Walking into the 亚洲天堂 Lake Home Hardware last Saturday afternoon, local resident Garth Schienbein was looking for a part for his RV water pump.

Jack Brown was paying a visit to the hardware store his family has owned now for three generations, or 87 years of continual service in 亚洲天堂 Lake. He noticed Schienbein, and walked over to see if he could help him find what he was looking for.

After realizing the specialized part wasn鈥檛 available, Jack asked Schienbein to wait a moment while he ran home to see if he had the part somewhere in his garage.

鈥淛ack doesn鈥檛 do retired very well,鈥� said Schienbein. 鈥淗e鈥檚 always been this way.鈥�

The Home Hardware on the corner of Centre St. and Hwy. 16 has been there for 87 years. Jack Brown is the second generation of Browns to own the store. His father, Jack S. Brown established it with partners in the 1920s. Now, Jack鈥檚 son Greg runs the day-to-day store operations.

It wasn鈥檛 always a Home Hardware. It started out as the 亚洲天堂 Lake Hardware Store, became a Marshall- Wells Hardware store, a Macleod鈥檚 Hardware store, and then finally a Home Hardware franchise in 1985.

Every business decision the Brown family has made concerning the stores affiliation has been determined by how they understood 亚洲天堂 Lake.

鈥淲e left Macleod鈥檚 when they went down the superstore route, similar to the Walmart philosophy of piling everything up and selling it cheap,鈥� Jack explained. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 okay in the city, but in small markets it doesn鈥檛 do you any good. We don鈥檛 have the volume of traffic you would need to run a discount style store.鈥�

By joining Home Hardware, the Browns were able to cut out the middle man.

鈥淗ome Hardware is dealer-owned buying group,鈥� Jack explained. 鈥淭he wholesale end of it works just to break even. There鈥檚 no middle-man mark up.鈥�

By eliminating the extra profit margin a normal wholesale supplier would be looking for, the 亚洲天堂 Lake Home Hardware is able to stay reasonably competitive in a market where big box stores in Prince George draw local shoppers away.

鈥淧eople like to shop out of town, especially when you have something else to do in the city,鈥� Jack said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just a fact of life.鈥�

鈥淏ut for many things when you figure out your true cost of going to Prince George just to shop - the cost of travel, and wear-and-tear on your vehicle - there鈥檚 no great savings.鈥�

鈥淪ometimes you just don鈥檛 have the choice of things here that you have in Prince George,鈥� Jack added. 鈥淲hen I go to Prince George for another reason, I鈥檒l do some shopping.鈥�

There was a time when an automotive garage and dealership operated out of the location.

鈥淭here used to be a garage and a GM dealership here, in the back half of the store,鈥� Jack said. 鈥淯p where the bottle depot is now used to be the car lot.鈥�

鈥淚t was a four-line dealership,鈥� Jack said. 鈥淭he only car they didn鈥檛 sell here was the Cadillac line.鈥�

The Browns got out of the auto dealership business in 1982, selling the dealership business to a buyer from Vancouver.

But the dealership suffered from an inability to understand the local market.

鈥淭hey could have brought in more just off-lease cars and sold them at a discount,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚nstead, they thought everybody should have the fanciest cars and the fanciest pick-ups.  He could have done very well if he would have just sold the cars people wanted.鈥�

With the end of the garage and the dealership in the middle 1980s, Jack expanded the hardware store to the dimensions we now see when we go inside.

鈥淲e used to have a furniture showroom back here, but eventually the demand for hardware meant we expanded it into the whole store.鈥�

鈥溠侵尢焯� Lake is fortunate to have as a large a hardware store as this one to serve its population,鈥� Jack said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e kept putting back into the business to grow it to the size it is now.鈥�

Community involvement has been a big part of Home Hardware鈥檚 presence in 亚洲天堂 Lake. Jack is a 亚洲天堂 Lake Rotary member, member of the 亚洲天堂 Lake Community Foundation, and has served in many different volunteer capacities in town.

鈥淢y father was a [volunteer] member of the board of directors during the construction of the first hospital in 亚洲天堂 Lake, and now I sit on the current board for the new hospital project.鈥�

First-rate service, knowing your market, re-investing locally, and being a strong community supporter are some of the main ingredients for a successful 87 years in 亚洲天堂 Lake.