Kendall Hardware family celebrates 75 years of helping community with home and garden challenges

Conquering the difficulties of suburbanization, opposition and a world-wide pandemic, Kendall Components lately celebrated 75 yrs of undertaking enterprise in Clarksville.

What commenced as a feed keep has developed into the go-to supply for property and gardening desires in the region. Kendall Components credits its success to “good, aged purchaser services, likely the additional mile to help the buyer response their problem or address their issue.”

The milestone was observed with a shopper appreciation celebration showcasing guest suppliers, a barbecue lunch and a quilt raffle showcasing blankets made by Sandy Kendall, an avid quilter.

The Kendall tale started off in the early 1920s, when Franklin and Mabel Kendall established the Bon Espoire, or Great Hope Farm, on what now is the River Hill Village Middle. Their son, Charles, opened a retail store to market feed to local farmers. When the farm was bought in 1947, a house was designed for Franklin and Mabel on the other side of Route 108, where by Clarksville Square is now located. A Environment War II surplus Quonset hut was produced up coming doorway and opened as Chas N Kendall Common Goods. The keep, affectionately referred to as “roundy store” or the “tin can store,” marketed fuel, groceries and feed. Charles ran the retail store right until his death in August 1967 at the age of 65.

Immediately after Charles died, his son, Hugh Kendall and wife Sandra managed the retailer. They included their kids, Emily and Steven, in the loved ones business enterprise. By 1975, the retail outlet focused mainly on components. When programs to include River Hill as the final village in Columbia were being finalized in the 1990s, Hugh and Sandy understood that their household up coming to the organization was additional valuable as a commercial house. They designed a new home down the street and turned their former residence into retail and business space. Emily opened an insurance office environment in the setting up, and Steven joined the relatives business enterprise comprehensive time soon after graduating from college.

A faithful purchaser foundation helped Kendall Hardware endure when yet another much larger components store opened in Clarksville that featured 10 times the retail place. Right after 5 a long time, Kendall experienced outlasted the competitiveness. The relatives purchased the rival organization and moved to its spot on Clarksville Pike. In 1996, on a rainy and foggy January night time, good friends and neighbors helped to go all of the store’s items and it was all set to open the following early morning.

In 1997, Hugh retired. Steven and his mom, Sandy, ran the retailer until finally her retirement in 2015. Steven then took in excess of operations 50 a long time just after his grandfather, Charles Kendall, first opened the store. Today, 75 decades following its inception, the retail outlet serves the Clarksville local community with 30 personnel.

“We are right here to assistance our neighbors through their components and gardening issues. Often it just will come down to lending an empathetic ear put together with assistance,” claimed Chris Mobley, a Kendall Components affiliate. “If we can not support them, we may refer them to someone who can. If their day has been manufactured a minor bit much better, or a small bit simpler, then our role has been achieved.”

The family undertaking has specified back to the local community in many methods. A great number of scout troops have been offered permission to promote cookies or popcorn in front of the store above the several years. The retail outlet also hosts VFW Write-up 7472′s yearly yellow ribbon Xmas tree to honor these who served in the armed forces. Congratulations to the Kendall loved ones!

Send Clarksville space news to share in this column to Susan Soldavin at [email protected].