Like other customers during the last 165 years, George Richards goes to Chagrin Hardware for two reasons: the people who own it and the things they sell.
It’s a formula that’s bridged decades and cemented friendships in historic Chagrin Falls, weathering wars, the Depression, pandemics and the vagaries of small business ownership.
Recently, Richards popped into the charmingly packed store to catch up with longtime friends Steve and Jack Shutts, co-owners of the Chagrin Falls business that has been in the same downtown storefront since 1857.
This is a rare place to find the kind of assistance not available anywhere else.
“Rob (Schwind) is an expert at what I need,” says Richards, who stopped in on a rainy Monday to get help with fixing a toilet.
Jack Shutts joked that Richards shows up for another purpose.
“He comes in here for the abuse,” he teases, the humor and camaraderie as evident here as the tools that line their store shelves.
Nailing It
Chagrin Hardware is an institution in the town, along with the Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop across the street.
The store has a prominent place in Chagrin Falls history, which has been serving residents since before the Civil War.
The Shutts brothers, along with sister Sue, inherited the business from their late father, Ken Shutts. Ken began working there in high school and took over in 1965, following the death of his uncle, Jim Bannerman.
The business was originally known as Nettleton’s, founded by Daniel Nettleton. Partners over the years included Elias Whitlock, Joseph Stoneman and William Hutchings.
In the early decades of the 20th Century, the business included auto sales and repairs, and even was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership.
When James Bannerman took over in 1940, he changed the name to Chagrin Hardware Company.
His nephew Ken’s career in hardware was interrupted by World War II. He served in the Army Air Corps as a B-17 gunner in England. His plane was shot down three times, forcing him to bail out.
Ken Shutts may have been lucky in the war, but it was his personal touch, not luck, that made him a well-liked owner of Chagrin Hardware.
Scott Hageman, a volunteer with the Chagrin Falls Historical Society, tells how his father came to town in 1948 to build a house. He didn’t have a truck to haul materials from the hardware store, and Ken Shutts gave the keys to his own truck to the total stranger to use and return.
“That’s the kind of people they all were,” Steve Shutts says of that generation. “The entire country had trust.”
When he took over the business, Ken was ready to modernize, but his wife talked him into going in the opposite direction, maintaining its old-time ambiance and even adding an antiques store that still operates today.
“She was quite a lady,” said Steve Shutts of his late mother, who taught herself bookkeeping to aid the enterprise.
Carrying the Torch
Steve said he just fell into the business, and his brother Jack signed on after teaching high school history for 11 years.
They are still in the original building, including wooden floors that came from a roller rink in 1900. They also use the safe that was installed when the business opened, although the floors had to be reinforced to hold its weight.
History tells a story in each inch of the store, where Civil War veterans regularly met on the third floor of the brick building. Wooden planes from the 1880s are displayed in a case down one aisle. A huge spinning wheel and other artifacts hang from the walls and ceiling. There’s a pot-bellied stove upstairs.
“Jack and I have been here 40+ years and we still run into stuff we’ve never seen before,” Steve says.
Other artifacts are more recent. One bin holds handwritten notes boys needed from their parents, granting permission to buy pellets for their BB guns. An obvious forgery was signed “Johnny’s mom,” Steve Shutts notes.
A few generations ago, a local boy was more interested in a new phenomenon. Tom Conway walked by the store to school every day, enamored by the black-and-white television sets in the window; he often was late to class.
That young man changed his name to Tim, went to Hollywood and became a TV comedy legend; he never lost his ties to his hometown or to the hardware store.
Hardware, Soft Hearts
The Shutts family has given a lot to the village over the years, and that tradition continues. They sell used DVDs, with proceeds going to the Chagrin Falls Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library. Proceeds from the sale of 1998 National Geographic world maps go to cancer research.
Residents have shown their appreciation in return. In 2012, when business was slow, a customer organized a cash mob, urging everyone to spend at least $20 at the store.
“The whole town showed up,” Steve Shutts says. “We have a very, very loyal customer base.”
After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the hardware store is bringing back its Halloween display featuring 12-foot monsters. It was their mother’s favorite holiday.
What did the brothers learn from their father about keeping the business going?
“Our father taught us that the customer is always right, but I’m not quite sure about that anymore,” Jack says with a laugh.
“Show up, that’s the main thing,” Steve adds. “It’s a lot of hours and a lot of joy. It’s something different every day.”
John Matuszak is a northeast Ohio native and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years in Ohio and Michigan.
