In our quest to find a special brand of silver polish (Maas?), Cathy and I went to Brown's Hardware Store. We actually attempted to go on Monday but they were closed for Memorial Day. As soon as I saw the outside of the store, I knew I wanted to come back, even if we didn't need silver polish. I was not disappointed. This is a classic hardware store of the days of old.
The best part was that the first person we saw when we came in the store was Mr. Hugh Brown. According to a Washington Post story in which Mr. Brown was quoted, he is 81 years old. He sure didn't look it or act it. Cathy explained I was from out of town and wanted to know more about the store and we got the whole story. It was founded by his great grandfather in 1883. His dad took over in the 20's and the current Mr. Brown took over from his dad in 1949. It started as a general store, then they built an addition, then they tore down the original store and the addition is where the store is currently housed. Somewhere in there, they specialized in hardware. There were a bunch of old pictures on the wall and Mr. Brown used a wrapped yardstick (ready for sale) to point to the various pictures and show us nearby landmarks and give us a visual history of the store. It was such a great conversation. In one of the photos we learned that Brown's Hardware is the oldest, continually running business in Falls Church.
We didn't find the silver polish we were looking for but we had a great time.
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