Auction set for store in business 144 years
Hardware store in business 144 years to auction items, real estate
SPRING CITY » Nostalgia seekers and history buffs alike will have the chance to hold history in their hands at two upcoming auctions for a 144-year-old, family-owned business that closed last November.
On Friday, Mowrey Latshaw Hardware Store, 77 N. Main St. in Spring City — which first opened its doors in 1875 — held its second open house ahead of two planned days of auctions that will take place at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov.1, and 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at the store.
“I generally like to have two open houses for any real estate we’re selling but the advantage of this, is that we can have a preview of the contents today as well. There’s quite a bit of contents. If it can be removed physically from the building or it can be easily detached, then we are selling it,” said Kim Douglass with Kimberly K Auction LLC. “Not only is there the basic retail contents that you would see in any hardware store but it’s stuff that’s been in here in stock as well as antiques that were used to decorate the walls.”
Absentee bids will also be accepted by leaving the buyer’s information and the top amount bid.
Guests browsing the store’s endless treasure troves could find everything they’re looking for — from the general nuts and bolts to paperwork from the early days of the Reading Railroad.
A multitude of tinsmith tools and products as well as banners and plaques commemorating 100 years of business could be seen in various rooms throughout the store. Mowrey Latshaw Hardware is even auctioning off a gigantic wheel once used to operate one of the store’s
two old fashioned elevators.
“This store, other than retail, had served the general public and all the industry. We also had several tinsmiths that were hired here for everything from a stove pipe, which everybody used and had to be made by hand, and everything that goes with it. We had a roofing crew here, we had a plumbing crew here,” said Brad Willauer, owner of Mowrey Latshaw Hardware.
“When I started here in 1975 there were eight or nine employees and I always said they celebrated their 100th anniversary by hiring me.”
With so many services to offer the community over the last 144 years, the store was filled with multiple rooms of memorabilia, tools new and old and a trip back in time for anyone willing to take a look through the tables.
In one room, Willauer pointed to a box of papers with hand-written prescriptions on them.
“These are prescription papers from a nearby pharmacy that used to be down the street. My brother and I actually found a piece of paper with our grandfather’s name on it that was for a prescription for his horses,” explained Willauer.
Throughout its nearly 150 year history, the store served as a staple in the industrial community. The store, in fact, was among many of the very first businesses opened on Main Street, which was the hub of the borough in the late 1800s. According to springcitypa.net:
“Main Street was the center of activity in Spring City. It was where the businesses, stores and banks were located. The National Bank of Spring City, The Gem Theatre, the Spring City Hotel, and Mowery-Latshaw Hardware were but a few of the many establishments that were downtown on Main Street.”
And the store’s reputation for being a community icon only continued through the following years. Guests and workers who came into the store for the open house on Friday recalled coming to the store as children with their parents, including one of the auctioneers.
“I came here as a little kid. My father used to shop here,” said Jim Gibson, one of the auctioneers. “If you needed anything this is where you came, and they had it. As you wander around you see the collection is just massive.”
Willauer said the closing of the store is definitely sad but the experience he had working for and owning an important piece of Spring City history is what made the business so special.
“In one way it feels really good because as business got harder and harder to keep up, it got to be harder and harder to come in and face that. To face my customers was great because I loved every one of them and that’s what made the business,” said Willauer. “I made so many friends, and it’s more worth it than any money in the world. I’ve helped an awful lot of people in my lifetime, but I’ve had an awful lot of people help me, too.”
Gibson and Douglass are working together to complete the auction, which includes an estimated eight rooms of items from the Mowrey Latshaw Hardware
Store.
On Saturday, Nov. 2, the real estate will be sold. The parcel includes two connected buildings — a twostory house with two apartments, as well as a building consisting of three floors of retail space and two floors of warehouse space. Total square footage for the property is approximately 12,400 square feet. For more information and to view photos of items being auctioned visit Gibson’s Auction page: www.auctionzip.com/ Listings/3342615.html; as well as Douglass’ auction page: kimberlykauctions. com/schedule.
“In one way it feels really good because as business got harder and harder to keep up, it got to be harder and harder to come in and face that. To face my customers was great because I loved every one of them and that’s what made the business. I made so many friends, and it’s more worth it than any money in the world. I’ve helped an awful lot of people in my lifetime, but I’ve had an awful lot of people help me, too.”
— Brad Willauer, owner, Mowrey Latshaw Hardware Store