Generations find more than tools at Kinter's in Dayton

Tag : Hardware Parts


Many Kinter Hardware customers are second- and third-generationcustomers, and a number come from the Amish community.
"Our children were raised here in the store," Roberta Moore said,"and so were several of our grandchildren. We have three daughters,Audrey, Anna Mae, and Andrea. All three were raised in the store.We had a playpen set up here. We used it for some of ourgrandchildren too. Some of our customers today were brought in hereas children by their parents or grandparents, and today they bringin their children. We know just about all of our customers by nameand we know the names of their family members too."
The Millers bought the Kinter Hardware Company in 1973 from CraigKinter. Roberta Moore said she believes that Craig Kinter was theson of Kinter's founder, Walt Kinter. The business has been in itscurrent building on School Street since 1916. However, she saidKinter's Hardware was established sometime in the late 1800s andwas somewhere on Main Street in Dayton but she was not sure of thedate or exact place of the former location.
In addition to helping customers get the right parts for the job,Dick Moore not only carries a wide assortment of tools for justabout every job imaginable, but he has the right tools for jobsthat are not normally undertaken by the do-it-yourself crowd orsome contractors.
"We replace screens and glass in windows," Dick Moore said, "and wealso make and crimp stove pipe. I have the machines to work sheetmetal into stove pipe. There's a fair demand for stove pipe. We cutand thread water and gas pipe too. I can cut and thread anycommonly used size of pipe."
Although he has a few unusual items in his store, such as "logdogs," used for skidding cut timber out of the woods, there are afew items that cannot be found even in an old-time store such asKinter's. One such item is oil lamps.
"Our Amish customers use oil lamps, but I guess they get them fromanother supplier," Dick Moore said. " We haven't carried oil lampssince 1997 or parts for them for the past five years."
Moore said keeping a hardware store supplied with necessary itemscan be a tricky business.
"Since we've been here we've had five major wholesale partssuppliers go out of business," he said. "I'm not sure why they wentout, but they just did. One place we dealt with in Kentuckysuddenly went out of business after 134 years. When you orderyou've got to order items that will sell and not sit on the shelvesfor years and you've got to order the right amount."
Moore said he was not sure about the future of Kinter's Hardware,but one thing he and his wife are sure of is that the couple has noplans to retire.
"We have five grandchildren," he said, "but so far it doesn't lookas if any of them have a desire to have the business. So we've madeup our minds to work as long as we can. There's no plans to retireand no plans to close the business."
One strict rule the Moores follow, however, is closing for lunch.Every day the store closes from noon to 1 p.m. so the couple caneat lunch undisturbed.
"Our customers know this and they plan their visits around when weare open. We're open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Wednesdays andSaturdays when we close for the day at noon."
The store is closed Sundays.