The Ondrus men might have laid claim to starting the Toledo hardware store that’s carried their name for the last century, but it was a hard-working woman from the present day Czech Republic who deserves the true credit.
Rose Ondrus, who came to Toledo in the early 1900s as a 14-year-old immigrant without knowing a word of English, established a dry goods store on Consaul Street in the Birmingham neighborhood in 1916. By the 1930s, she was selling hardware.
“She had clothing, she had boots, she was like a variety store at first,” her grandson Jamie Ondrus said. “When they were building the intake in the lake, the contractors came to her and needed tools. She had a Worthington catalog, opened it up, and that started it all.”
Along with her husband, Frank, Ondrus Hardware soon became an East Toledo fixture. It remains one today, 100 years later.
The store, which moved to its present location at 515 Oak St. in the early 1950s, operates largely as it did all those decades ago.
Fittings, fasteners, tools, and workwear line the aisles, and customers are known by name.
Mr. Ondrus breaks off mid-sentence to greet someone who just walked in carrying a thin length of copper.
“You need a thermocouple? Right down here, all the way down to the end. Red bins on your left,” he said, before jumping right back into his family history.
His grandmother and grandfather both immigrated to the United States from the preset day Czech Republic in search of a better life. They found it — and each other — in Toledo.
Frank and Rose ran the store until after World War II, when their sons took over. Jamie Ondrus, who previously worked at La-Z-Boy Inc. in Monroe, took over the shop in 1990 when his dad was ready to retire.
“We didn’t want to be a ma and pa hardware store, but it’s kind of cool to be that now,” Mr. Ondrus said. “For a while we tried to run from it, to be an industrial supply, be something different. But it’s kind of nostalgic to me now.”
Like most every retail sector, independent hardware stores have faced stiff competition from big box stores. Their numbers have fallen nationally and locally. Fleeger's Pro Hardware closed its final store on Byrne Road in 2012. Mills Hardware in downtown Perrsyburg also closed that year. Hachman Hardware and Feed closed its Temperance store last year.
But there are still thousands of neighborhood hardware stores across the United States, and those representing the industry say it’s not a sector in crisis.
Hardware cooperative True Value, which Ondrus is a part of, reported 2015 sales were up about 2 percent from 2014. And a recent report from IBIS World notes that while sales aren’t likely to rocket up, the market is improving.
“In the five years to 2021, the recovering housing market and increased spending on home improvement projects will help boost industry demand,” the report noted. “However, persistent competition from external sources, including big-box retailers and home improvement stores, will keep profit margins low.”
Mr. Ondrus said part of the key to success is realizing you’re not going to compete head on with Home Depot. Instead, independent hardware store have to offer something else — specialty, service, speed, and a knowledge base that’s sometimes lacking in big box stores.
“I’ll get people to drive across town for the really odd things we have. They’re not going to drive across town for a shop vac. I wouldn’t, not when you can get it anywhere,” he said. “But to get some information or get an idea, or get some advice, yeah I’d drive across town for that.”
And people do.
Though many of his customers are maintenance workers, Mr. Ondrus said they often welcome in a customer who has been all over town looking for an unusual item.
More often than not, they have it.
At its peak, the store had about two dozen employees. Today they’re about half that, a mixture of part-time retirees and younger people starting a career.
Beyond the standard supplies, the store has also tried to carve out its own niche. Several years ago, Mr. Ondrus added making and repairing custom insulated windows to its list of services.
He also has a retired electrician who will rewire lamps, and more recently added a CAD-enabled plasma cutter. Initially the idea was to be able to quickly reproduce things such as custom drain grates and ductwork covers, though he sees significant potential in other custom metal work.
It’s hard to say what the long-term future is for the store — will it last another 100 years? — though Mr. Ondrus has no intentions of getting out of the business any time soon.
“I hope my kids show some interest. You’ve gotta love this. This is long hours. The scale definitely doesn’t tip if you’re going to do it for the money,” he said.
Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.
First Published December 27, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
