West Side Stories: Ardmore Hardware
Ron Compton, owner. Jena Stopczynski / ABC57 The threshold of Ardmore Hardware separates a customer between the now and then.
“Now,” being the age of big box stores and Apple Pay, where ordering tools takes a click, a swipe and an Amazon package.
“Then” is a little more old-school: payments are made in cash and customers are known by name.
It’s an environment that’s different from what many of us are used to, but it works, and has worked for decades.
Like many establishments in South Bend, Ardmore Hardware has been around for decades, originally operating as Ransbottom back in the day.
In 1951, it moved across the street to its current location, 22823 Ardmore Trail, and took on a new name.
The store’s current owner, Ron Compton, bought the building in 1997. Just before Ardmore Hardware, he had a career in manufacturing before a heart attack on the job forced his hand.
Less than a week into unemployment, his wife came home with a pitch for the hardware store.
His response?
“What the hell do I know about retail?”
A few weeks and around $40,000 later, the store, and an adjacent garage, were his.
Now, many rely on Compton for needs they can’t find anywhere else.
One customer, browsing the aisles on a hot weekday afternoon, said he’s been coming to the hardware store since he could ride a bike. His grandpa ran a lumber store down the road, and the two businesses would help each other out when they could.
“It’s great to have a local hardware store where you can come in and get everything that you need,” Shane said. “If he can’t help you, he’ll steer you in a direction so you can get yourself taken care of."
A typical day for Compton involves phone calls, assisting customers and fixing window screens and lawn mowers.
When asked who else works with him, Compton looked around at the empty store and then back to us.
“That’s it.”
It’s just him, if you didn’t catch that.
Unless you count the shop cats, Goldie and Precious, who come inside when they’re not “out cattin’,” as Compton says.
His wife Georgie comes in some days, when she’s not working herself.
She sells 50-cent trinkets at the front of the store. Sets of earrings, necklaces and even phone accessories. By the looks of it, she makes a pretty mean profit.
She also tries to keep the store looking its best. Before our arrival, she tried to clean up for us, sweeping dust and clutter off easy-to-reach surfaces.
It didn’t last long, of course. It’s a hardware store after all.
Besides, Compton thinks the mess adds to the nostalgia.
And nostalgic it is. Inside, customers are greeted by the faint smell of tobacco and well-worn walls and floors. An old box TV and mismatched ceiling fans create the soundtrack of daily operations.
Like any local business, Ardmore has its fair share of problems, namely, the supply chain shortage.
“I call in a 75-item order and I might get 25 of them,” Compton said. “And the quantities that I order may not be what they send me. They try to tell me everything’s going into the big box stores, Menard’s and Lowe’s and Home Depot. Well, I don’t think they’re intentionally trying to put me out of business, but slowly but surely they are. Not that I’m going out of business yet, I’m still hanging on. But it’s hard to get stock in.”
One thing that didn’t create an issue for the small business? The COVID-19 pandemic.
With everyone stuck inside, home projects became a favored pastime, giving Ardmore Hardware some of the best business Compton’s seen. And very few businesses in the area can do the equipment repairs he can.
When it comes down to it, Compton is a West Side faithful. He knows the West Side’s reputation but doesn’t like how the area is depicted by the rest of the city.
“But I think our side is more visible just because of the reputation that it’s had for all these years...I mean, everybody’s got their problems, you just don’t hear about it as much.”
He has the same mindset toward the West Side as Shane: what can’t be done yourself is done by a neighbor. He wants people to see the area as he sees it.
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s the reputation that the West Side should have. You need something done, somebody on your side of town is going to help you...I wouldn’t leave unless Georgie told me to get out.”