by Karen Laslo
posted March 8
As I crossed the street to park my bike in its usual spot in front of the store on a recent afternoon, I saw the big sign in the window: “Store Closing Sale.”
From our house in the Avenues, Collier Hardware was just a short bike ride downtown. I looked forward to my jaunt to the venerable 154-year-old store. My routine was I’d park my bike conveniently in front of the store, go in and look around to see what was new, find the item I needed, make my purchase and ride home. I confess that I felt a little smug knowing that I hadn’t contributed to the climate crisis by driving my car downtown.
Over the past 28 years, since we’ve lived in Chico, Collier has been the store I’d go to for such items as light bulbs, dish towels, nails, screws, work gloves, flashlight batteries or one of their big, red leaf rakes.
Collier Hardware has been owned and operated by the Lucena family since 1971. When I learned that the store was going to close, I asked Matt Lucena, one of the three brothers who owns the store, why they were closing. He replied, “The store is losing money.”
I felt sad knowing that Chico was going to lose, like so many other towns across our country, one of its iconic, charming old downtown stores. I resented the fact that people are shopping more and more on-line or driving way across town to one of the big box stores to make their purchases.
Before I left, I made one final Collier Hardware purchase, and, even though I didn’t need it, I bought their last big red rake.
Karen Laslo is a freelance contributor to ChicoSol.