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Harry's Fix-It Shop Brings A Simpler Time Back To Life

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 8, 2007

KEYSTONE - Harry Gurr has been fixing things the old-fashioned way for decades.

'It's a craft that's disappearing, working with your hands,' he said.
Gurr and his wife, Cathy, run Harry's Fix-It Shop, 17401 Gunn Hwy. The property - about 1 3/4 acres - has been both a workshop and home to the couple for 39 years, 'covered from one end to the other with junk,' Gurr said.

To residents in the know, it's a veritable museum.

The property is strewn with devices from another era - antique engines, a rope maker and a 1956 Ford tractor 'that runs like a new one.'

The smell of gasoline permeates the shop. It's hard not to feel, walking the grounds, as if one has traveled back in time.

'Most of what you see is stuff to be repaired,' Gurr said. Most of the work he gets these days is lawn mower repair. He estimates he fixes 50 a week. His job hasn't changed much, just the surroundings.

The local suppliers and repairmen are gone, according to Gurr.

'I don't know what happened to the Tampa area,' he said. 'I guess they get more centralized, and they buy up the smaller places.'

The big hardware stores aren't competition, Gurr said, because they don't do repairs - at least not like he does.

'Most of those big shops won't work on what they don't sell,' he said. 'They won't even sharpen your blades. I have people coming here from Land O' Lakes to get a blade sharpened.

'It's all down to greed,' he said. 'They forget that not every customer coming through the front door has a pocket full of money. There's got to be somebody who caters to these people. My business is repeat business.'

No one works for Gurr. His hands touch every item on the property. His wife handles the ordering and the walk-in customers.

Born in Sulphur Springs, Gurr graduated from Chamberlain High School in 1962. Two years later, he joined the Air Force. He was stationed in Guam during the Vietnam War before leaving the service in 1968.

The year he came home he opened Harry's Fix-It Shop.

The jewel of the property - a newly constructed country store - is a replica of a landmark from Gurr's childhood. Growing up in rural Florida he used to visit the original Fern Lake country store, operated by Bertha Saylor. 'I loved her to death,' he said. 'She treated me like family.'

He built that old shop as a tribute to her. When he finishes work in the interior, it will be a museum of antique appliances.

'People bring me things that belonged to their grandparents all the time,' Gurr said.

Interested residents pop their heads in from time to time to check on the progress of the store and to remember life before the digital age.

The country store is a labor of love, 10 years in his imagination and a year spent in the building. He finds time to work on it in between repair jobs and on nights and weekends.
Gurr cut all the lumber for the store/museum on-site with his own saw mill, yet another seemingly ancient but thoroughly working piece of an industry all but forgotten by the world.

Behind his property, where orange groves once grew, stands a 66-house subdivision.

'I guess that's what they call progress,' he said, looking over the fence. 'But the people are real nice.'
Gurr offers use of his tractor to his neighbors if they need work done.

Some stroll in for the simplest of jobs - a broken lamp cord that needs mending, or a stuck wheel.

'I like doing things the old way,' he said. 'I guess there aren't many people left who still do.'

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or at shammill@tampatrib.com.

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