‘Big Boxes’ Nail Small Hardware Shop

Darryl Minor cleaned up plenty of paint and potting-soil spills as a stock clerk at Holiday Hardware in the early 1970s--along with the occasional pile of horse manure.

Store manager Marshall Shrago would stand in front of the store, holding the horse’s reins while the rider shopped inside.

“Service counts here,” said Minor, who--nearly 30 years later--jointly owns the store with Shrago.

This neighborhood hardware store has witnessed monumental change since opening on Tapo Street in 1969, as Simi Valley has grown from dusty crossroads to a suburban haven.

The city has outgrown Holiday Hardware, with the arrival of national chains and giant warehouse stores. So this month, the mom-and-pop era comes closer to an end in Simi Valley as Holiday goes out of business July 31.

Minor and Shrago have held their own against the nearby HomeBase warehouse store since it opened in 1991, but a Wal-Mart and Home Depot planned for later this year are a one-two punch they can’t withstand.

“It’s just going to be too tough to hold on,” Minor said. “They are the last nail in the coffin.”

Although a warehouse store like HomeBase can offer 100,000 square feet of merchandise compared to Holiday’s 9,000, the smaller store tries to stock goods tailored to the needs of local customers.

Jim Hudson has been buying gadgets from Holiday for 20 years, mostly because the store stocks the same parts--from garage door springs to furnace filters--that developers installed in neighboring tracts.

“There was always a good chance of finding what you need here,” Hudson said. “Now I’m just hoping nothing in my house will break again.”

Minor said with HomeBase carrying six of the 20 most popular brands, he went out of his way to stock some of the other 14.

“They may sit on the shelf for a while,” Minor said. “But when a customer finds it, we’re a hero.”

Minor also said his store offered a level of service a national chain could not meet, hiring employees who had plumbing and electrical knowledge and could dispense advice.

“Here, you could come in and ask Bob how to fix something and get what you need in the time it took to find a parking spot at the HomeBase,” he said.

The biggest problem with competing with the “big-box” stores like HomeBase is not that Holiday doesn’t match their price, the owners say, but the perception that they can’t.

After decades in business, Holiday has been able to secure some good discounts from suppliers that can be passed on to the customer. But the lure of a national chain’s flashy advertising campaigns can be hard to beat, the two owners believe.

“They just have great marketing concepts, and the customer feels they are getting the lowest price,” Minor said.

HomeBase manager Frank Bray said the big-box store has too many advantages over a Holiday Hardware for customers to ignore.

“I’ve been in there before and it’s a nice, little place if you need a little bolt or screw. It’s convenient,” Bray said. “But if you really have a big project and want to buy everything in one shot, from the lumber to the plumbing, you can come here and build a home from the ground up.”

Bray said the sheer size of the store puts inventory and selection at 10 times what a place like Holiday could offer.

“You’re going to walk in here and get what you want,” he said.

Minor’s son Brian has worked with his dad for three years, starting as a stock clerk at 17 and is now an assistant manager.

“It’s all bad,” Brian said of the closing, between fielding a call about satin paint and helping a man examine a power saw. “The small store is more comfortable. People come in and they know you. Everyone is like family, and I don’t even mind coming to work.”

While not able to match his dad’s tale of cleaning up after his customers’ horses 30 years ago, Brian also tries to go out of his way when it comes to service.

“We go beyond great customer service,” he said. “If they ask, I’ll even go to their house and hook something up they bought.”

Besides competition from large discount warehouses, Holiday’s demise can also be linked to the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the deterioration of the Tapo Street business district.

Before the earthquake, which hit area businesses hard, Tapo Street already suffered from the lack of a nearby exit on the Ronald Reagan Freeway. Tapo Canyon Road, one block over, did have access and seemed to leave old Tapo Street in its shadow.

“And the earthquake was the coup de grace,” said longtime customer Hudson.

But ironically, the aftermath of the earthquake best symbolized the value of Holiday as a neighborhood hardware store, co-owner Shrago said.

Although the store had no electricity and was unsafe for customers, the owners set up a table in front where people could ask for what they needed and wait for the supplies to be retrieved.

“We were trying to put the store back together, but we stayed open because we needed the customers as much as they needed us,” Shrago said. “As a community store, we were in the same boat as our customers.”

Jeff Sampson, president of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce, said although the big-box stores are here to stay, it doesn’t mean every local store like Holiday is doomed.

“Certainly, times have changed and bigger stores are taking their place, but I still feel there is room for mom-and-pops in Simi Valley,” Sampson said. “The key is for smaller businesses to find a niche and market to that.”

Shrago agreed. But when it comes to hardware, there really isn’t much that can save one of those small stores anymore, he said.

“Our industry is a dinosaur and it is dying,” Shrago said. “But I don’t believe all small business is dead. Not when you talk about new things like computer service.”

Despite coming to terms with business realities, the Holiday co-owners said it will be difficult to close the doors for the last time.

“I grew up with this store,” Shrago said. “But I want to leave with class and dignity.”

Minor said he sometimes feels discouraged, but will move on.

“Emotionally, this store has been my world. It’s like a divorce to say we quit after all the hard work and energy we put in,” he said. “We just want to tell our customers we did try to make it, we’re sorry, and we thank them for their business.”