Outside New York City, the small town hardware store contains racks of sharpened saws, columns of hefty hammers and shelves of potent power tools to satisfy every homeowner’s need. Entire walls are dedicated to a multitude of nuts, nails, bolts, screws, washers and other knickknacks and a selection of hosing, lighting and lumber.
Lumber cannot be found in the typical city hardware store, where apartment dwellers dominate the landscape. Often smaller and more compact than their suburban cousins, the urban hardware store has to mesh with the city’s needs.
Town & Village Hardware has been serving the neighborhood of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village for the better part of the last two decades. Sitting beneath its maroon colored awning, Town & Village looks like the bulging suitcase one would have returning from a lengthy vacation, with poorly folded clothes and an abundance of souvenirs threatening to break the bag’s seal. Its display window is filled with carts, brooms, bags, curtains and numerous other housewares that are sold within. Opening the door and crossing the threshold will trigger that familiar beep to alert employees of a potential customer. The front register is framed by a random assortment of super glue, magnets and key rings. The aisles are narrow and the shelves tall, arch-like in feel.
Originally opened on Eighteenth Street, the store moved to its current location of Twentieth Street and First Avenue in 2000. Peter Bergida, who has co-owned Town & Village Hardware since its inception is a Russian immigrant who moved to the United States in 1980. He spent five years working at Coopertown Hardware, another local hardware store that closed when its owner fell ill. Peter then decided to open his own place. “I knew everyone and they knew me. I knew what people wanted.” Using Coopertown hardware as a model, he launched Town & Village as a hardware store to serve the needs of the city. “We cater to apartments,” he said.
The idea is distilled even further by Vinny, a jovial employee who’s been working at Town & Village for “too long.” He says the store “caters specifically to Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village.” While part of his job includes ordering supplies for the store, the bulk of his work is spent in the apartments of ST/PCV. He provides installation services for ceiling fans, lighting or almost anything else that needs work. “Nobody else does it. I’m the only one who goes out to install things. I know what I’m dealing with.” However Warshaw Hardware, only a few blocks away, offers similar services. Be that as it may, Vinny brings a necessary function to a neighborhood with a strong elderly population. This is especially evident in Peter Cooper Village where the median age is 61.2 years.
Peter estimates that around 95% of his customers are either current or former ST/PCV residents. To accommodate their consumer base, the hardware store offers an assortment of housewares. They sell vacuums, water filters, paint, fans, window screens, floor lamps, showerheads and anything else the average urbanite would need. Jenn Nelson, a younger woman in her thirties and a former ST/PCV tenant, has been going to Town & Village her entire life. “Been the same guys working here the whole time,” she says. “They know where everything is, they’re fast and efficient. I once came in with a little piece of a faucet and they knew exactly what I needed.” Whenever she needs to, Jenn also gets her keys copied there.
Though the store does serve a diverse group of people, the customers tend to be of the older, more loyal variety that have been shopping at Town & Village for years. “Mostly old timers come in. College students will come in for a few years then leave,” Peter says. An older woman who’s been shopping at Town & Village “off and on for the past 15 years” enjoys the wide selection and “reasonable prices” that the store has. Having worked at the nearby Beth Israel Hospital, she now travels from deep in the Lower East Side to shop at Town & Village. “They have everything required for households,” she says, “and very helpful service. They will point you to a different store if they don’t have what you’re looking for.” With two planting pots already in hand, she notes how pleased she is with two Vornado fans she previously bought at the store.
With a steady stream of customers from ST/PCV, Peter figures to be in business for a long time. “For a few years it was quiet but now it’s picking up again,” he says. The holiday season is fast approaching and other than the summer, it’s the busiest time of year for Town & Village Hardware.
good article!
A few thoughts/questions come to mind as far as why their customers tend to be older:
Are older people more likely to fix things themselves as opposed to this generation in which many people opt to hire repairmen?
Is there a lot of apartments in this area? and if so, might a good number of those older customers be the landlords purchasing necessary things to make home repairs?
Since the store opened two decades ago, they might be the loyal customers that have stood with them ever since their opening.
Great work, a well written article. The descriptions add a lot of texture to the piece, and the pictures support the words. An interesting piece, and fun to read.