End of an Era: Raleigh's Briggs Hardware to close
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- After 150 years, it's hard to call Briggs Hardware store, simply a hardware store; it's so much more to so many people.
The owner, Evelyn Murray, announced Tuesday that Briggs will shut down next month. It marks the end of an era for a Raleigh institution that has been around since the closing days of the Civil War.
Back in 1865, when Fayetteville Street was still a dirt road, there was Briggs Hardware. In 1874, the four-story hardware store stood as Raleigh's tallest building. It became a Raleigh relic, complete with its own scent.
"I just loved the smell of that old hardware store," said Joyce Hawley, who has been a loyal Briggs customer for 53 years. "I can come in here and these wonderful guys would help me out. They knew exactly what I was looking for. And it's like the end of an era."
The legacy of the old Thomas H. Briggs General stores is all over the walls at the current store in pictures and news clippings. After six generations, it is still family owned.
"It's a sad day for the Briggs family," said Briggs Hardware owner, Evelyn Murray.
Murray, who is a Briggs descendent, helped shepherd the store's survival; moving from downtown to its current location off Six Forks Road and Atlantic Avenue. She said the current economic waves were just too much to bear.
Briggs never recovered from the Great Recession. The housing downturn meant less business from builders -- not to mention growing competition from national chains and online retailers.
"We have a warm following, a gracious following. It just wasn't enough," Murray said.
In the hours after Murray signed the closing papers Tuesday, it was business as usual in the half-store, half-museum. Thomas Briggs' old tools still hang on the walls. They are tools that helped build homes in Raleigh's historic Oakwood and Mordecai neighborhoods.
Customers are heartbroken.
"It's a loss for Raleigh, for the neighborhood, for small-town America," Hawley lamented.
Holding back tears, Evelyn Murray expressed gratitude to her loyal customer base.
"I just want to thank everybody for caring," she said.
Briggs Hardware will also be remembered for its corporate citizenship; donating supplies and money to hurricane victims and Raleigh's homeless through the years. Murray said the family will try to continue that going forward.
Briggs is set to close for good on July 10.
