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Bye bye Harper Hardware?
01/15/2008 4:30 PM by John M
Notice has gone out of a request to rezone the Harper Hardware address (1709-1724 East Broad Street) from M-1 Light Industrial to B-5 Central Business, which would allow for residential and commercial development on the property.
The applicant is former ACORN Golden Hammer recipient Bill Laffoon and the man behind the ongoing renovation at 809 Mosby Street, though Charles Harper is still listed as the property owner.
Contact Lory Markham, Senior Planner, at (804)646-8068 or lory.markham@richmondgov.com
I was wondering how long the older businesses in that area would last. I was just wondering how long before Duke’s Auto sold to a developer. While I like Doug a lot as a mechanic and would be sorry to see him go, I can’t help but think that piece of land would be valuable.
john m, you sure about the golden hammer? i thought he was merely a nominee (you can nominate yourself)but not an actual receipient of the coveted award.
The ACORN site has been redesigned in the past year or so and so has lost a lot of its own history, but I did find this message from Jennie Dotts on on the Preservation mailing list.
i stand corrected! you’re one helluva fact checker, murden.
That’s too bad. Outside of Pleasant’s there really aren’t any hardware stores left in Richmond.
BGW, according to Bill Lafoon (he phoned me this afternoon) Harper Hrdwr may not necessarily leave/close after all.
Bill said he’s working for Harpers (he is listed as the applicant for the zoning request). He explained that Harpers may want to develop some of the vacant space on the property for new residential/mixed use commercial. Mr. Lafoon said “Harpers is simply exploring their options at this location”.
Personally, I’m hoping Harper sticks around and figures out a good way to make unused/under-used space profitable for them with new construction.
However, I do disagree with the B5 zoning designation, and encourage the community to support B6 instead. B6 requires at least one off-street parking space for each new residential unit. B5 is the current zoning for Shockoe Bottom, which doesn’t require any off-street parking spaces.
While I wish the city had better mass transit to serve what will eventually become a densely populated area, we can’t depend on that happening in our lifetimes.
Instead, we have to depend on private developers to help solve the street parking & traffic congestion in this area, by including off-street parking in their plans.
Harper Hardware is NOT going out of business! Any reports otherwise are false. In fact, we have committed to a full store renovation which is currently underway. Countless hours of research have been put into the new showroom design to insure that we keep our current Church Hill customers supplied as well as attracting new contractor tradesmen.
New store displays are arriving weekly. We plan to offer fresh, new product lines while still projecting that old hardware store feel. As always we will have hands on customer service that our shoppers have grown to expect from Harper Hardware.
The projected completion date of the renovation/remodel is May 1st. We will not close during this time. Many changes will happen on nights and weekends as to not affect our customers.
In addition to the new showroom, our website launched a few months ago. The site offers approx. 70K items for purchase and is growing daily.
Major changes are going on all around us and we are excited about staying in the bottom. We appreciate all of the support from our loyal Church Hill customers.
For any other questions, please feel free to contact Charlie Harper or myself @ 804-643-9007 or harperhardware@rcn.com
Thanks,
Tee Daniel
Vice President
Harper Hardware Co., Inc.
Established 1898
1712 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23223
804-643-9007
harperhardware@rcn.com
http://www.harperhardware.com
Amen.
A fitting remark from our local “preacher.”
That is great news! Not to be greedy, but could all these changes at Harper’s also include weekend hours? It’s tough for us weekend warriors to get there M-F and I hate having to leave the neighborhood just to get supplies.
I wholeheartedly agree with Matt C. about the weekend hours.
I also agree with Matt C about the weekend hours.
Tee… thank you for clarifying the future of Harper’s. The United States is one of the only countries that tears down their older structures and dispose of older businesses. Richmond is even worse – just look at Broad Street in general. We need to keep more business “in” Church Hill and even bring more in. I am happy to see the new Ice Cream shop going in where the eGo travel service once was across from Noldes. I plan to visit it!
Eric
anyword on when the ice cream shop will actually open?
Harper Hdw. is looking for the best deal it can get from the City of Richmond. Having lost the original location to city-sponsored development on E. Marshall St. in the early 80’s (only after a protracted eminent domain court battle) I certainly have sympathy with Charlie on the long-term viability of his property rights. Look no further than the half-baked plan to build a multi-million dollar ballpark/commercial/residential monster on his doorstep. His is the kind of small business the city needs to keep, not discourage. Otherwise, I would not blame him if he moved to Doraville, Georgia.