Willow Hardware Ad – May 13, 1965

It's hard not to feel a little wistful whenever I find myself over on Lorain's west side, especially around the intersection of Meister Road and Oberlin Avenue. There has been so much change in the last 30 or 40 years that it's hardly recognizable to someone who grew up there in the 60s and 70s.

Oh, Yala's Pizza is still there, although it's known as Fran's Pizza these days. But it's hard not to feel a little nostalgic about the businesses that are long gone: Lawson's; Sohio; Sandy's Hamburgers; Whalen Drug; DiSimone's (one of the first bars that I went to when I could legally drink); Gene's Hobby Hub; Lezber Floors; and of course, the most missed of all: Willow Hardware.

And sixty years ago today, the huge Willow Hardware ad above appeared in the Journal on May 13, 1965. It's an interesting ad, kind of fun to look at, seeing all of the various components that were cobbled together to promote the Pittsburgh Paints sale.

Pittsburgh Paints is a brand that I'm not too familiar with. In my adult life, Sherwin-Williams is the only brand we bought. Fortunately for me, I was a bad painter (even though ironically I was a graphic artist) and as a result did very little or none of the painting in the two houses we owned.

The funny thing is, being someone who watched a lot of cartoons growing up (and still watching them), the only thing I remember about Pittsburgh Paints is their mascot – a peacock, not unlike NBC's bird. 

Here's a pinback with him currently on eBay.

And surprisingly, I even found a 1974 commercial with him on YouTube.

Recognize the voice? That's voice artist Paul Frees, the voice of Boris Badenov, the nemesis of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Willow Hardware "Hunting" Ad – Sept. 18, 1953

Do we have any hunters out there – mighty or otherwise?

If you're the hunting type, then you'd probably like the ad for Willow Hardware below, which ran in the Lorain Journal back on September 19, 1953. It has a pleasantly nostalgic hunting theme, with a man holding two pheasants, while his female companion (touting her own rifle) looks on. Both are sporting nifty Fuddsian caps.

Willow Hardware, which was still in its early days back then, apparently could outfit the hunter with everything needed, including guns, shells, gun cleaning rod sets, hunting knives, as well as the shell & game vest – and the hunting license too.

The ad notes that Double Owl Stamps were available on Friday & Saturday, perhaps triggering (no pun intended) thoughts of blasting away at the nocturnal, hooting birds of prey.

We never had any hunters in our family - just fisherman, including Grandpa (Mom's father) and my own Dad. No one even owned a gun.

I don't hunt or own a gun either, but I subscribe to American Hunter as part of my NRA membership. The magazine is always interesting, despite the fact that I don't think I could ever shoot anything – not even a squirrel. 

However, one of my good friends (that I met in college) has been a hunter all his life. His family built a small cabin on some wooded acreage they own south of Akron, and he hunts there sometimes. It's his little oasis, a place to get away to once in a while.

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As a parting shot, here are some more 'hunting'-themed ads and articles that I've posted over the years: this 1946 ad for Spaid's Sportsmen's Shop in Lorain; this matchbook cover for Grandview Motel; a 1958 for Welch's Sports; this 1962 article about Lorain County moose hunters in Canada; and this 1962 ad for Pic-Way Shoes.

Willow Hardware Ad – March 27, 1953

I'm sure many West-side Lorainites are still missing Willow Hardware since it closed back in 2008. I always feel a little wistful when I look over and see CVS on the corner of Meister Road and Oberlin Avenue (especially since it's my least favorite drug store).

Willow Hardware was just such a great store, with its helpful and attentive staff and wide variety of merchandise. Besides always having exactly what you needed, the store was just fun to poke around in. I remember buying art supplies, how-to-draw books, old decals and pots and pans there. 

At the top of this post is an ad from the early days of the store. It ran in the Lorain Journal of March 27, 1953. Willow had only been open for a month at that point, so it was still finding its way, advertising-wise. The use of a straw-hatted farm girl in the ad isn't that far off the mark, however, since much of that part of Lorain was still farmland. It's still hard to believe that much of that part of Lorain was still township land, outside of town, until the early 1960s.

I've written a lot about the various Oberlin Avenue stores and businesses located near the intersection with Meister Road. That business district just seemed to grow organically (and the shopping center strip got longer), as the neighborhoods grew and needed more services. (I wrote about that evolution back on this post.)

Anyway, thinking of Willow Hardware inevitably makes me think of my father going there regularly for grass seed or whatever. It also conjures up memories of my own trips there for help when I became a homeowner and discovered how confusing it was to replace things in a house built in the 1940s.

Who had Lorain Telephone Co.'s 28,000th telephone?

One of the interesting aspects of the Grand Opening of Willow Hardware in February 1953 was the fact that the store had the distinction of having Lorain's 28,000th telephone.

The ad above, which appeared in the Journal on Feb. 20, 1953, tells the story.

"It is a promise of success and profitable business for us that our telephone is connected with 27,999 other telephone users in Lorain," the ad notes. "That gives us the longest sales counter we could want, for it stretches the length and breadth of our market."

It was a pretty good little promotional gimmick. 

But the famous phone number – 34-251 – ironically didn't last very long. The growth of the westside (and Lorain in general) resulted in those well-remembered exchanges, new prefixes and many new numbers. Consequently, by the time of the 1964 Lorain City Directory, Willow Hardware had AV-2 5927 (282-5927) as a phone number.

By the way, the 'Mr. Hageman' mentioned in the ad was likely either Herman E. Hageman, Chairman of the Board of Lorain Telephone, or James C. Hageman, President.

Grand Opening of Willow Hardware – Feb. 20-21, 1953

It's hard to drive down Oberlin Avenue in Lorain and look over at the CVS drug store near the intersection with Meister Road, and not miss the business that used to be at that location: Willow Hardware. 

The Grand Opening of that iconic institution took place seventy years ago this week. Above is the full-page ad that ran in the Lorain Journal back on Feb. 19, 1953.

It's interesting thinking about how that stretch of Oberlin Avenue used to be all farmland, outside of Lorain city limits in Black River Township. Then, as it became apparent that single family homes were going to be replacing the farms, savvy businesses like Whalen Drugs, Jay's IGA Foodliner and Willow Hardware began to move in during the early 1950s.

The page of ads below, which also appeared in the Journal on Feb. 19, 1953, provided some nice publicity for Jay's IGA Foodliner, Willow Hardware's immediate neighbor.

This blog post covered the opening of Jay's IGA Foodliner in March 1952, as well as how the small shopping strip grew during the 1950s.

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Journal Staff Writer Hank Kozloski wrote a great history of Oberlin Avenue back in 1989 that I posted here in two parts (here and here) that's definitely worth revisiting. It mentions all of the businesses noted above and many others.

My family had a ringside seat for all the growth on Oberlin Avenue. My parents built a house on W. 30th Street a few blocks from Oberlin Avenue in the mid-1950s, followed by one on Skyline Drive in the mid-1960s.

Willow Hardware Christmas Ad – December 5, 1960

I've featured a 1960 Christmas ad for this iconic and much-missed Lorain store before (here), but here's another one for Willow Hardware anyway. This one ran in the Lorain Journal on December 5, 1960.

Along with Bob's Donuts, Willow Hardware has got to be the business most missed by Lorainites. I still drive by its former location on Oberlin Avenue and shake my head (and my fist) – probably because CVS is probably my least favorite of all the drug store chains. 

Looking at the newspaper ad headline, though, it's a little amusing. It stresses toys and gifts, but the ad includes a lot of stuff that would not be looked at kindly under the Christmas tree (waste basket, clothes hamper, clothes basket, etc.)

At least Willow did sell chemistry and microscope sets for all the junior scientists on the west side of Lorain.

Willow Hardware Anniversary Ad – March 14, 1957

Yesterday's post showed Willow Hardware at the time of its opening in March 1953. Well, here's a full-page ad for the fourth anniversary of the iconic Lorain store. The ad ran in The Lorain Journal on March 14, 1957 – 57 years ago tomorrow.

I guess the store's customers back then were primarily men, judging from the clip-art head in the ad.

Times eventually changed. In our house, although the spouse didn't even know where Oberlin Avenue was shortly after we got married (she was a Sheffield Laker), she eventually found her way to Willow Hardware. She was in there as much as me, since she is the painter in the family. She sure misses that place and the helpful staff.

Aside from the nostalgic factor, the ad is interesting because of the mundane sale items that it includes: garbage cans, waste baskets, brooms, clothes pins, coffee mugs and laundry carts. Not exactly big-ticket items!

Vintage Willow Hardware ads

Before I move on from Willow Hardware as a topic, here's a few vintage ads from the pages of the Lorain Journal. Above is an early ad from April 3, 1953 – the year the business opened.

Below is a full-page ad from July 1955 promoting the newly remodeled store.

Lots of interesting things for sale, that's for sure.

I had to laugh when I examined the ad closely, because while helping my mother clean out her garage the other day, we found the exact same vintage sprayer shown in the ad, on top of a cupboard and long-forgotten. I guess I know where Dad bought it.

And here's another ad announcing the remodeled store. This one ran on July 13, 1955 and was apparently designed to appeal to the housewife. It must have made a lasting impression because Mom enjoyed shopping there too.

Willow Hardware Then & Now

Here's a photo that I shot on June 7, 2008 showing a scene familiar to all Lorainites: Willow Hardware and the rest of the stores at the plaza. The sky is appropriately grey, as the building would soon meet with the wrecking crew on July 28, 2008.

It's hard to believe that it was only a little more than four years ago that Willow closed. It sure seems a lot longer than that to me. At least when I feel like going to an old-time hardware store, I can still go to Sun Hardware in Sheffield Lake.

And here's the matching "now" shot from last weekend.

CVS had never been one of my favorite drug stores (I much prefer Ohio-based Discount Drug Mart), so I never really go into this store. I suppose it is a plus, however, when any national chain shows an interest in Lorain.

Nevertheless, the loss of businesses like Willow Hardware really leave a big hole in Lorain's soul that just can't be filled with a national chain.

Christmas 1960: Willow Hardware Ad

Here's a nice tall ad for the much-missed Willow Hardware from December 1960. (Click on it for a super-sized version.) As a graphic designer, I love the 1950s typography for the "Merry Christmas" as well as the Willow Hardware logo itself.

The ad is interesting in that it points out that you can park free with no meters. I guess it was a real competition at that time between Lorain's downtown stores, the big shopping centers (like Sheffield Center, Westgate and Oakwood) and the little shopping strips (like the Willow Shopping Center, where Willow Hardware was located.)

Willow Hardware Memories

It's hard to look at the new CVS at the corner of Meister Road and Oberlin Avenue where Willow Hardware used to be and not be annoyed. Did we really need another drug store in Lorain?

I've never really accepted CVS as the successor to Revco anyway, and the loss of my favorite hardware store (as well as their knowledge and help) doesn't exactly make me want to patronize the place. (I've always been a big Discount Drug Mart man, although I'm becoming a big fan of Walgreens' great selection of non-drug items.)

Anyway, I dug up this quaint Willow Hardware phone book ad from the 1950s. Feel free to post your Willow Hardware memories! (It's easy -- and I recently changed the settings so you don't have to register to be able to leave a comment. Try it!)