Jim Acquaviva, one of Young’s Hardware & Furniture stockholders, stands next to an art piece that his daughter, Marybeth Acquaviva, made using various hardware parts. After serving Ohio County and the counties beyond for 85 years, the store’s last business day will be on Oct. 10.[/caption]
BEAVER DAM, Ky. (9/30/15) — Since 1930, Young’s Hardware & Furniture in Beaver Dam has helped provide its customers with the supplies needed to tackle anything from simple do-it-yourself repairs to big renovation projects. But its 85-year run will soon be over as the store has announced it's going out of business and will be closing its doors forever on Oct. 10.
The announcement came in a letter, dated Aug. 31, taped to the store’s front door. The letter also included a thank you message to “the generations of loyal customers that we have had the pleasure of serving the last 85 years.”
Before the store developed its eight-and-a-half decade history with its customers, Jim Acquaviva, one of the store’s three stockholders, said its beginnings were founded by his wife’s great-great grandfather, D.G. Young. He built the building at its current 212 North Main Street site for his son, C.T. Young, who was the store’s first manager, running the store until the 1970s.
Connie Hoskins, D.G. Young’s granddaughter and a stockholder of the store, said before D.G. built the store, he owned a lumber company in town. Since a hardware store didn’t exist at the time, he thought one was needed in Beaver Dam.
“That was his motivation, thinking there was a need for one here,” Hoskins said.
When C.T. decided to branch out and create Young’s Manufacturing Co., he hired Basil Keown to help manage the store for several years.
“Basil was a friend of his from school age. They tried to further the community, and I think they have,” Hoskins said.
Then, Larry and Joy Arnold took the management reins for more than 35 years, until April 2012, when Jim and his wife, who is C.T.’s granddaughter, Melissa Acquaviva, bought Larry’s shares of the company. Jim said not only has this made it a 100 percent family-owned business since 2012, the generational family has always carried some part of its ownership since its founding.
But it’s not just the family that has helped carry the store through its long run. Supplying its customers with a variety of essentials has also been a key factor.
“We’ve supplied, literally, thousands of people in this community and the surrounding counties with the tools that they use. When we opened (back in 1930), that was the time when people were making things, and working on their farms, and used hand tools to do everything, we didn’t have all of the fancy electronic drills and stuff, so we had more hardware and tools and things like that,” Jim said.
As the business grew and their inventory selection widen to furniture and mattresses, Jim said it expanded into the adjacent buildings. One of those former buildings was a clothing store called Dad ‘N’ Lad Shop. It now carries the mattress section of the shop. The other, which now holds the store’s furniture section, was called Westerfield’s Grocery.
With the long history the store has had in Ohio County, and the positive impact it has had with its customers, it was able to generate and serve generational customers.
“I have customers that come in here and say they remember their grandfather bringing them here, and their father bringing them here, and now they come here. It’s kind of a small town treasure, if you will, in that regard,” Jim said.
But with its doors closing soon, many have already expressed their condolences to Jim about the loss of Young’s Hardware & Furniture.
“I’ve had several customers call and just want to talk to me and tell me a story about when they came in, or when their daddy brought them in and bought them their first bicycle, or they have a house full of furniture from the store, as they’ve always gotten their stuff here, and they don’t know where they’re going to get it now because they’ve always,” he said.
While it’s heartbreaking to hear the store will never get to serve those customers who depend on its merchandise after Oct. 10, he said the customer volume and sales aren’t there anymore, which led to the store’s closing. This is due to big box stores and online retailers snapping up the store’s usual customer base.
But Jim’s not mad about the store closing for good. He said 85 years is a great run for a family business, and this is merely a seasonal change the family has already accepted.
“We’re going to try to accept it with grace. We’re going to try to close with our heads held high, and leave doing the best we can to sell this business out, and move on to whatever God has in store for us next,” he said.
If any merchandise is left after the store’s Oct. 10 closing, then a one day auction will be held on Nov. 14 to sell off the remaining inventory.
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Jim Acquaviva, one of Young’s Hardware & Furniture stockholders, stands in front of the store that the original owner, D.G. Young, built in Beaver Dam, Ky., in 1930.[/caption]