By Paula Scott

During the summer of 2023, residents have seen our downtown area perform the “Bluffton shuffle,” with several businesses changing locations while staying within the village. One is a business that has welcomed shoppers since 1912, the hardware store on N. Main St.

Talking with Family Hardware owner Jim Basinger about the Do It Best store moving a stone’s throw away to the former Family Dollar location on Cherry St., the question arose,” Were you looking for a larger space when this became available?”

“No,” said Basinger; “it just looked like an opportunity. We will have a lot more to offer plus more variety of the things we already sell. The square footage is about double and when you figure the shelving, it's probably a lot more than that.”

The transition from the 109 N. Main St. store to the 111 Cherry St. location will take place on September 11-12, when both stores will be closed to transfer computers. You can actually see across the lawn of the Bluffton Presbyterian Church from one store to the other.

Prior to opening, the new shop has its windows covered in brown paper and the signs on aisle end caps read “$0.00” pricing on specials. But the store has full shelves and a flurry of signs going up.

Other changes? The new location will open earlier on weekdays, at 7:30 a.m. and close at 5:30 p.m. Saturdays will stay the same, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Basiner and staff have been stocking the new store and bringing some items from the old store to the new. In fact, Basinger retrieved a few items for shoppers who needed things that had been moved. Keeping people in town is a primary interest for Basinger, who says “It's frustrating when people say they’ll have to leave town for an item.”

Is the hardware a kind of “first responder” for residents? “That’s been my goal, to bail someone out when they get stuck.” He has worked on providing more variety, including faucets and grills. It’s tempting to keep adding new items, he said, “but you just have to stop somewhere.”

A hallmark of the hardware store has been the ease of asking where you’ll find an item. Basinger estimates that some 80% of customers ask the staff for directions to an item or product. “That’s what makes it satisfying,” says Basinger, “when you can fill a need.” If an item isn’t part of the standard product line–like a request for Bon Ami cleanser–he likes to keep such items in stock. Basinger is open to suggestions and says he “wants to make the store work for the whole community.” 

In the next couple of weeks, there will be a cash-only clearance sale of items at the Main St location. 

A walk around that space was an opportunity to play “I spy”: Wooden shelving to hold paint and lacquer products, a painted stamped tin ceiling, the painted-over panes of a skylight, now-retro signage for galvanized metal and other offerings, and–the staff favorite–A child’s drawing of a hardware hand turkey.

Basinger also owns Basinger Plumbing & Heating, which is located in rural Pandora. He has plans to add on to the back of the Cherry St. building to bring that business into town.

What will become of the Main St. hardware building? The building was sold in March to Bee Kind Properties, a.k.a. Ryan P. DeMarco. Stay tuned for further reports on the “Bluffton shuffle.”