Stamford hardware store closes doors after 30 years
Move points to challenges facing independent hardware stores
John Sosa ventures a halfmile north on Route 7 several times every week.
The inventory manager at the Bruce Bennett Nissan dealership in Wilton said he makes the trip to Keough’s Paint & Hardware just across the town line, in Ridgefield, because he can count on finding work essentials like blowers, fans, vacuum cleaners, hoses and stain removers.
“This is the place,” Sosa said during a visit Tuesday to the store with colleague Anibal Marrero, a detailing specialist. “We don’t need to go to Home Depot. It’s always right here.”
In turn, Keough’s is counting on customers like Sosa more than ever.
The familyowned business last week closed its Stamford store after a threedecade run, the latest of several area hardware shops to have shut down in the past few years in the face of increasing competition from ecommerce and bigbox stores. But the Ridgefield store and other locally owned establishments are carrying on, hopeful that they can hold their own by offering superior service and adapting to the digital era.
“We’re always looking for ways to meet the needs of our customers,” said owner Bill Keough. “Things are changing very quickly, and people expect a lot of different services and technology to keep it interesting to come to the store. We’re looking for ways to stay current and to meet those expectations and create an atmosphere where it’s not only coming to find a product, but it’s also a fun experience to come to our store.”
Growing challenges
On Dec. 22, Keough’s wound down operations at its Stamford shop, at 907 High Ridge Road, after operating for about 30 years.
Its large greenlettered front signage
became a retail totem on one of the city’s busiest roads.
“We’ve had our ups and downs,” Keough said. “We’ve had some good years, and we’ve had some bad years.”
Covering about 10,500 square feet across two levels, the store attracted customers from Stamford and surrounding cities and towns who shopped for their homes and businesses.
“Keough’s was a convenient place to get my propane tank filled, and I always rented a lawn aerator from them in the fall,” said Stamford resident Rob Tyska. “Those are the two things I’ll miss the most.”
Despite the loyal following, the Stamford store increasingly grappled with competition from Amazon and other ecommerce powerhouses. The April 2018 opening of The Home Depot’s store on the west side of Stamford further dented sales.
Fewer big storms in recent years — with none on the scale of 2011’s Tropical Storm Irene or 2012’s Hurricane Sandy — also tamped down sales.
“People counted on us to be there for them, and we were sourcing products for them to keep them in their homes and keep them safe, and that really helped,” Keough said. “But then as time went on, and we haven’t had any (more) events like that, you get back down to normal business. And unfortunately, there’s just not enough everyday business coming in my store to support doing business there.”
As a result, Keough decided not to renew the Stamford store’s lease, which expires in March. The closing also entailed the layoff of several employees.
The shutdown followed a number of other hardware store closings in recent years in Fairfield County. Last year saw the closing of Weston Hardware & Houseware and Stepney Hardware in Monroe.
Down the road from the Ridgefield Keough’s, Wiltonbased DeLuca Hardware shuttered in 2017.
“We’ve seen an increase in business (in Ridgefield) because there are still people who want to shop locally at a familyowned hardware store,” Keough said. “People who no longer could go to the one that was closest to them, they’ll now travel a little farther to come to my store in Ridgefield.”
A number of other locally owned hardware establishments remain in the area, but they face similar predicaments.
Feinsod Ace Hardware at 268 Sound Beach Ave., in Greenwich, has sold fewer “bigticket” items such as Weber grills since the Stamford Home Depot’s opening, according to owner Jay Feinsod.
“Between them and the internet, we definitely have been affected,” Feinsod said. “I could do without Home Depot.”
Moving forward
Keough said he intends to keep the Ridgefield store going for many more years. It dates to 1972, when Keough’s father launched the business.
Employing about a dozen, it operates in an approximately 8,000squarefoot storefront at the familyowned Keough Plaza, at 1 Ethan Allen Highway. Sand Wedge Deli & Catering stands next door, while an Orangetheory Fitness studio operates in the property’s other building.
“It’s a little bit of a smaller store (than in Stamford),” Keough said. “Every expense with the business is a little bit less, so it’s a little bit easier to control the expenses.”
To help retain customers in Stamford and the surrounding area, Keough’s is making deliveries to supplement instore sales. Among upcoming initiatives, Keough said he plans to launch a new website and also hold productrelated seminars and classes at the store for customers.
Feinsod said he also sees customer service as crucial to maintaining his business. He has owned the store in Greenwich’s Old Greenwich section since 1986.
“We try very hard every day to take care of the people who do come in,” Feinsod said. If merchandise is not in stock, “we can normally get merchandise (into the store) the next day. We bend over backwards to make these things happen, so they don’t go on the internet.”
Such strategies have convinced many longstanding customers. Bruce Bennett Nissan’s Sosa said he had no intention of taking his business elsewhere.
“They’re wonderful people. They know me, and I know them,” Sosa said. “That’s why we’ve been doing this for so many years.”