About Us
Charles Lee Kincaid had always wanted to own a hardware store. Finally at the age of 60, he managed to trade his vegetable farm on Minors Lane for a building in Jeffersontown located at what was then called East Watterson Street (117). The building had been home of the Colonial Hotel built by J.L Wigginton in 1927. Inside the hotel housed a restaurant named the Marjorie Low.
There he opened his small enterprise in 1938. He called it C. L. Kincaid and Sons “The Hardware Men.” The sons were Carl W. Kincaid, Hugh L. Kincaid and Robert K. Kincaid. They were all partners.
He struggled to survive, with a lack of working capital in the last years of “The Depression.” Then World War II erupted and all merchandise, especially steel goods, tools, and building supplies, were needed for the war effort. He made slow progress and at the end of the war, he was joined back in the store by Hugh and Robert. The business continued to grow as did Jeffersontown.
Charles retired because of poor health and died on June 26th, 1955 at the age of 77 years old. The business was then sold to Marvin Weakley and Aulton Wearren who were brother-in-laws and lived in the Jeffersontown area. Marvin worked for the Jefferson County A.B.C. so, Alton was the managing partner for the business. During the 1960’s, the Bluegrass Industrial Park blossomed into one of the largest industrial parks in the nation.
J-town Hardware benefited from the influx of industrial business at its back door. In 1970, Marvin and Aulton were ready to retire. They contacted Dennis Stomberger, a neighbor of Marvin’s who had worked at the store on and off since 1961 and had expressed an interest to buy the store numerous times. Over the next 2 years they were able to come to an agreement and, in 1972, the store was sold to Dennis and Janet Stomberger, using Janet’s wedding ring as collateral.
With a new youthful owner, an S.B.A loan of $5000 in working capital, and help from Belknap Hardware, the store began its next chapter.
The store was branded as a Bluegrass Hardware dealer. The store experienced rapid growth, which was followed by a face lift and expansion of the sales floor from 1500 square feet to 3000 square feet. Shortly after, the Myers and Blankenbaker Funeral Home located next door (at 119 E. Watterson Street) was acquired allowing the sales floor to be increased to 9500 square feet along with a 3000 square feet warehouse, an outdoor garden center, and a 10-car parking lot which allowed the business to offer customers off-street parking for the first time.
When Belknap Hardware went out of business, the store changed wholesale suppliers and was branded with the Trustworthy Hardware name. The store continued to enjoy great growth. During the ’80s came the onset of the big box stores. During that period, Home Depot, Lowes, Meijer’s, Grainger, Walmart and a 25,000 square foot ACE Hardware pounded the market, all within a 2 mile radius of the business. The rapid growth ended, and the store began to search out niche sales areas to allow for continued success. The store survived those lean years by delivering legendary customer service and separating itself through different types of merchandising.
In 2004, Denny Stomberger decided to semi-retire until finally selling the business in 2010. The new owners were Tim and Cindy Meiners. Tim owned a successful Electrical contracting business and was not involved in day-to-day activities at the store. Tim had hopes that his children may find interest in the business. He made good investments into the business including a new Point of Sale system, the addition of a rental department, and other great improvements. But, like many great ideas, it was not meant to be. Tim made the tough decision to put the store up for sale in 2014. Brad Carson, who worked for Hilti – a construction supply company at the time – had signed up years earlier for a notification of business for sale. While Brad had experienced great success with his career, he continued to pray for what he hoped would be his final chapter.
After signing a non-disclosure and discovering that the store for sale was the one he had worked at during his youth, he felt God had delivered on his requests. Brad had worked for the store in the ’80s and enjoyed the business enough to continue at Home Quarters Warehouse, where he managed departments and expanded his knowledge and leadership skills until he eventually ended up working at Hilti in a leadership role.
Tim was approached by Brad and they came to an agreement on the purchase. Brad and Jennifer purchased the store in January 2015 (without using Jennifer’s wedding ring as collateral) and began the next chapter for J-town Hardware.
