Mayfair Hardware is celebrating 70 years of business this month.
Bruce Thomas has been running the store with a smile since 1949.
“I got the idea into my head I wanted to drop out of school, so my parents OK’d that,” said Thomas. “Some of them at Bedford Road Collegiate, they were telling me that I was making a mistake and everything, but it worked out OK for me quitting school.”
Thomas and his father opened the store on June 26, 1949. His father worked alongside him until his death in 1961.
Ever since opening, Thomas has been at this location, barely taking a day off. His long term employee, who has been there nearly two decades, said he’s never seen a day where Thomas hasn’t come into work.
Thomas helped provide a variety of hardware products for his community over seven decades, despite other local hardware stores slowly disappearing over the years.
Thomas said sometimes people bring in their finished products to the store to show off, something he takes as confirmation that he’s making an impact on his community.
Thomas doesn’t seem to be slowing down at 88-years-old and neither is his steady stream of customers and friends coming into Mayfair Hardware.
Thomas said he will continue to enjoy every day of work, other than one day a year: “The only thing I don’t like about business is taking stock once a year.”
