PALMETTO – Grower’s Hardware first open for business in 1914. Trish Fritz and her husband Skip purchased the hardware store in 2003. Before then, the store was owned by Fritz’s next door neighbors for nearly fifty years. Grower’s has been purchased by the city of Palmetto and it will be closed for good in the near future.
“Small businesses just can’t make it anymore. We have so many wonderful customers here that try so hard to keep us in business but with Wal-Mart, and True Values, and Home Depots, it just can’t work anymore and it’s very, very, sad. We’ve been here for 94 years and we’ve held it together for that long,” Fritz said.
“I will probably start going to Ace Hardware up the street now because that’s the most convenient. But, it’s just a shame to see a great small-town business close and that’s what they are,” frequent customer Carl Patton said.
Fritz will miss the relationships with her customers the most.
“Our customers are like family. You walk into this store and you don’t feel like you’re walking into a Wal-Mart of Home Depot, nothing big, you just feel homey. People would sit and just chat and they still do,” Fritz said.
“Everybody knows you. You walk in, everybody knows you and they’ve got stuff that nobody’s got. But, they also have a limited supply compared to an Ace Hardware because that’s just the way of the world. You know, it’s a box store. They are; this isn’t.” Patton said.
