Broad
Street’s Veteran Hardware Store
108-year-old hardware store helps, “Anybody
with anything from the cellar up to the rooftop.”
Paul Landry is a true working man. He’s
worked for his family’s business, J.A. Landry Hardware Co.,
located at 688 Broad St. in Pawtucket, since age 12. His only
absence was a tour in the Vietnam War, after which he promptly
returned and began running the store for the past 35 years.
Now, with 50 years of experience under his
belt, Paul Landry smiles and says, “I’m at that magical age
where I only work part-time.” He keeps busy though, making sure
all his customer’s questions are attended to.
“The main thing we do is encourage our
customers to see if we can fix something for them rather than
buying a brand new product. And, if we don’t carry what you’re
looking for, we’ll tell you where to get it instead of letting
you run around town with gas at $4 a gallon,” Landry said.
As large corporate hardware stores moved
into the Blackstone Valley, J.A. Landrys maintained a
competitive edge by giving helpful advice and knowing its
customer’s needs. Paul Landry even said he’s heard customers say
they were referred to his store through big box hardware stores.
“We can’t go into lumber or any of that
stuff, but what we do not do in comparison to what [corporate
hardware stores] do is waste your time,” he said.
The family’s third and forth generations run
the hardware store now, as it celebrates 108 years of
family-owned business. Paul Landry works closely with his
sisters and nephews to continue through the bad economic times,
but remembers more prosperous days.
He described Broad Street’s heyday -- as he
remembers from his youth -- from the late 50s through the
mid-70s.
“It was fantastic; all the mills were in
operation, especially in the 60s, and Pawtucket was a booming
city,” he said.
“Everyone earned a living and they had a
place to stay; you had no boarded up houses. Now boarded up
houses are everywhere,” he said. Paul Landry looks forward to
the days when the economy improves and the boarded up houses in
Pawtucket and Central Falls get renovated, bringing business to
his hardware store.
“It’s becoming a ghost town; it’s just awful
and sad,” he added. A lot of the old businesses have sold out.
J.A. Landrys is one of the few businesses that has withstood the
hard times and stayed in the same place in the state, according
to Paul Landry.
“We’ve been here so long. People know us,
whether they’re Hispanic, French or Polish... we get them all
here and they’ve more or less helped us keep the business
going,” Landry said.
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