Decades of service come to an end

MARIA STEIN - Just shy of a century old, a longtime family business is closing up shop.

Gagel Hardware will be closing by June 30. Owner Tom Gagel, the grandson of original owner, said the decision was made after the store was unable to turn a profit for the past several years. Citing competition from big box stores moving into the area, among other reasons, Gagel will close the business in its 99th year.

"I don't have any sour grapes. That's just the evolution of America," he said. "They look at price and convenience first, quality second."

The store has been in the Gagel family since 1917, when an existing hardware store was purchased by German immigrant Mike Gagel. Six years later, he died and his wife, Catherine, took over the business. Catherine Gagel was assisted at the store by her children until her eldest son Aloys took over in 1937.

Aloys Gagel, Tom's father, owned the store, and his younger brothers Bill and Jim worked for him for a time. Aloys Gagel passed away in 1964 and in 1971, Tom and his brother Paul purchased the store from their mother Marguerite Goecke. Paul Gagel remained at the store until 1993.

Truly a family business, many Gagels, young and old alike, have pitched in over the years. Tom Gagel, 75, a former Mercer County commissioner, remembers working at the store as a child in the 1950s. He swept floors after school and spent hours sorting through and connecting nuts and bolts from 50-pound boxes. Around Christmastime, every toy coming into the store had to be assembled before being sold, a job that also came his way.

"That was my job so I could sit down at the table and eat and have a bed to sleep in and clothes to wear on my back," he said.

Through its history, a variety of services have been offered at the store, which didn't sell just hardware items. Repair and installation services were offered over the course of nearly a century, including plumbing, heating, electrical, air conditioning, TVs, radios and hay tracks (used to collect loose hay). The store also has sold and serviced various appliances, from toasters to, for a time, dishwashers.

"I wouldn't sell it if I couldn't service it," Tom Gagel said. "Anything that's mechanical sooner or later will break down."

He credited his uncle Bill with getting the plumbing and electrical business going, and said electrical services were a longtime staple. He remembers they started with Delco Electric, which sold small engines on local farms to supply limited amounts of electricity.

"Out in the country, there were no lines until REA came in," he said. "I can remember going out and helping wire houses that had just one fuse on the porch, just a little switch-box that the whole house ran off. Back then, you might have had a toaster, some lights, a radio. You didn't have an electric stove or dryer. Maybe you would have an old Maytag washer but that was it."

The store recently stopped offering installation and repair services, and Gagel said that's when it started to struggle.

"When we quit the service business, our profit started to go down to the point where the last four-five years, if you add them all together, we didn't make any money," he said.

Sales couldn't make up for the lost profit from services, for which an average bill was $400. With the average purchase hovering at about $8, the store just couldn't turn a profit, Gagel said.

Over the years, the Maria Stein store saw a host of excellent employees, Gagel said. Notable employees who stuck in his memory were Lee Knapke, Richard Overman, Paul Niekamp and Nancy Bomholt, a current employee. He also praised his uncle Bill and his uncle Jim, who "gave his whole working life to the business," as well as his brother Paul and sons Brian and Todd. Todd Gagel still works at the store and runs the Computer Corner, which will remain open.

The space has been sold to a local trucking company, Gagel said, and will be used for offices.

A lot of family history played out in the store, but it also played a major part in Maria Stein's history as the only hardware store within miles.

Gagel said he has enjoyed his time with the business but regrets what closing will do to his loyal customers.

"I enjoy working with people. That was the best part of my job," he said. "With closing it, all my customers who relied on me for all those little parts and pieces, now they're going to have to drive 14 miles extra to go get them and bring them back to their farm. That's my biggest disappointment."