Woody's demise

1. This morning we had Comcast out to upgrade our phone service from analog (over the cable) to digital. As a side benefit we also had an upgrade of our Internet cable modem. Our old cable modem looked like a shark fin and was 7 years (guessing) old. Chad (the Comcast guy) said the new cable modem was much faster. I'm not sure what much faster means (in terms of measurable speed) ... but faster is better than slower.
   
2. Chad disconnected my Netgear wireless router and then about left with a tangle of wires and the router disconnected. He said "we are not authorized to connect a wireless router". I guess it was alright to disconnect it but not to reconnect it. I connected it back up and the wireless did not work. We both worked on it a bit; he called technical support and I traced every wire and then rebooted the router.
   
3. As Chad left, tools hanging out of his overalls caught on my screen door and ripped it. (Which leads to the Woody's Hardware issue).
   

I knew that Woody's Hardware in the Four Seasons Mall did screen repair work, so I thought I would just drop the screen off and in a week it would be done. But I could not find Woody's in the yellow pages or via Internet search. I called Marcello's pizza over in the Mall and asked what happened to Woody's and they said that Woody's was out of business.

This is the second small 'Mom and Pop' hardware store to close since we have moved here. Scheibe's Hardware used to be on Hwy 55 near Fourth Baptist. I think that Forster's meat market took their place. The opening of Home Depot was the death knell for Sceibe's.

Woody's was a great little place if you wanted a specialty screw or needed specialty advice. I probably did not spend more than $ 300. over the last 11 years at Woody's. Whenever I needed paints, light bulbs, gardening supplies, etc. I went to Home Depot. Woody's came up today but I knew that they repaired screens. I've never had a screen repaired there but knew they did it. But today Woody's was closed! Gone! Out of business.

My second call was Frattallone's Ace Hardware in New Hope. Frattallone's does screen repair (and a fairly reasonable price of $ 35!) but they have a three to four week backlog. By backlog, I don't mean you can make an appointment and take it in in three or four weeks - I mean if you drop it off today, you will have it back in three to four weeks!

My third call was Lowe's, the latest mega-hardware store in Plymouth. At Woody's, you would call ... and they would pick up the phone. At Lowe's, you navigate a phone menu (press 2 for Spanish!) and finally get through to someone who doesn't have the answer but passes you on to another person who has the answer. And the answer was: "we don't do screens!"

The little lesson here is that if consumers won't support the little 'Mom and Pop' hardware store, it will close. And when it closes, who will repair those screens? And where will you get that advice about that little screw you need? Not at Woody's

The end of the story is that I found a company that will come right to my door and replace my screen: Screen Mobile.

I miss Woody's and I wish I had shopped there more!