I'm So Screwed....

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
...and it is wonderful :D

An old-time hardware store a couple of neighbourhoods over from mine is closing it's doors, the guy and his wife that run it are such nice people. I've known them for years, bought a fair bit of stuff from them here and there, they have less woodworking stuff, and more construction stuff, not really carpentry either, but anyway, I knew they would close, the road is being widened, so I've been watching when I could to see when it would happen. Well today was the day, on the way home from the Studio Build I swung by and they were clearing the place out, this is what followed me home....

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There are 94 boxes of screws, most of them are machine screws in various sizes and lengths, but there are some sheet metal screws too.

About half of the boxes are Stainless Steel as well.

The concrete drill bits, don't really need them, but the largest one there is marked about about $45 and he said "How about $3 each....! :O

The twist drills are all about $35-$45 each, and I got 11, 11.5, 12, 13, 14 and 15mm. a whole bunch of assorted stuff.

The screwdriver things are nut drivers, almost a full set from 4mm up to10mm, IIRC.

I gathered all this stuff up and his wife was adding it all up, I saw all these boxes of screws sitting there and I said OK how much for all this stuff and all the screws?

He was surprised I'd buy all of that, but I said "Lifetime supply :D " so he said, "How about $100...?"

I offered him more, but he refused, he was just happy that the stuff would get used, and not go into a landfill.

So am I screwed or what?

;)
 
Hard to resist that deal. I feel bad about the store closing. Did the couple receive fair compensation for their property, or is this hard times for them?
 
Stu,
I am so happy for you and your score. However, I am so sad about the old couple driven out of business.

I had a screwy (pardon the pun) experience also. Went to a garage sale. The garage had cabinets of screws, nails, machine screws etc. There were also some tools. The items were all priced. I told him that I would take it all. The prices were very low, I did not even offer to argue price. He would sell me anything there---HOWEVER, he refused to sell me everything all at once.

I purchased some boxes of wood screws and left. I have often wondered how much of it he managed to sell and what he got for it.

Anyway, you will really enjoy having a surplus of screws, nuts, bolts, and whatevers. It is a great feeling to not have to go to the hardware store in the middle of a project.

Enjoy,
JimB
 
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You said only some were sheet metal screws. I guess you had to BOLT out of there.

Being Japan, did the couple own the building/land or just the business? I would probably conclude that if they owned the land, they will have a comfortable retirement.
 
Nice, now you can plan projects around what you have fasteners for! A funny story, a friend made a deal with an indoor shooting range that he could pay twenty dollars to sweep up for one hour one evening a month and keep all of the cases to reload. He swept up so much .25 brass that he went out and bought a .25 to shoot! I laughed many a time about him reloading .25's. He had big hands like mine and I fussed and complained enough trying to load .380's without the press biting my fingers too often. .380's are huge compared to .25's.

I too hope the old couple did well. Here in the US it is a fine line. When they cut the interstate through and most of the neighboring businesses had to sell some did OK, those that held out awhile did better, a couple friends that held out too long got the really raw deal, all the money to buy property had been spent and theirs was little more than seized, imminent domain!

Hu
 
They lived in the same building that the business was, and it was the building on a major corner, so yeah, they have made out rather well, and will have a comfortable retirement. They are building a new building about a three min walk from the old one and they will have apartments to rent out, so they will be fine.

Cheers!
 
I hope they came out ok on the buyout, but I feel sorry for you, as you didn't buy the drawers to hold all the screws/bolts, etc.

Yeah, they are fine.

He did not have any drawers, just the boxes, they were stacked on small narrow shelves, if he had a file for the screws you can be sure it would have followed me home :D
 
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