By Paula Pyzik Scott

At noon on Monday, March 31, the keys and ownership of Keith's Hardware officially passed from Keith and Kathy Wire to Jason and Ursula Minich. The two local families, Century 21 Real Estate and Quest Federal Credit Union gathered on a day when the store closed for this purpose.

The Wires purchased Baker’s Hardware 45 years ago and first operated from rented space on Main St. They changed the name to Keith’s Hardware in 1986 and built the 106 S Johnson St store when part of their space was sold in 1989.

The transfer of stock from the old store to the new was a remarkable show of community support. The Wires recalled that 100 people helped move the hardware store contents. They hired a caterer to feed the volunteers breakfast, lunch and dinner for two days.

Similarly, the Wires went out of their way when Ada was crippled by the January 2005 ice storm, which resulted in power outages of up to 10 days. They sold items such as batteries and gas cans from the vestibule of the Johnson St. store. They used flashlights to find their way through the powerless building. It took an entire day to enter the sales into the system when power returned.

Keith Wire has been a person you turn to in emergencies large and small. What is the most common fix customers bring to the store? Toilet leaks. He noted that the selection grew with customer requests. The hardware store currently stocks some 16,000 items in the 80 x108 foot building.

Jason and Ursula Minich, who are also owners of Minich Enterprises, LLC, say their primary motivation in buying the business is simply to keep a hardware store in the community. Jason notes that it will still be named Keith’s Hardware, “because if it’s not broken, you don’t fix it.”

There may be changes in the future, such as Sunday hours, but for now the business will maintain hours of 8:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Repair services and UPS shipping are part of the store’s offerings. The Miniches thanked two other local businesses, Century 21 Sunway Realtors and Quest Federal Credit Union, for their support in the sale of the business.