Hometown Hardware owners featured on Yahoo! web series (Update: closes)

Flickr user Anders Illum

Update September 13, 2012: Hometown Hardware fought the good fight, but lost. 

Trying to compete with the big boy, box stores like Home Depot or Lowes, Hometown Hardware, opened their doors on June 17 but have closed their doors on August 25, 2012. 

via their Facebook page:

"We fought the landlord and the landlord won!" Bill's Hometown hardware will be closing Sat. Aug 25 for good! We would like to thank everybody for there prays and support through our tough times. We gave it all we had blood, sweat,tears and money. We are now walking away and going to try to put some kind of life back together . New place to live and a new job. We had hoped for a big save at the end like"It's a wonderful life " movie but it did not come. Please support your local small business in your town. They are just trying to support themselves just like everybody else.

-Bill and Donna Clarke

The Clarke's have updated their page since and seem to be enjoying retirement. 

Read and watch the Clarke's below when they appeared on the Yahoo! webseries. 


First Report: The Myrtle Beach Herald was the first to report on local business owner Bill Clarke and his store being featured on Yahoo! News' "Remake America" web series.

As one of six small business owners struggling in this economy, Clarke and his family work hard to keep the doors open at their small town-style hardware store located in Myrtle Beach. Hometown Hardware celebrated their grand opening last June, and while the economy, as a whole, is getting better there is still a long way to go.

However, the economy isn't the only major issue Clarke and his family face. Besides the competition from the big box stores, Clarke say in his interview with WPDE News Channel 15, "It's just tough for a new business to get off the ground fast when you have limited capital."

Read WPDE's full write-up on Clarke and Hometown Hardware here. Also check out the Myrtle Beach Herald's piece here. You'll have to login or create an account. 

You can hop over to Facebook and become a fan of Hometown Hardware and make sure to follow the series over at Yahoo! News

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