Business can be tough for an independent in the day of the great box stores.

Strickland Hardware has been in Piedmont for 70 years. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in the White House when J.B. Strickland decided to open the first of three incarnations of his store. His son, John Strickland, bought the business in 1986.

Strickland can remember a time when weekend shoppers stayed so late that dinner time lost its’ meaning. They’d keep the shop open until the crowd thinned enough to warrant closing, he said.

“It might be 10:30 or 11:00 on a Saturday night,” said Strickland. “Things changed.”

Back then people just didn’t go out of town to shop, said Strickland. But as shopping trends changed, so did Strickland’s Hardware. The hours are now 7:30 to 5 Monday through Friday. No Sundays, and they close at 3 on Saturday.

The merchandise has changed, too. J.B. started off selling auto parts as a Western Auto store, and over the years added pots and pans, fishing tackle, guns and ammunition, watches, knives, bicycles, and shortly after Thanksgiving, box after box of Christmas toys.

These days what makes Strickland’s unique is what they don’t do. They don’t make you buy stuff you don’t need.

“We’re still kind of old fashioned here,” said Strickland. Nails are sold by the pound and not just by the box. If you want 37 feet of rope, they cut it that way. And they stock what people are looking for, which Strickland said, is often something to fix a lawnmower with, or a part for a leaking toilet or a couple of cans of fresh paint for a bedroom makeover.

“To stay here this long we’ve had to adapt and survive. Find our niche for what we can sell and make our living at,” said Strickland. “You just have to keep evolving.”

Strickland described his father as a fair person who liked people and enjoyed his business. A man who never had a problem treating a customer like a friend, because, as Strickland said, they were.

Strickland’s wife. Linda, said that J.B’s easy manner and his willingness to go out of his way to help his customers and his community, was passed down from father to son.

“He has always felt that that was his calling,” said Linda. The two will celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary this month.

After getting his business degree at Jacksonville State University, John Strickland decided to head to Huntsville and start a new life and a new career, but things changed. He said he found himself unhappy in his work.

“My dad was beginning to talk retirement so we moved back down here, and he did retire about 10 years later,” said Strickland.

Linda and John had two children. Adam, their son, is 34 and works for an insurance company in Birmingham. Julie is 29 and lives in Memphis with her husband and a new baby named Bennett Johnston. Any mention of the grandbaby and Strickland lights up like a brand new string of Christmas lights.

As for passing the family business down to his son, Adam, Strickland said he never pressured his son to follow his lead, and he’s glad to see Adam is happy and living the life he wants to.

“He worked here like I did during high school and college, but I guess it just wasn’t in his blood,” said Strickland.

When asked about his plans for his own retirement, he said he just wasn’t sure yet.

“That day could come in a few years. I’ve had some health problems and that’s dictated a whole lot of how long I’ll stay here, but I’d like to find a buyer and see the business keep going. It’s kind of one of those things, it’ll just kind of happen when it happens,” said Strickland.

Among a stack of old photographs Strickland keeps in his desk is an old black and white photo of a 1947 Chevrolet truck. His dad sold it years ago, and since then the truck has changed hands countless times, evolving from an auto parts truck to a farm truck, a pulpwood truck and according to Strickland, “a little bit of everything.”

Over the years the truck evolved and its’ owner found ways to keep it relevant and useful. Eventually it was bought and restored by a man that lives just outside of town. He hasn’t brought it by to let Strickland see it yet, but he promises he will.

“Would you believe that thing’s still running?” asked Strickland.