Broadway Hardware

Editor’s note. City of Sparta and The Expositor are partnering in a venture to feature city businesses. Each week, Mayor Jerry Lowery and City Administrator Tonya Tindle are providing a video production that highlights a specific business. In turn, The Expositor will publish a story about that business. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” (Harry S. Truman, former president of the United States)

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Geraldene Wilkerson and her husband purchased Broadway Hardware nearly 40 years ago, and, while the location has changed over the years, the atmosphere, the service, and the commitment to community haven’t.

Broadway Hardware is not just an ordinary nuts and bolts, hammers and screwdrivers, drills and saws place. One step inside and customers will immediately notice the general store vibe of yesteryear. With everything from home goods to lawn and garden necessities mixed in with tools and maintenance needs, Broadway Hardware is a one-stop shop for most things for the home. Need to repair a leaking sink? Broadway Hardware has what you need. Want to plant a garden? Broadway Hardware has what you need. Need to fix some creaking stairs? Broadway Hardware has what you need. Want to can some vegetables from the garden? Broadway Hardware has what you need. Need to hang some new shelves? Broadway Hardware has what you need. Want to change up your table settings for the guests you invited for dinner? Broadway Hardware has what you need.

Wilkerson said what makes Broadway Hardware so unique is all the employees are eager to help customers, and they believe in a “hands on” approach. You won’t find employees at the counter often at Broadway Hardware. Instead, they are among the shelves helping customers find exactly what they need, offering suggestions, measuring chain, getting hard-to-reach items off the top shelves, and offering up suggestions based on years of knowledge built through working in the store.

The family-like atmosphere of the store, the first-name basis between customers and employees, comes from the fact the store itself is a family affair. The store’s manager, Sonia Null, is Wilkerson’s daughter, and, in fact, all three full-time employees and the three part-time employees are all family members. Wilkerson herself isn’t at the store as much as she used to be, but she stays involved by being onsite at least one day a week and using the other days to keep the business’s books at home – the old-fashioned way, using a ledger and a pencil – just like she has done for the past 40 years.

Keeping things simple lets Broadway Hardware cater to the needs of the community. Null said there is no corporate office telling her what she needs to order or how much inventory to keep in stock. Being a hometown store with a family-mentality allows her to order what she sees the community is in search of. And according to Wilkerson and Null both, that community is what has kept Broadway Hardware’s doors open for 40 years.

“We really appreciate this community. Our customers are why we are here,” Wilkerson said. “They are what keeps this business going, and I am so proud that we are in a position to keep serving them after all these years.”

Click here to view video by City of Sparta.