Ivy Shore Rosenberg at Arrow True Value Hardware store.
VENTNOR – It’s been a staple in the Ventnor community for more than 67 years but it will soon be going out of business to make way for an upscale pizza restaurant to take its place on the 6400-block of Ventnor Avenue.
Arrow True Value was one of the very first True Value cooperatives, said Ivy Shore Rosenberg, 55, of Egg Harbor Township who runs the store for her mother Harriet. The store recently announced Harriet would retire from the family business that has served the public for so long.
Her dad Alvin Shore opened the store a block away from its current location in 1951 when he was still a single man. He married Harriet a few years later after a short romance and they operated the store together as a family business. Even daughter Ivy worked in the store from when she was a young child.
“He moved to this location in 1967 when I was a little girl. He moved all the merchandise on a cart we still use in the store and he moved me with it,” she said recalling the one-block ride on the wooden cart with merchandise surrounding her. “I remember (broadcast pioneer) Tom Lamaine did the grand opening as a disc jockey for WOND radio.”
Robert Hevalow has been shopping at Arrow True Value Hardware store for more than 25 years.
Harriet, now 82 still works in the store on weekends, but is ready to retire, Rosenberg said.
“Mom’s up in age and she deserves to live the rest of her life in peace,” she said.
Over the years, the store attracted some famous customers, including comedians David Brenner and Rip Taylor, who stayed in Ventnor when they were entertaining at the Atlantic City casinos, but it was the everyday customers who kept coming back repeatedly who took advantage of the family-friendly service.
“I bought my house on Princeton Avenue 25 years ago and this is the first place I came,” Robert Hevalow said. “This place has been a Godsend. I didn’t know anything about owning a home. I ran here to Al and he walked me through everything.”
Al knew how to fix everything, he said.
“If I messed up and came back to get a new part, sometimes he wouldn’t even charge me,” Hevalow said.
Rosenberg said her dad would often tell customers, “Just give me a buck.”
When he was laid to rest, the funeral director threw a dollar in his grave, she said.
There’s no doubt closing the store sometime in October will leave a hole to fill.
“I hate to see it close,” Vince Lanza of Margate said. “I remember Ivy from when she was a baby.”
Employee David Alford helps customer Vincent Lanza of Margate
Although he lives near Colmar Home Center in Margate, Lanza said he liked the Ventnor store because “the people are friendly and they have what you need,” he said.
Rosenberg, a former educator who taught at the Hebrew Academy and raised four children, now ages 17 to 30, came back to work in the store full-time in 2009 following her divorce.
She can talk about the hardware business and its ups and downs following Hurricane Sandy and the recession. Having a stock of items people need on a daily basis, including homeowners and renters, can be challenging and expensive, she said.
“The dynamics has changed. Only about 23 present are year-round residents. Renters need Liquid Plumber not plumbing supplies,” but the store stocks both for the convenience of the customers, she said.
She said she is “exploring options” which could include opening a hardware store in another location.
“In any case, I’ll still be making screens and keys,” she said.
“We will liquidate this location, but anything is possible if I can find another great location,” she said.
Ivy Shore Rosenberg sits on the cart that rolled her and all the merchandise from Arrow True Value’s old location to the new location a block away in 1967.
Former Ventnor resident Blake Barabuscio of South Philadelphia has a contract to purchase the 6,000-square-foot building, which he plans to turn into a Santucci’s Original Square Pizza restaurant next spring.
Barabuscio bid $77,100 – $2,100 more than the minimum bid amount – to receive the city’s first liquor consumption license. He is currently undergoing a police background check before the city can finalize the license.
“It’s a long process,” City Clerk Lisa Hand said.
Right now, customers are lining up to cash in on a 20 percent discount being offered on most merchandise. Rosenberg said the discount will apply to everything in the store except screens, keys and propane.
David Alford makes a key.
Rosenberg said she doesn’t know exactly when the sale of the building will be finalized, but she expects it will be sometime in October.
“We’re just taking it one day at a time,” she said.
Arrow True Value Hardware will continue to be open seven days a week and has a large inventory of just about everything a homeowner or renter needs to maintain their abode.
The store is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
