building will be empty for years and years which would indicate something other than the market is deciding rent and can keep a building vacant for years without a concern

[@A1A1-o7o]

Last time I went to home Depot i had to do everything myself and there was about 8 employees just standing looking at people like if we were to steal or something

[@jeromevonloodwig5851]

Not sure why but everyone keeps endorsing these people in charge.

[@bobbymoss6160]

You can thank all the conservative owned media networks. They're doing a fine job with mass population brainwashing.

[@coolmatrix15]

This is sad. Very sad.

[@buicklincoln]

NOTHING like going to a small hardware store or auto parts store where the workers actually KNOW what they are talking about. Go to Lowes or The Home Depot? Good luck finding someone who can help you. It seems like the workers avoid customers because they don't know anything.

[@ronbennett7885]

Smaller hardware stores have been rapidly closing as big box home improve stores have expanded. In my local area, The Hardware Center closed early this year after nearly 70 years in business at a prime location in Paoli, PA they owed. So it wasn't an issue with rent or being forced out. No one in the family wanted to continue it. Competing against big box stores is daunting with much downside risk. Easier to close down and liquidate. Sad to see another one go.

[@guybassett12]

@@ronbennett7885 Ron, I owned Hobby world in Cupertino. I can tell you that in 2003 the Internet started cutting into my sales in one year. It took out a third of my business and it kept going downhill year after year.

[@gridley]

The NY Times ran an article around 2018 or 2019 that dealt with the issue of vacant retail spaces in SF. Other problems of crime & homelessness too. That was well before things like Westfield SF Centre became as hollow as it now is. Or what has since happened to Union Square. When I read that story I didn't think the future would grow even worse. It has.

[@imaison8]

Joyce Zanze - I miss their Zanze cheesecake show! So nostalgic. Sorry to see a small business neighborhood store close down.

[@RaymondHng]

Sam Zanze sold his recipe to Little Original Joe's on 393 W Portal Ave. They are selling Zanze's cheesecake in the frozen section.

[@shiuchu9636]

Garbage city because the last mayor 😂

[@Aly-q7o]

San Francisco going to be a ghost town but still expensive

[@Jess_Moonflower]

Between this one closing and Great Wall on Taraval being burned down so sad. 😢 I hope that maybe someone buys it and reopens again as a hardware store. We need these local small businesses.

[@captng]

What 😲??? Another longtime business closing?? Shocked face😂😂😂. San Francisco is way passed being logical for prosperity

[@Mossbeehave]

Online shopping really killed small businesses!!! So sad ! I really that place!

[@jeannettelee2806]

This story is an accurate picture of America.

[@MR-xc3sw]

Mosrly just the blue parts .

[@RollingThunder5880]

​@@MR-xc3sw Yeah. Red areas like Mississippi, Alabama, and WV are thriving utopias. 😅

[@CrankyCatPress]

This is so sad. I shipped there for years when I worked in the City.

[@TransitAndTeslas]

This is also because people don’t build or fix things anymore. We live in a throwaway society. Sigh.

[@armedandready9181]

Oh and don't forget the " up to 900 dollars" that they can steal and you can do nothing about it.

[@Igotstaknowit]

We took care of that in November even though Gavin was against the bill.

[@SOLDOZER]

@@Igotstaknowit You took care of nothing. You still have a soft on crime DA and police that dont show up.

[@thegoldengatesound]

$950. Tenth lowest in the nation. The other 40 states are $1K-2K except Texas, you can steal up to $2500 there so they obviously must have the worst shoplifting in the country

[@RaymondHng]

There's still Duke's on Noriega and 32nd Avenue.

[@MR-xc3sw]

For now.

[@evanswinford7165]

Turns out it always safe gather.

[@MyHighHorse]

Californians deserve everything they voted for. Learn to love it or vote differently.

[@nicholasthompson7690]

Vote accordingly

[@DanielJames-h9h]

More people want more stuff for less money. This underpins corporate consolidation, which drives small competitors out, which has decimated SF’s locally owned businesses. ‘We” are all in on it. Questions?

[@mrsleep0000]

Crime plays a bigger role than people wanting cheap stuff. I for one stopped shopping in San Francisco entirely. Not worth the risk anymore.

[@cameoxvilb3174]

Well that sucks.

[@jetfan925]

The same goes to Craft Hardware in Brooklyn being priced out.

[@MMCat7732]

And the crime.

[@earvinquero2037]

Blame us who buys online and who doesnt like to spent gas or to walk, and no patience to look for parking.

[@SOLDOZER]

Guess I have to find a new store to shoplift at.

[@mattsmith4589]

THIS IS NOT OKAY!

[@ifihadsmesumchicken6276]

Is it alright?🙃

[@timothyhilton3408]

Fortunately they didn't have to close because of shoplifting. Pagano's in Alameda had to close one location due to theft.

[@Imnotyourdoormat]

*_There used to be a friendly family hardware store back in my hometown... till they stole it_*

[@SuddenUpdraft]

This is really sad. Let’s just hope it doesn’t turn into one of the million Chinese restaurants San Francisco has.

[@brookingsbeachcomber]

thank a democrap

[@thepassionfruitdiariessuzi6978]

Hardware stores have everything! So sad

[@thegoldengatesound]

Replacing with a real estate or insurance office

[@willieverusethis]

How sad.

[@bbrcummins1984]

The younger generation can't fix anything

[@8489-e8u]

how

[@madge2114]

B.S. Younger generation knows how to use the Internet. Just look up how to fix it on KZbin.

[@caniacstevehenderson7115]

Sad 😔

The government won't stop until all small business are closed & the self sufficient become reliant. This is the goal.

[@Mike__B]

I see "hardware store" yet in the window they're showing off... woven handbags? And one long aisle of spatulas and other assorted kitchen gadgets?

[@turboleggy]

Pretty normal for a neighborhood shop

[@valerieneal2747]

When will they close?

[@RaymondHng]

Dec. 31.

[@andrewjohnson5188]

“When it was safe to gather “ lol

[@shawnw1979]

Ya... still wearing masks says everything I need to know. There own ideology caused them to close.

[@kyruslarocque5225]

​@@shawnw1979I immediately thought the same💯

[@harmonk8012]

There's a Lowes and Home Depot nearby. Plenty of parking spaces.

[@SamSitar]

pay full price to help it stay open.

[@StevenLee-y3t]

Better closed why hiring 😕😕😕😕

[@justinchamberlain3443]

0:30 couldn’t survive ever increasing rent..

[@bearmerica6668]

I miss west portal. Not the 25 cents for 3 minutes parking meter. Back in Texas and sometimes have nightmares of running back to meter before the time running out😂. Look at those people still masked. Sad.

[@josephpadula2283]

Oh course they are masked ! Part of their religion , The church of the Virtue Signaling .

[@hr2079]

I wonder how much shoplifting has to do with this closure

[@nicholasthompson7690]

Prob a lot

[@nicholasthompson7690]

Very sad

[@captain99p39]

Sad deal😢

[@_ac_7649]

fewer and fewer places to steal from

[@hopemanley4358]

How sad. This is happening, the destruction of your city. Why is a mystery. It's the pandemic, and the other reasons mentioned. I wish I'd been around for the cities greatest years.

[@mmaranta785]

All those restaurant parklets next to that place take up parking spots

[@soolly357]

I used to love walking in Westportal.. it's a shame the city has revamped traffic & parking.

[@GeneReynolds-xc6ws]

Billionaire Boys did it again 👏 2024😊

[@bartonpercival3216]

Miss West Portal Joe's too. Now you have to go down to San Jose Joe's to get anything close to WP Joe's or the old Joe's of Westlake!!!! 👍🌉

[@RaymondHng]

There's Little Original Joe's on West Portal. And they sell Zanze's cheesecake.

[@bartonpercival3216]

@RaymondHng Really, well maybe the next time I make it back to San Francisco, I'll have to stop in and try Little Joe's in WP. Is it the same as the old WP Joe's or do they serve a different menu?

[@jyc313]

Don’t always blame the state of the country or city. Sometimes it’s the owners, and their failure to adapt well or be financially secure. NOT saying that this may be the case here - my point is that sometimes the reasons are not noted in the news. There’s another private store called center hardware supply co. in the dog patch. Been there for decades upon decades and going strong.

[@simshengvue4642]

Too many young scholars were visiting the store

[@rickluttrell5529]

Not a shock. San Francisco is in a Democrat induced death spiral. It’s been a long time, but I still can remember a time after WWII when it was a great city.

[@bartonpercival3216]

Yup that was San Francisco at the height of it's popularity. When going downtown Christmas shopping was a treat, and having a sundae or a famous slice of coffee crunch cake at Blum's on Geary street across from Union Square. Or seeing a movie at the grand Fox theatre on Market street, or going out to have fun at Whitney's Playland at the beach. Ahhhh the memories of when San Francisco was truly a grand city!!!!! 👍🌉

[@Mossbeehave]

Haters gonna hate … bots 🤖

[@bartonpercival3216]

@@Mossbeehave Not hating on San Francisco, but just remembering when San Francisco was in a different time and generation!!!!!!

[@bridaguy]

​@@Mossbeehave Not hating just facts 😂

[@ifihadsmesumchicken6276]

@@Mossbeehave U china bot boi?

[@californianorma876]

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@joseg93ify]

The owner wearing mask and him owning the business for a few years says it all. San Francisco’s finest

[@ifihadsmesumchicken6276]

He never leaves his nest. He is a hermit and doesn't know what year it is, Like a MOLE.

[@shawnw1979]

Ya I saw that to... His own ideology of closing stuff down and scared is why he is going out of business and I bet he wears it everywhere he needs to go.

[@pipehitter114]

Keep on taking away parking spaces San Francisco!

[@alvinwong9362]

@@pipehitter114 and also closing streets and highways!

[@ronbennett7885]

Underrated comment. Some types of stores aren't viable without ease of vehicle access and convenient parking. This closing may be another example of that.

[@hkraytai]

That’s a great comment. People do not shop locally if they can’t park there. SF is a trash public transport system and takes an hour to go 10 miles on the bus. The trams are even slower and only runs certain areas. BART basically connects the airport to the east bay with stops along Market in SF.

[@macharrington7733]

Gotta have those virtue signaling bike lanes

[@peloncitosbikes431]

Why is this even in my feed.....

[@kyruslarocque5225]

So you can make fun of them for wearing masks

[@reempire888]

Did the guy literally said without this place, where do you go??? Mister, there are hundreds, thousands of hardware store outside of your realm. Unfortunately, some San Franciscans think the world ends when you leave SF.

[@Marine-oj6mx]

Hard to pay the rent with overpriced Chinese junk that can be bought cheaper somewhere else.

[@dornie_donko]

Brought to you by feminist compliance

[@bobbymoss6160]

People can go online and do their own homework and research instead of relying on these in-store experts?

[@SoSpicy-Gmac]

We dinosaurs is slowly dying. Amazon and online shopping has taken over . More reason why not to shop on Amazon . But this won’t happen.. people are so accustomed to it already. Brick and mortar store is living there last decades

[@RudeAwakening1971]

They created their own demise…Pandemic was over 3 years ago but he’s still buying into this DemocRATic nonsense and still masking.

[@Tvso9813]

Nancy pelosi has been in office this entire time as her city fails. Tragic

[@el_puma_real]

You can thank all the Uber wealthy people like Bezos and his company Amazon. Also we’ve handed over the reigns of government to the Uber wealthy as well…..what could possibly go wrong?

[@ryananderson8576]

I’m not gonna lie I support corporations and Amazon

[@crush9197]

Just move to Santa Rosa. A lot of blue collar workers here

[@kenxiong6830]

Thanks democrats!!!!

[@Mossbeehave]

Haters gonna hate 😂

[@kenxiong6830]

@ yeah you’re pretty oblivious to what’s going on in California. Crimes up, businesses shitting down, 68 billion deficit, mass exodus. All the works of democrats

[@ifihadsmesumchicken6276]

@@Mossbeehave And losers gonna slip and slide in mankinds dookie. NICE!

[@ifihadsmesumchicken6276]

@@Mossbeehave So stop hating playa.

[@ryanj6862]

The war on cars in San Francisco is only hurting the middle class. Open the roads

[@jinniroe5002]

Terrible!

[@williamzander9708]

Thanks democrats this is their utopia a big empty building .

[@BuckieBoy-l2r]

😂 good . They voted for this . Keep voting blue