Seitz-Agin Hardware to close in 30 days

Photo courtesty of Seitz-Agin Hardware

Sometime by the end of June, Seitz-Agin Hardware – a fixture on Lee Road since 1955 – will close.

Joel Borwick, who has owned the store for 38 of its 66 years, said simply that the store had started losing money some time ago and that he can no longer keep it open. Borwick, who also owns the building in which the store is located, has an agreement to sell the property to another long-time Cleveland Heights merchant.

The Observer has not yet reached that merchant for comment.

“There’s no doom and gloom here,” Borwick emphasized. “This community is doing fine. But times change.”

For Seitz-Agin, the biggest issue was the drop in contractor business when the recession began. While this business was largely invisible to the store’s walk-in clientele, Borwick said it’s been an important part of the business – and that without it, the business wasn’t sustainable.

Observers began noticing dwindling inventory over the past six months, and in late April, word started leaking out that the store was going to close. May 21 is the last day the store allowed purchases made on house accounts..

“I’ve had 38 wonderful years here,” Borwick said. “Our customers have been wonderful. I’ll miss them.”

He said he hasn’ planned what he’ll do after closing the store. While he has a standing offer to work in his son’s business in Florida, he hopes to remain in Cleveland Heights, where he has been a community fixture as well as a respected merchant.

Borwick currently serves as president of the Heights Youth Club, and he has served on the board of the Cedar Lee Special Improvement district.

Look to the June issue of the Heights Observer for a more detailed story about Seitz-Agin closing.

Bob Rosenbaum

Bob Rosenbaum, a Cleveland Heights resident and chairman of the FutureHeights Observer committee, has been a Seitz-Agin customer for his entire life.

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Volume 4, Issue 5, Posted 12:28 PM, 05.20.2011