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The History of San
Diego Hardware
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Late in 1892,
four San Diego citizens founded a new venture, which was to
be called San Diego Hardware An article in the Dec. 1, 1892
edition of the San Diego Union, announced, “The San Diego
Hardware Company has purchased the retail store of Todd &
Hawley, 658 Fifth Street”. The four founders
of the company were Fred Gazlay, John M. Wood, George M. Hawley
and George T. Hawley. All four men had previous experience
in the hardware business. Fred Gazlay had worked as a
bookkeeper for Western Metal Supply and both Fred and John Wood
had been with Hamilton Hardware for several years. George
M. Hawley and George T. Hawley were with the Todd & Hawley.
The new store’s
inventory is described in a San Diego Union article in January
of 1893: “Besides carrying a full line of builders’
and shelf hardware, a complete new stock of gasoline and oil
stoves for heating and cooking and a full line of agateware,
galvanized ironware and tin ware has been added.”
From the same article comes the philosophy of doing business
that has guided the company during more than 110 years of business:
“The new firm will continue to carry a large and complete
stock and endeavor by courteous treatment and honorable dealing
to merit their share of public patronage.” Courteous,
friendly service and a wide selection of hard-to-find items
is a tradition at San Diego Hardware.
In those early days
and until about 1999, San Diego Hardware sold a wide selection
of typical and hard-to-find hardware store items. Items
found on the shelves in those days included: hog ring pliers,
wash boards, pitcher pumps, broad axes, draw knives, clothes
wringers, meat grinders, ice chippers, hand tools by the Stanley
Tool Works, poultry netting, stove bolts, and much more.
In addition, San Diego Hardware sold and installed cast iron
wood stoves, heaters and iceboxes. In the basement was
a workshop where a sheet metal worker would fabricate stovepipe
and other items. Deliveries were made to the customer
by horse and wagon until the advent of the automobile in the
early 1900’s.
In 1922 the company
moved closer to San Diego’s center of commerce. The
company moved two blocks North on Fifth Avenue to 840 Fifth
Avenue. The building had been occupied by the “five-and-dime”
store F.W. Woolworth’s. At the grand re-opening a
newspaper article reported, “Tomorrow morning, what is
said to be the finest and most beautiful hardware store on the
Pacific coast- the new home of the San Diego Hardware Company
– will be opened for business …”. The new
store had three entrances, a fifty-foot storefront on Fifth
Avenue and a 25-foot storefront on Fourth Avenue. During
this time the store was known as “The Winchester Store”,
selling Winchester firearms and sporting goods as well as it’s
broad selection of hardware, housewares and hand tools.
There was a shooting range in the basement where a sharpshooter
from Winchester put on shooting demonstrations.
Today San Diego Hardware
stands as the oldest family-owned and 10th oldest business in
San Diego and continues its tradition of unmatched hardware
expertise and one-on-one customer service. In March of 2006,
after 114 years of business downtown, San Diego Hardware relocated
to its new store in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego. The new
store provides customers with an even larger selection of decorative
hardware, more parking and convenient freeway access.
The store offers an expanded 8,000 square foot multi-level showroom
where shoppers can peruse the largest selection of decorative
and functional hardware in San Diego, including more than 7,000
knobs, 3,000 hinges, and 1000 different door locks. The
store offers for the first time a design center, as well as
a plumbing showroom featuring a large selection of sinks, faucets,
whirlpool tubs and bathroom vanities and other items for kitchens
and bathrooms. It is a veritable museum of the company’s
fascinating past, retaining the time-honored “San Diego
Hardware” identity by fusing the historical fabric of the
old store with the conveniences and comforts of the 21st century.
The new store is located at 5710 Kearny Villa Road, north of
Clairemont Mesa Blvd and just east of Highway 163. (see
map)
(Photos courtesy of the San Diego Historical
Society) |
