‘We won’t change a thing’

CENTRAL GLENDALE — Don’t worry: The eggs aren’t going anywhere, the new owner of Virgil’s Hardware Home Center said Friday.

When loyal customers of the family-owned 103-year-old hardware store learned of its sale to Chatsworth-based Lumber City Corp., the owner of California Do It Center, they were concerned the local gem would lose its quirks and become more like its bigger, corporate counterparts.

To customers, Virgil’s, located at 520 N. Glendale Ave., is known for its unique selection of goods — everything from eggs and sauerkraut to vintage, one-of-a-kind hardware fixtures.

But customers have nothing to worry about, said Jess Ruf, the owner of Lumber City Corp., who has known the former owner, Tony Maniscalchi, for more than a decade. All of the store’s current employees and inventory will remain, he said.

“Virgil’s is an institution, and I know that,” he said. “And we aren’t going to change a thing.”

In an effort to assuage customers’ fears, the Virgil’s marquee on Friday proclaimed: “We’re staying Virgil’s. Same great people. Same great service. Pickles and eggs forever!”

City Development Services Director Phil Lanzafame had noticed the billboard and said he was happy to hear Virgil’s would maintain its distinctive small-town feel.

“It’s a bit of a throwback,” he said. “It’s a place if you are kind of a novice at home improvements or hardware needs, you can go and spend some time with somebody and ask a question. It’s a different model from the big-box stores.”

For Maniscalchi, finding a new owner who would keep Virgil’s atmosphere was key. A former employee himself, he purchased the store in 1996 from second-generation owner Bob Brinkman, whose father Virgil founded the store.

He had been planning to sell in the next few years, as his daughter is reaching college age, but decided to make the leap after a conversation with Brinkman.

“It is a couple years premature for me,” he said. “But when you try to identify the right person for the circumstances, for the community, for my employees particularly, it was the best chemistry.”

Ruf emphasized that while his 61-year-old company runs multiple businesses — the nine-store Do It Center chain, a nine-store furniture chain called Patioworld and the wholesale Neiman Reed Lumber Company — it is still a family-owned business with him as the sole owner.

“There are no Wall Street people, no board of directors,” he said.

Glendale Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Judee Kendall, who expressed concern about the sale earlier this week, said she was thrilled to hear the store would retain its charm.

“It’s such a big deal,” she said.

“People always talk about buying Virgil’s eggs.”