Dunsmuir Hardware

TECHNOLOGY OVERLOAD

2011-04-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

We've now been converted to a new automated fishing and hunting license system by the California Department of Fish and Game. We understand that the system was undergoing design and development for ten years and we wish the state had taken a little longer and perhaps made it more "user friendly." OK we'll admit that we are a bit old-fashioned and resistant to change but sometimes we feel a bit overwhelmed by the ways business is conducted today.

When we purchased the business in 1975 there was no computer. Our cash register was a big old crank thing that required a firm whack on the total bar to complete a transaction. The previous owners did have a phone system; a dial phone at the check-out counter and another in the office. Monthly statements were hand typed on an old (non-electric) typewriter which we still keep in the office but now as an antique. The bell that announces when a customer enters or leaves was a bell hanging from a wire that sort of went "clunk" when the door bumped it. Price stickers were hand-written - often on masking tape. Fishing and hunting licenses were also hand-written.

So - OK - we have to admit that some things are better today. The cash register is electronic and links to a computer system that updates inventory and sales records, posts to customer accounts, and produces all kinds of management reports. We have a telephone system with three cordless extensions and an answering system. We have a fax machine on its own dedicated line. Monthly statements are computer generated in a matter of minutes. The door bell announcer is an electronic unit that uses an invisible light beam to trigger a "ding" instead of a "clunk." We don't use price stickers much now that everything is bar coded and scanned at the check-out. And now fishing and hunting licenses are computer generated.

But it isn't all painless. We remember the time when we could call one of our suppliers, hear a familiar voice on the phone, exchange pleasantries, place the order and know that it was on its way in just a few minutes. Today to place an order with that same supplier we get on their website, access their catalog, try to remember our username and password, search for the items we want, finalize the order, send it to the "shopping cart," select how we want it shipped, and its on its way to us in about thirty minutes or so. We recently had a customer from the Philippines who wanted a one day fishing license. He didn't have a California drivers license and spoke very little English. It took us a half hour to sell him a license on our new system - would have taken less than two minutes with the old one.

Admitedly it would be next to impossible to conduct business today without computers. True Value Hardware requires that we place our orders and transact our business with them on a computer. The Department of Justice requires that we do firearms transaction on a dedicated computer. The IRS requires that we pay our taxes by computer - automatically deducting from our bank account - rather than by mailing a check. The California Board of Equalization requires that we file our sales tax return by computer. Now the Department of Fish and Game requires that we sell fishing and hunting licenses on a dedicated computer. Pacific Power wants us to accept PP&L payments on a dedicated computer but we are drawing the line there. We have enough computers.

We admit to buying into the computer world to a degree. We do have this blog and we have a modest website - http://www.dunsmuirhardware.com/ . We do some product research on the internet and communicate some with email. But we don't have a cell phone or ipod, or ipad, or "smart phone" or blue teeth and don't want them. We're not on "facebook" and we don't text, skype, tweet, twitter or chirp - - - although we do burp now and then.

GREAT TIME FOR A SALE

2011-01-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

Here's a story that is worthy of being added to the list of all-time hardware store frustrations.

On New Year Eve a big-rig truck crashed on Interstate 5 passing through Dunsmuir. Reports say that the driver was going 60 to 65 miles per hour on an icy road while it was snowing. (Insane) As he crossed the bridge in the center of town known locally as the "800 foot bridge" - he lost it in a big way. The truck crashed into the guard rail and in true Hollywood fashion dangled off the bridge for a while until it finally crashed into the park below the bridge. Fortunately the driver only suffered a broken leg - could have been killed.

Now is when the humor enters the picture. The truck was fully loaded with super high quality triple layer quilted TOILET PAPER. A mountain of toilet paper spilled out the the truck to the park below and as word spread throughout the town folks started to arrive and cart the stuff away. After all, they couldn't just let it lay there and soak up the snow! Seems that there was so much of the valuable cargo just laying there that the town has been flooded with it. We're hearing stories of people with so much of it that they're giving it away to friends and neighbors and strangers. One of our residents told us of going to get in his car and found a case of high quality triple layer quilted toilet paper in the passenger seat.

Now here's the punch line. Guess what Dunsmuir Hardware is featuring in a "Bargain of the Month" sale for January. You guessed it. Look at the ad. TOILET PAPER.

'bout black bears being bold

2010-08-08T15:09:00.000-07:00

Interesting thing that seems to happen about this time of year. Customers repeatedly come into the store and relate stories of bears being a nuisance. It's easy to see around town on trash pick-up days - cans have been knocked open and trash scattered. Driving to work recently it was like driving through a war zone - had to zig-zag around cans on both sides of the street and trash spilled out into the street. Warm weather has our native black bears on the move - usually at night - and they're looking for easy pickings. By the way - from what we understand, all bears here are black bears although there is some variation in color and folks often see "cinnamon bears" - which are actually an off-color black bear. Customers are usually looking for a bear-proof garbage can or a way to make theirs bear-proof. Those heavy-duty cans issued by the City of Dunsmuir are very tough and can stand a lot of bear-abuse but the lids can be easily flipped open. The lids can be secured with heavy-duty bungee cords or chain or rope but - understandably - the folks who pick up your trash can't be bothered with having to stop at every can and undo the bear-proofing. Some folks have put a container of ammonia on top of the trash and then close the lid with the theory that the bear shoves his head into the can and gets a face-full of fumes that will discourage him from coming back. Unfortunately this doesn't work if he simply knocks the can over and then picks over the contents. Best solution is still what we've always been advised. Don't put smelly garbage in your can and set it out - it's an invitation to your neighborhood bear. We're told that bears are repeat offenders. Once they find a tasty trash can they'll return over and over to savor it. Many folks are beginning to avoid putting wet and smelly garbage in their can at all. Things like fish and chicken and other fragrant scraps can be put in plastic bags, sealed tight and kept in the garage or popped into the freezer until the morning of the trash pick-up. Trash pick-ups are early so that might mean you'll have to get up at the crack of dawn - or before - on those days - but its probably better than having to pick up garbage scattered all over your yard, the street and the neighbor's yard.

The picture above is one that we took just yards from our home in north Dunsmuir in the summer of 2008. It was taken in the middle of the night and we had to manipulate it a bit on the computer to bring out the image - played with contrast and color which gave it that red tint - intensified by the red clay of the ground where he (or she) was walking. But you can see that he's pretty intent on cruising the neighborhood - looking for a midnight snack. Customers have told us of sightings in virtually all parts of town - even right in the center and neighborhoods where you wouldn't expect to encounter them. They obviously cruise a lot of territory on their late night strolls.

Very very important also - be careful. Bears are wild creatures with big teeth and long claws and are not to be taken casually. Don't take any chances.

The Book !

2010-03-28T14:02:00.001-07:00

Guess it can now be told. I've been working on a book on the history of Dunsmuir - to be published the end of May. With my incredible co-author, Deb Harton, I've spent almost an entire year writing a literary masterpiece for the Arcadia Publishing Company. Arcadia has done over 5000 titles featuring American small towns. Mt. Shasta, Weed, McCloud, and Yreka have already been featured and now it's our turn. Deb and I accessed archives, libraries and private collections - as well as our own personal collections - for images to tell the story of the town. Scanned them, organized them, wrote captions for each of them, laid out the format of the book, and it's now in the hands of the publisher. We're pretty proud of our work and very excited to see the finished product.

The image shown here - one from my own collection which will be in the book - has a personal link to Dunsmuir Hardware. The photo is of the interior of Warner's Grocery which later became Bascom's Market, probably taken in the 1920s. It was located just to the north of our store in the building now occupied by a motorized bicycle business. Interesting to note how neatly organized the shelves and display case are. The brass cash register and padlocked penny candy gumball machine are somewhat indicative of the age of the picture. Wish we knew who the lady is. She appears to be taking her job very seriously. The link to the hardware store is the large white weighing scale in the center of the photo. When we bought our store back in 1975 we were told by one of the previous owners that the scale used to weigh nails in our store, "came from the old meat market." We found this photo - and a couple of others showing the market - in an antique store in Oregon. Then, a few years ago we realized that the "old meat market" was practically next door. The scale has a patent date of 1911 and is perfectly functional. It sits right over our bulk nail bins and gets lots of use every day.

There are over 125 photo images in the book telling Dunsmuir's story. There are chapters on the earliest days (Native Americans, explorers, trappers, etc.), mining and logging, railroad, the water and the fountain, resorts, the highway, businesses, and interesting people and places. Some of our photos have never been published before. We'll have the book for sale in our store of course, and it will be available in other stores in the area too. We had planned from the start to have the book available for Railroad Days 2010 and it appears that it will work out. We can hardly wait!

SUCH AN HONOR !

2010-01-24T11:59:00.000-08:00

The Dunsmuir Chamber of Commerce has selected our store as the 2009 Business of the Year. The first time the award has been given and it was given to us! We feel deeply honored and having spent a lot of time recently researching our town's businesses (as we work on the publication of a book on the history of Dunsmuir - to be released in June, 2010), we feel somewhat humbled that of all of the literally hundreds of businesses that have come and gone since 1886, our 116 year old store has survived to be honored in this way. Prior owners of our store; Alexander Levy, Jake Eherenman, Jim Lockhart, Jack LaBarre, and Nick Melo would be proud, and hopefully approve of our store the way it is today. We feel doubly blessed in that we have had the opportunity to be doing something that we truly enjoy - and at the same time be honored for it by our community.

Charlie is one year old!

2009-07-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

And here he is! He's so active that it was hard to get him to sit still for his birthday photo. He's 23 pounds now and is a delightful member of our family. Loves people too much to be a regular at the store but the day will come.

Recession? Well - we're down a bit but not so much that it's a worry (General Motors wishes they could say that). I think that in many ways the economic downturn has helped us - offsetting the fact that people truly are spending less money. For example, if you can't sell your house and can't afford to take a vacation to the Bahamas then maybe you'll stay home and fix the plumbing, paint the living room, build a fence, stain the deck, and so on. We benefit from other people's home projects.

And speaking of projects, our website host company - Expiry - recently did a change and "upgraded" simple webpages such as ours (www.dunsmuirhardware.com) to a "new and improved" version. Translated, that means our webpage was deleted and we had to do it all over again. The new one is much more complex and we've spent hours getting back on line and finally are there. We didn't need to be doing web design in July - our busiest month of the year. It truly is a nicer deal - we have pages for photos, specials, links and so on, but doing it has been an exercise in frustration. Help pages for amateurs like us are total giberish! Professional web designers probably zip right through it but I look at it and wonder, "They want me to do what?" Anyway, take a look at it and see what you think. It's a work in progress and your suggestions will help us make it work.

CHARLIE

2008-11-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

There is a new hardware store dog! Charlie is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and he came to live with us at just 8 weeks old. He has a tough act to follow. His uncle Buddy (click on February 2007 in the Archives) slipped away from us almost two years ago. Charlie will never replace Buddy in our hearts but - - - look at those eyes - - - he's already carved a new place for himself in our hearts. He won't be showing up for work for a while due to certain manners that need to be learned (housebreaking for one), but will be in the store when the time is right.

Meantime we're back into winter mode - - - the rain has started and so has sales of roof patch, tarps, weatherstripping, heaters, hats and gloves. Haven't sold a snow shovel yet - - - but it won't be long.

Ammo

2008-08-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

Times have sure changed! When I was sixteen I went into Winters Hardware in my little Nebraska hometown and made a down payment on a shotgun. I wanted it for hunting in the fall so Mr. Winters held it for me all summer and I made payments on it from the money I made working my tail off in the hay fields. A couple of years later I bought a .22 caliber handgun without any background check or waiting period or even any forms to fill out. When I was in high school my hunting parners and I would meet early in the morning with thermos bottles filled with hot coffee. We stopped at the bakery on the way out of town and picked up a bag of sweet rolls, fresh and hot right out of the oven. We would either go to our duckblind on the North Platte River or to any of a number of corn fields or tree rows to hunt pheasants. When it came time to go to school we made a mad dash - usually getting there just moments before the bell - and stashed our guns and boots and gear in the trunk of our cars in the school parking lot. Then when the last bell rang in the afternoon we dashed to our cars and headed back out to get in some more hunting.

Times have sure changed!

Imagine a sixteen year old buying a shotgun or an eighteen year old buying a handgun or high school students with guns in the trunks of their cars in the school parking lot.

When we bought Dunsmuir Hardware back in 1975 the Federal Firearms License kind of came with the store. Licenses were easy to get and there were several of them in town, held by people who dealt in guns as a sideline business or hobby. One by one those licenses have been given up as the regulations and requirements and expenses involved have increased. Now we have the only Federal Firearms License in Dunsmuir and one of a very few in the whole county. There have been many times when frustration with those regulations and requirements and expenses made us give serious thought to giving up our license but we've held onto it. We know that if we ever gave it up we could never get it back.

We don't carry an inventory of guns - that does terrible things to insurance rates and the Department of Justice has strict requirements for storing guns that would be hard for us to meet. We do special orders for guns for customers - rifles, shotguns and handguns. We have an assortment of gun accessories such as cleaning supplies, holsters, and targets, and we stock ammunition as you can see in the photo. We are licensed by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. We are certified by the State of California Department of Justice. We process the transfer of firearms between private parties, between other dealers and private parties, and of course the sale of firearms by us. It's a tangle of red tape with forms and requirements and waiting periods and background checks and we do our best to make the process fairly painless.

It's an interesting facet of our business that we enjoy.

HATS

2007-11-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

We started selling t-shirts with our logo on them quite a number of years ago and they have always been a popular item with our customers. Recently however, the company we bought shirts from started to also offer hats. They proved to be even more popular than shirts. Our logo is reproduced on them in full color embroidery and the hats themselves come in a variety of colors and styles, from denim to hemp fabric. The sales rep from the Texas based company phoned us some time back - after we had just received an order of hats - and asked how we liked the "distressed" styles. We opened up the order and discovered to our amazement, hats with faded looking fabric and scuffed bills like the bottom one in this photo. The sales rep said, "Trust me - people love them." We discovered that he was right. Probably half of our hat sales now are the distressed variety rather than new-looking hats. When customers ask about them we offer a variety of explanations. They are hats that are pre-worn out for folks who are too lazy to wear them out themselves. They are hats that we had to go take back from folks who didn't pay their bill. And so on. We intentionally sell our hats for just over what they cost us - rather than making a profit on them. We believe that having them seen out there in the real world is a good image builder for our business. Ian Dunsmuir from Scotland - a descendant from the Dunsmuir that town is named for - visited our store one time and we offered to give him one. He insisted on paying for it with a Scottish pound note. We framed the note and have it displayed among our other memorabilia.

GOLD !

2007-09-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Back in 1991 the chemical spill at Cantara in the Sacramento River above Dunsmuir virtually killed our business in fishing gear for the next few years. It was a stressful time that hurt our business and others in our town by destoying our tourist industry abruptly. That part of our business had become increasingly important and its loss was a real blow. Sales of fishing gear to visitors as well as local fishermen (and women) stopped and we found ourselves looking around for ways to replace those sales.

We hit upon the idea of gold panning supplies. The Sacramento River was still here - it just wasn't available for fishing. The area has a long history of gold mining and it seemed like a natural thing to try. It's possible to pan for gold in the river right in town and find "fine gold" or "color" as the panners call it - tiny flakes of gold that are visible in a gold pan. Enthusiasts told us of the better areas to pan for gold in the river. The best areas seem to be where tributaries come into the Sacramento to the South of Dunsmuir - mainly those which come from the East side of the river. These spots; Castle Creek, Soda Creek, Sweetbriar Creek, Hazel Creek and so on - are easily accessible from Interstate 5.

We searched for a source of gold panning equipment and finally located one in Arizona - which later moved to Southern California. Setting ourselves up with gold pans, sluice boxes (like those in the picture), specimen bottles, instruction books, scales, tweezers, snifter bottles, and other specialized equipment, we were in the business. Our original supplier went out of business a couple of years ago and we had to find another (there aren't that many) and we continue to be in the gold panning equipment business today.

Our fishing business of course, came back after a few years and today is better than ever, but we have continued our gold panning business and it has been good for us. Kind of fits in the image of the "old fashioned hardware store" and is another specialized "niche" (like model trains, blue jeans, cast iron cookware, pocket knives, and giftware) that our customers enjoy.

Have to admit that we enjoy it too - it's fun to see the enthusiasm folks have for it and to hear the stories of their successes (and failures). At times like now - when the river is low - there are good opportunities for gold panning the sand bars, exposed bedrock, and low tributaries of the river. Then in the winter, when rain and snow melt raise the water level rocks move and stream beds get stirred up to make for more opportunities next year.

MODEL TRAINS IN THE RAILROAD TOWN

2007-06-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Some time back we became aware of the fact that the "Historic Railroad Town" had no model railroad dealer. We were fortunate to be contacted by Bruce Duncan who, with his dad, Bill, runs Golden West Hobbies. Bruce specializes in HO scale model trains and particularly those of local lines such as the McCloud River Railroad, Yreka Western Railroad, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific. He supplies us with locomotives and rolling stock from major manufacturers and also custom painted and lettered cars and engines. This has developed into an important part of our store. It's a colorful and fun department that reflects Dunsmuir's railroad history and draws a surprising number of customers. We see a wide variety of model railroad hobbyists - adults and kids, beginners and experienced modelers, folks shopping for gifts for model railroaders or souvenirs from the Historic Railroad Town. Often vacationers who have been on excursion runs on the Yreka or McCloud lines come to us to pick up a souvenir of their experience.

The large model of the Southern Pacific "cab forward" locomotive in the center of this photo is an attention grabber. We were fortunate to acquire it from the family of Larry Green - a noted outdoor sports writer who lived in Dunsmuir. Larry was fascinated by the design of this gigantic locomotive and decided to model it - not building a kit, but working from photos and blueprints. He hand, carved, shaped, forged and created parts that are intricate and accurate to build this model which is over four feet long. Larry passed away before he completed the project. The tender is complete - right down to individual rivets - but the locomotive is about 90% done - just needing some details to be finished. Interesting that Larry chose to give his model the same number as the actual locomotive which is in the railroad museum in Sacramento.

British Car Show

2007-05-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

It's time for the annual Memorial Day weekend British Car Show. This event has been held every year for the past 8 years or so and is a welcome springtime event. It's a fun time for us because we have owned British cars and have fond memories of them (in spite of Lucas electrical systems, terrible heaters, and funny names for things - like bonnet, spanner, boot, nave plates and spanners). We still get excited about the great lines of cars like this Jaguar XK-120 or 140 (not sure which). It's a nice event for the community since it is very clean; the cars come, the event is held and the cars leave - no muss, no fuss, no debris. The people who attend the event - both car owners and spectators - are (dare I say it) a cut above the average Railroad Days attendee. They are conservative, well behaved, enthusiastic, nice people.

Blocking of Dunsmuir Avenue in front of our store for events has been a controversial subject in the town. Yours truly went on a rampage about three years ago when the Railroad Days event blocked the street from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. It murdered our business since our regular "bread and butter" customers couldn't get to our store to buy paint, nails, nuts and bolts and so on. My anger at that seems to have reached the organizers of the event because Railroad Days hasn't done it again and other events such as this one sort of tip-toe around the topic and are careful not to overdo it. The British Car Show closes the street for about three hours and that is great. It doesn't seem to disrupt our business a bit and the day has proven to be one of our busiest ones for the year.

Opening day of fishing season (April 29) has come and gone so our busy season has officially started. It will be an interesting summer since continually higher gas prices do seem to be having some effect. We're seeing noticably fewer out of town fishermen (and fisherwomen) and we've been told that there have been some cancellations for the British Car Show due to gas prices. It could cost $50.00 and up to bring a car from Sacramento for example. On the other hand - our business seems to be benefiting from a reluctance of customers to drive out of town to buy things that we sell. Our sales in lawn and garden items is noticably higher and the "bread and butter" nuts and bolts, plumbing and electrical and paint things are moving well.

We now have a website - www.dunsmuirhardware.com that links to this blog so more people should see it as the word gets out. It's a very simple site that is just our way of getting the old fashioned hardware store into the cyber age. It will be interesting to see what it does.

Thanks to Brad Sage for the Jaguar photo.

OUR LOGO

2007-04-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

Our logo is an important part of our image. In the last 30 plus years it has become widely recognized in our area. When we purchased the store in 1975 it was called L & L HARDWARE - as it had been for a good number of years. The sign across the 50 foot storefront was tired and faded and needed to be redone and we really wanted to change the store's image and establish our own. A name change was needed. We considered McCloud Hardware but gave that up for obvious reasons - confusion with the neighboring town of McCloud and our family name, McCloud. The obvious choice was DUNSMUIR HARDWARE. We were introduced to a local artist - Tom O'Hara - who said he could do our storefront although he had never done anything that big. We liked what we saw of Tom's work and believed that he could do the job but still didn't know just what it should look like. After a lot of thought and research, we arrived at the lettering style and the central oval inspired by an early day Union Pacific Railroad poster advertising the opening of one section of the transcontinental railroad. We felt that it presented a western flavor and was representative of the mountain scenery, wildlife and railroad heritage of the area. Tom did a fantastic job for us and looking back on it now - we wouldn't change a thing. As a matter of fact, over the years we have had the sign re-done three times by other sign painters (Tom has moved on to other things) and we put them under strict orders to not make any changes in the original design. In full color across the storefront in the afternoon sun, it is impressive and was the first visible step in the town's movement to establish it's historic downtown. We're proud of it.

THE HORSEMEN

2007-03-04T12:20:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken in 1916 - we believe. It was included with a group of pictures, one of which was positively dated by a gentleman who was in one of them. If you click on "Archives" and then "March 2006" you can see one of the other pictures in which the two gentlemen shown here can be recognized.

This photo was taken in front of the Eherenman's Mercantile which was on Sacramento Avenue in the building which is now the Brown Trout Gallery. Jacob (Jake) Eherenman and Frank Tetreau were partners in the business which evolved into our Dunsmuir Hardware. We don't know the names of the two gentlemen in this photo but can surmise that they were draymen working for the mercantile. They probably made trips to the railyard close by to haul merchandise to the store, perhaps to Yreka or Redding over what must have been mighty rough roads to haul shipments of merchandise, and perhaps delivered merchandise to customers. Today we grumble about late or damaged shipments, and about cost of shipping, without giving a thought to what it must have been like before the interstate freeway, UPS, FedEx, air freight, and instant ordering via computer. We recently tranmitted an order to a supplier with the computer and it was delivered the very next day. Amazing when you consider that in 1916 an order would have been transmitted by mail and delivered by wagon such as these. Could have taken weeks.

IN MEMORY OF BUDDY

2007-02-09T21:16:00.000-08:00

What – you might ask – would the passing of our family dog have to do with the subject of this blog; managing an old hardware store. In that our business is a family business – and Buddy was a family member – it has a great deal to do with it. Folks say “Oh yes, they get to be just like a member of the family.” Well, Buddy wasn’t “just like a member of the family”, he WAS a member of the family. He was literally born into our hands in June of 1992 and from the moment of his birth – until the moment that he slipped away – he was a member of our family. For fourteen and a half years he lived in our home and it was his home. His involvement in the hardware store wasn’t seen by most people. He was my companion those lonely nights when – after putting in a full day at the store – it was necessary to go back after dinner to catch up on office work; balancing check books, working on orders, preparing month end statements, paying bills, and so on. As I prepared to leave home I’d ask, “Want to go to work with me, Bud?” and the answer was always an enthusiastic “You bet – let’s go!” We would drive to the store, park nearby, and walk together to the front door. I would unlock the door and Bud would step in and pause for me to unsnap his leash and then trot back to the office because he knew there was a box of dog biscuits there. After his biscuit he would stretch out on the rug that I kept there for him and he would doze while I did my work. If the work went on too long he might ask for a second or even a third biscuit and if it went on way too long he would give me the look that said “Aren’t you about done? I want to go home.”

Bud retired a year or so ago – it just got to be too hard for his old body to go to the store and lay on a hard floor when his nice soft warm bed was there at home. I’ll always miss his companionship – and the box of dog biscuits is still there in my office.

WHAT A WINTER!

2007-02-04T20:12:00.000-08:00

Did we say something about predicting the weather? From our early - before Thanksgiving - snow until now it's been a roller coaster ride. Super cold - windy - dry - balmy and warm - a bit of everything but not much moisture. None since early January. This photo - taken on November 29 of last year - shows a little snow on the ground. It's the photo being used in a grand experiment for us. We've contracted for a year of advertising at the Mt. Shasta Theater. Our brief - 20 second - ad will show every night in all three theaters for a year. It features some old scenes of our business and carries the message about our hundred year plus heritage. The final message is "Drop in and see what's new in the old fashioned hardware store." It's expensive advertising but is an attempt to reach the Mt. Shasta market. Hope to draw more customers from that town to ours. All advertising is a gamble so we'll just have to wait and see if it works.

NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

2006-12-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

Classical harp music in an old fashioned hardware store? Maybe an all-time first! Today we were honored to have Patricia Hill in our store for a few hours. We moved her in next to the wood stove - surrounded by housewares and firelogs and our old store was filled with beautiful music. Patricia is introducing her new DVD which features beautiful images of the Sacramento River through the four seasons of the year accompanied by her enchanting harp. We'll be showing her video and offering her DVD and CDs - including a special Christmas album - through the holiday season. Wasn't a particularly busy day as the weather was nice and most Christmas shoppers headed out of town. They don't know what they missed. Those who came in and listened had a special treat. We hope to have Patricia back after the holidays and do some advertising in advance. This time it was un-advertised except for some window posters. Patricia is known in Dunsmuir as the Village Harpist and what a special part of our community she is! She certainly made our day.

AND SURE ENOUGH - HERE IT IS

2006-11-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

We even made the newspaper with our snowfall. This picture was on the front page of the Dunsmuir News on Wednesday. We woke up to snow on the ground on Monday morning and although the newspaper said .9 inches in Dunsmuir - the picture clearly shows more than that. We estimate about 3 inches in front of the store and closer to 6 inches at our home in North Dunsmuir. One of the challenges in wintertime is to get the walk-way shoveled before it gets walked on and packed down. This was a typical Dunsmuir snow - wet and heavy - and we expected it to melt and be gone by noon but it actually didn't melt until the next day. As we predicted, snowshovel and ice melter were the hot sellers for the day. Almost sold out on both but got more in on Thursday so we're ready for the next one. This snowfall seemed a little early - ten days before Thanksgiving. Our weather records show that last year's first snowfall was a week after Thanksgiving. Over the years though, we've learned to not predict weather. Every year is different and we just have to accept it and take it as it comes. There is no "normal" winter.

A CHILL IN THE AIR

2006-11-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

There's a chill in the air and it's time to shift gears and start buying for winter. Actually it's not just a sudden change but a gradual one - easing away from warm dry weather inventory toward cold wet weather inventory. Winter wear items are now in - gloves, hats, face masks and coats. These are in addition to our blue jeans (Dickies) and overalls that we carry all the time. We've already noticed an increase in other winter item sales. Sold our first snowshovels a couple of weeks ago (even though there isn't any snow yet), ice melter is moving, and roof patch items are going out. We'll be increasing inventory on those items in the next couple of weeks. Our first winter rain was last week and we immediately sold out on tarps - all sizes from 6x8 to 15x20. They are now back in stock. The change from daylight savings time to standard time is always a signal that winter is coming but it brings other changes too. The first hour of the day is busier than usual and the last hour is slower than usual. Flashlight sales increase and so do alarm clocks. We are expecting an assortment of Yaktrax - those anti slip devices that are worn on shoes for walking on ice and snow. Have been trying to get them for two years and finally will have them. Our firewood is all in - 5 cords of lodgepole - and we've had a fire in the woodstove for over a week now. Some days we just let it burn until noon or so as the days warm up, but days like today - cool all day - we kept it going. The next big change will be the first snowfall. That will really kick off winter sales. Interesting how weather-dependent we are.

Closed

2006-09-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's one of the few days that we close the store. New Year Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Most fall on Monday and since Monday is the day that we need to prepare our True Value Order it usually means that I need to go in and work on it. Strange that when the store is open it takes me literally all day to prepare an order but when the store is closed I can do it in two hours; no interruptions. While I was there today the phone must have rung ten times. I suppose that if we were open we would have a certain amount of business but then - need to kick back and gather our wits occasionally. As usual, when school started in August things began to slow down. The summer frenzy is over and autumn is around the corner. Weather is cooler - almost cold in the early mornings - and the days are getting shorter. Have to begin to shift my brain into preparing for winter - slow down on buying summer items and begin to phase in winter things. Lots of nice weather still to come though which means some tourism as well as local folks with their projects. Gas is down to $3.15 (amazing - DOWN to $3.15!) and predicted to drop more. It does seem to cheer people up a bit.

ANTIQUE FUN

2006-08-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we participated in the business district anniversary celebration with an Antique Identifying Contest. The celebration was to draw attention to long standing businesses and with our 112 years we were the longest standing. We've done the antique ID contest before and it was always a hit - and was again this time. We numbered 15 items around the store and the entry form was simply a page with 15 lines. We've kept records on this from past events and sort of know what is easy for participants and what is hard. Think we made it a little too hard this time though, because nobody got a perfect 15 score. One lady (with her son-in-law helping) got a 14 and she was the one who won. It worked like this; anybody getting 12 out of the 15 items correct had their entry dropped into the bucket for the drawing for a $100 gift certificate. The plan was to also give a certificate to everybody who got all 15 but - as said - nobody got 15. The certificate was cute. A fancy looking parchment-colored document that declared the person a "certified PAIN (Professional Antique Identification Nut)". We had over 50 participants and they all enjoyed it. The item shown (number 8) is one that many people couldn't identify. Guesses included; rope cutter, pipe cutter, guillotine, and can opener. Actually it is a tobacco plug cutter. In the old days tobacco was sold in a measured "plug" that the tobaccanist sliced off. We have some ideas on how to make the contest easier next time so all those certificates we had printed up won't go to waste. The event may become an annual one - it was a nice event that can draw attention to downtown. A number of businesses had booths on Pine Street but we felt it was more important to draw customers to our store so chose to do our contest.

JUST THOUGHT YOU'D LIKE TO SEE THIS

2006-08-01T21:37:00.000-07:00

Just thought you'd like to see our first ripe tomato. In spite of the late spring, excessive moisture in March and April, and the too hot weather we had the past week or so - it's been a good gardening year - and not over yet. Cucumbers and zuchinnis are plentiful and beautiful and as you can see - tomatos are coming. All this means a good gardening year in the store. Seed sales have been good as have tools, fertilizers, watering aids, and bug sprays.

SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVIN' IS EASY?

2006-07-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

So here we are in the heat of the summer. It's been in the high 90s and hit 100 degrees daily for the past 10 days or so. Our un-air-conditioned store does remarkably well. We bypass the heat chamber on the huge furnace in our basement and just use the fan to draw cool basement air up into the sales floor. It doesn't actually lower the temperature much but does create a breeze that many people mistake for air conditioning. Even at that there have been days this past week when it hit the 90s on the sales floor - which feels better than the 100 degrees plus outside. I sincerely believe that the hottest spot in town is right in front of our store where there are only a few trees, pavement and building fronts reflecting heat. Probably hits 110 or so right out there on the sidewalk.

British Car Show, Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Railroad days have all come and gone and have been a great stimulus for business. After the miserable months of March and April, we're breaking records for May, June and July. High gas prices ($3.29) don't seem to matter much but it's hard to measure. The phone seems to ring more now as people call ahead to see if we have what they need instead of driving to see, and we sense more reluctance to go out of town for their needs if they can get what they want at our store. On the other hand, we're seeing lots of out of town people who are vacationing, day-tripping, fishing or just passing through.

Fourth of July week was great for us. Some of our busiest days ever! Don't know if some of that was overflow from Mt. Shasta where their celebration was being held or if it was just holiday traffic that we would have had anyway. Railroad days wasn't as busy as Fourth of July but was up about 50% over last year for us and was very busy. The center of activity for the celebration was on Sacramento Avenue - a block east of us - as has been done for the past couple of years. We honestly prefer it that way from a business standpoint. The street doesn't get blocked so our regular customer traffic is un-interrupted and we get the benefit of extra people and extra energy in town. Our "old-time hardware store" reputation, model railroad section and gift items draw many visitors.

The level of activity, huge incoming shipments to keep up with the sales, record high customer counts (regularly hitting 150 per day) and the high temperature have me and my three guys (Walt, Larry and Mike) under a lot of stress and we're going home tired every day, but morale is high and we're enjoying it all.

A footnote; we're getting our firewood for next winter in. Have one cord in and stacked and will get five more. It's really hard to be enthusiastic about winter firewood when it's over 100 degrees.

Now this is more like it!

2006-05-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend and this is what it should be like. May has been a great month - breaking records and may end up being our best May ever. Making up for those slim months of March and April. The Sacramento River is almost in flood stage from the remains of those rainy months so fishing season hasn't kicked off yet, although a few people are fishing and a few are catching fish and we've actually sold out on our first order of Canadian night crawlers. Gardening sales are strong and so are paint sales. We got hit hard this past week with large shipments of True Value merchandise, giftwares, hats and gloves, fasteners (nuts and bolts and screws) and National Hardware (traditional hardware - metal goods). Our back room was jammed for most of the week but finally got most of it checked in and moved out. Gotta keep it moving because more will be coming this next week. Dunsmuir's annual British Car Show was Saturday and brought us a lot of business. It's a nice event that brings a lot of people to town to see the cars - which are parked on the street right in front of our store. We'll be closed on Monday for Memorial Day - one of the few days we close. It will give us a chance to catch our breath and then jump back in. End of the month is coming so will be doing accounts receivable billing. Don't yet know what gas prices ($3.47) will do to our tourist business this summer. There are a lot of angles to consider. It may keep local people in town to do their buying. It may keep out of town people away. I tend to think the effect will be minimal insofar as tourists. If gas is $1.00 per gallon more than a year ago then it will cost $15 to $20 more per tankful - roughly 500 miles of driving - or 4 to 5 cents more per mile. I don't think that will stop many people from traveling. Well - we'll see.

2006-05-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice shot of the street in front of our building (which is about a half block down on the left side) in the early 1920's I'd guess - based on the cars. Interesting that the iron rail by the stairway on the left is still there. Lamp posts have been replaced with modern ones that look much like these originals. Utilities have been undergrounded so the poles and wires are gone now. The building on the left is still a bank. Note the dresses on display in the window on the right.

As we anticipated - once our weather broke things got much better. Last Sunday broke records for the busiest Sunday ever. Fishing season sort of defines our business season. From the last Saturday in April through November 15 is our busy time. This year - due to all the rain and snow - the river is still running very high and almost unfishable. Fishing gear sales haven't been real hot but we got slammed on gardening things. Thought we were prepared for the first rush but within a couple of days got cleaned out on a lot of items - insect sprays, sprinkler parts and potting soil to name a few. Re-orders are now bringing us back up. Paint sales are taking off - mainly interior products now but exterior paints will take off soon. Our little model railroad section is doing well too. I think our reputation has spread and we're getting a lot of out of town customers who hear about us and drive to see. Not uncommon for customers to buy a half dozen railroad cars at one time. Our tourist business - if gas prices ($3.47 right now) don't totally kill it - will begin to pick up soon and really take off when school is out at the end of the month. I need to beef up our "giftware" section to appeal to those customers. We try to emphasize old-timey collectable house and garden items that people don't see in the cities. Another of those areas where we have worked to get a reputation for having unusual things. It's a nice time of the year and it feels like a nice summer coming.

SLOGGING ALONG

2006-04-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

Paid our taxes this week! Now going through the depression that always follows. Even though we pay huge (to us) quarterly deposits all year, paying the balance at the end hurts. It doesn't help that the April due date falls at the end of the slow winter season - and this year it was particularly slow due to our rotten weather. Also doesn't help to read in the newspaper about the trillions of dollars going to wage war and rebuild other countries. And the obscene profits that the big corporations make while we little guys just keep slogging along and struggling to keep going in the face of rising operating costs and higher prices for our merchandise. Higher and higher fuel costs translate to higher delivery costs for our merchandise - regular gas went to $3.05 this week. Trying to find affordable health insurance is an exercise in frustration. And it just keeps raining.

There - - - I feel better getting that all off my chest! It's Easter and time for renewal and revitalization. The little teasers of sunshine we've had now and then seem to perk people up and make us optomistic that things will be getting better.

IGNORE IT !

2006-04-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Enough of the complaining about weather! I'm reminded of the old saying; "A wise man once told me; 'smile - things could be worse', so I smiled and sure enough - things got worse." We tried to smile about it and it just got worse. A sloppy wet snow storm on March 30 and 31 that left us with 5 or 6 inches of slush. So - enough of this. We're just going to ignore it and hope it goes away.

As to this photo - we have no idea what it is! Obviously "Dunsmuir Mercantile Company", but don't know where or who or when. It's definitely not connected with our store or the town of Dunsmuir. It is obviously in the horse and buggy era - late 1800s or very early 1900s I'd guess. It's possibly connected with the Dunsmuir family somehow - they were in British Columbia at that time. In any event it is an interesting photo. Click on it to enlarge it and you can check out some of the details.

We put out our first of the month bargains yesterday - sets of pruning tools, two packs of weed killer, and garden rakes and shovels. All springtime oriented items that should be in high demand. Emphasis on SHOULD BE. On a positive note - we're selling the heck out of heaters, snow shovels and ice melter. IN APRIL!!!

A Normal Spring Day

2006-03-26T11:31:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice photo of a normal spring day in Dunsmuir over 90 years ago. Our building (1912) is visible on the left about the middle of the block. The California Theater hasn't been built yet and neither has the Dunsmuir State Bank building. Travelers Hotel building is there and the two storey building on the right which was the post office and doctors offices upstairs - I think - need to verify that and check dates of those buildings. Fascinating thing about this picture is the three ladies walking up the sidewalk on the right side of the street just about in the center of the photo. Who were they? Where were they going? Did they know they were being photographed?

We actually had a "normal" spring day yesterday. There were showers in the morning and it didn't get really warm but the sun was out and it was the most "normal" spring day yet. Snow is melting fast. We actually did put out the vegetable and flower seeds yesterday but I'm hedging my bet and still have the snow shovels and ice melter out. If all goes well we'll put them away this next week and replace them with fertilizers and garden hoses. I have the feeling that as the days warm up and spring starts to happen we're going to have a very busy time - but maybe that's just my eternal optimism talking. The rotten weather this past month has put our business down badly and we need some busy time.

First day of Spring?

2006-03-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

Looking back in my weather records I can see that we've had more snow this March than any other at least since 1980. So far we've had 13 days of snow and two days of rain and it's only the 19th day of the month. Accumulation so far is approximately 28 to 30 inches but today is sunny and things are melting. Going to put the snowshovels away and get out the garden seeds this next week for sure.

Several people have asked about the old pictures. The one showing all the people standing around inside a store was taken in 1916. The business is Eherenman's Mercantile which our business evolved from. Jake Eherenman is the distinguished looking man on the extreme left. It's interesting to me to contrast that picture with the modern interior photo of our business below it. The snow scene was taken (I think) in the 1940s and is somewhat like what our current snow situation. It looks to be a bit deeper though and snow removal is better today so things aren't quite that bad.

2006-03-19T11:05:00.000-08:00

2006-03-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Caught between seasons

2006-03-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

Trying to put winter behind and move into spring - that's what March seems to be about. Rain and wet snow during the day and cold nights (15 degrees Friday night) has helped us to sell out of ice melter and now we probably won't be able to get more as the warehouse will mark it "out of season". Selling a few snow shovels too but by this late in the season most people either have a shovel or are just willing to wait it out. Electric heaters are hot (no pun intended) sellers and they also are "out of season" so as they sell out we can't get more. Air conditioners are probably very available though. It can't last forever. For the most part, business is slowed down as we just wait for spring. We watch the trees planted along the avenue in front of the store for the first sign of buds swelling and green growth starting, but so far - nothing. Weather is the main topic of conversation as customers come in. The vote is about ten to one: "I'm sick of winter" over "I like the snow". We watched the Nicholas Cage movie - The Weatherman - last night and his observation that weather is "just a bunch of wind blowing things around" (expletives deleted) seems pretty much right on. Guess we'll just wait it out.

2006-03-05T17:17:00.000-08:00

Weather rules

2006-03-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

So much for the theory about March. With about ten inches of fresh snow on the ground it's hard to believe that spring is almost here. Snow has been falling steadily since before daylight this morning and hasn't let up. The freeway is closed, streets are almost impassable and there is no break in sight according to the tv weather. It's hard to guess what will happen on a day like this. There will be some business in snow shovels and ordinary hardware things but enough to justify paying two people to staff the store? Probably not, but my deep rooted belief in being consistent tells me to be open and available. If the power doesn't go out (which it has been known to do on days like this) then we'll tough it out until 4:00, which is our closing time on Sunday.

2006-03-01T21:14:00.000-08:00

2006-03-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

The winter doldrums

2006-02-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

Here we are doing our first "blog" as we come to the end of February. This is the winter doldrums time of year; the woodpile is getting smaller, we still have the snowshovels and ice melter out, but the spring garden and flower seeds are ready to display. February is always a good month to put behind us and March opens the door to spring. We've always had a theory that on the first of March people turn over their calendar and say, "Ohmygosh it's March! I've got to spade the garden. I've got to fix the fence. I've got to paint the garage." Business starts to pick up and we love all the activity. Looking forward to spring.

2006-02-26T21:03:00.000-08:00

2006-02-26T17:05:00.000-08:00