After 80 Years, Clinton Hardware Closes Its Doors And Leaves Generations Of Memories Behind

CLINTON, Md. — For 80 years, Clinton Hardware was the kind of place where a trip for paint, a handful of nuts and bolts or supplies for a weekend project could turn into decades of friendship.

On Saturday, Aug. 22, the longtime independent hardware store at 9005 Woodyard Road opened its doors to customers for the final time, ending eight decades of serving the Clinton community as longtime owner David Billman prepared for retirement.

Billman’s connection to Clinton Hardware began as a teenager, when he started working at the family business. He went on to spend 45 years with the store before beginning to ease into retirement this summer.

The closing had been expected for months. When the store’s “For Sale” sign went up in March, Clinton Hardware thanked customers for the outpouring of support and reflected on how deeply the business had become part of the community.

But as the shelves emptied and the store prepared for its new owners, Clinton Hardware was not quite finished telling its story.

In its final days and after the closure, Clinton Hardware took followers on a journey through 80 years of memories on Facebook, sharing stories of longtime customers, neighboring businesses and familiar faces who helped make the store part of the community for generations.

A Can Of Paint And 60 Years Of Memories

Among those memories were Bob and Doris Lee, whose relationship with Clinton Hardware began after they moved to Clinton in 1965.

One of their first stops was the hardware store, where they bought paint to help make their new house feel like home. That first purchase became the start of a relationship that continued for the next 60 years through home projects, touch-ups and countless return trips.

Their story was one of many Clinton Hardware shared while looking back at relationships built across generations.

Other posts remembered customers who became part of the store’s extended family, including regulars who returned again and again for another project, another part or simply another visit.

The memories also included Jonathan R. Butler, director of the Prince George’s County Department of Housing & Community Development, who Clinton Hardware remembered not for his title, but as Billman’s longtime neighbor and friend. Butler moved across the street from Billman family in 1978, beginning a friendship filled with neighborhood basketball games, conversations and nearly five decades of shared history.

Pieces of Clinton Hardware are finding new homes throughout the community. The store shared that its longtime seed counter will continue its life at Jirehs Place Nursery & Garden Center, while a rake that once hung above the counter will now be displayed at Rosecroft Raceway following a visit from Lisa and Dan. Other fixtures were also offered to customers during a final cash-only sale.

What remained after the doors closed is also being put to use. Following a customer recommendation, Clinton Hardware connected with Community Forklift and donated about 90% of its remaining inventory. The store said customers had purchased so much during its final days that there was little merchandise left to donate, calling the outcome a “WIN-WIN for everyone.”

A Piece Of Clinton Hardware’s Beginning Comes Home

One of the memories shared before the closing also brought the story back to where it all began.

A longtime customer walked into Clinton Hardware with an old wooden yardstick she had received as a giveaway from Ripple’s Hardware, the business that preceded Clinton Hardware. She gave it to Billman to add to his collection of antique hardware items.

The yardstick offered a small piece of the store’s earliest history.

The business began in 1946 as Ripple Hardware & Supply Co. Billman’s father, Clyde Billman, was a hardware salesman who called on the store before eventually purchasing the business from Ellsworth Ripple in 1963. Ripple’s Hardware was originally located in the shopping strip next to B.K. Miller’s before the Billman family expanded the business and moved it to Woodyard Road, where it became Clinton Hardware.

The relationship between the families extended beyond the sale of the business. Clinton Hardware recalled that Clyde and Ripple became friends, and some longtime Clinton residents continued referring to the store as Ripple’s Hardware years later.

Eight decades after the business began, that old yardstick found its way back to the family that carried the store through much of its history.

Although the doors are now closed, the stories are still being shared. Take a walk down memory lane on Clinton Hardware’s Facebook page, where the business continues to share photos, stories and moments from its 80 years in Clinton.

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