By Theresa-Marie Wilson
An old fashioned hardware store that has been a fixture in downtown Pismo Beach is shutting its doors after serving the community for more that three decades.
Pismo Beach Hardware, located at 930 Price Street, is set to close August 15.
“It’s time. We have been doing it for 35 years, and I want more discretionary time,” said owner Bob Pringle, who is known as Pismo Bob in the community. “Right now, I am here all the time. Hardware takes a little bit of a higher level of (involvement); people come in with problems, you have to resolve it, you have to know products.”
The building, constructed in the 1930s, was originally home to Davis Electric, which was run by Lillie Mae Davis. In 1982, Bob and his wife, Toni, purchased the business and brought new life to the hardware store that had become “all but a skeleton of what it once was.”
“There was much to take over,” said Bob. “It was very old and antiquated. We cleansed and stripped everything out and began new. When we first started, it was a difficult time for Toni and I because we had just had a baby, and we didn’t have a whole lot of money to do it. Everyone thought I was nuts for putting in a hardware store; you could run a bowling ball down Price Street at that time. I would go to stores and find empty boxes just to show that there was merchandise on the shelves. That is how we began.”
Today, classic rolling wooden ladders from the 1930s reach items that span the walls up to the ceiling, and the infamous “Bolt Room” is home to one of the county’s largest selections of fasteners and specialty hardware, with $450,000 thousand individual items in the two-story, 3,500-square-foot building.
Pismo Beach Hardware is truly a family owned and operated business. In addition to Bob and Toni, the couple’s six children have all worked in the store during their free time.
“Every one of our kids has had a part in this store,” Bob said. “We run the entire operation with family. We don’t have any employees.”
The Pringles will continue to operate the two other businesses they own, Pismo Garden Art, the succulent nursery adjacent to the hardware store and Valentina Suites across the street.
Once the hardware store building is empty, Bob and the family plan to expand the nursery with its 300 different kinds of succulents, garden art, fountains, and pots and planters into the space.
“The nursery is really positive and enjoyable,” Bob said. “People are trying to create an individuality, their own specific personality. This uniqueness brings about favorable expressions, feelings and attitudes. I have these great visions of a nursery like no other, things you don’t see.”
Despite looking for more free time, Bob said he would miss helping people resolve their home handyman jobs.
“With hardware, people have a problem,” he said. “I miss that in part. I used to really dig that. If you have a problem, it’s not a problem; there’s a solution, there’s a derivative somewhere that we can use to resolve it. I enjoyed that interaction with the customer, and the customer feeling good after they could fix it, or if we couldn’t fix it, finding a source to resolve it. I think I will miss that. It is a good feeling to help somebody out, and then they are not worried about it anymore.”
In recent years, the City of Pismo Beach has approved the space as a restaurant and wine tasting room. Although no plans have been set in stone, Bob said he is open to ideas in that vein.
“If something popped in, I’d tantalize the thought,” he said.
Pismo Beach Hardware has also been an active community partner, offering services and donations to their local church, St. Paul the Apostle, local schools, Kiwanis, the Rotary Club and other causes as well as holding The World’s Worst Poetry Contest for the past 17 years.
Pismo Beach Hardware has already started its “Closing Its Doors” Liquidation Sale offering a wide range of reduced pricing. It will continue until the store closes. Nursery items are not including in the sale. Keys will be still be made at the nursery once the hardware store closes.
For more details, visit PismoBobs.com or call 805-773-6245 (NAIL).
