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Burned Tampa Hardware Store 'Was Part Of The Community'

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By KATHY STEELE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 10, 2008

TAMPA - Tom Roberts can hardly bear to look at the charred walls and jumbled remnants of the World War II-era hardware store that has been his daily routine for 35 years.

Tampa Bay Hardware is a landmark in Seminole Heights and the oldest hardware store in the city, but it's also a personal history to the families who owned it.

"I can't come up with words," Roberts said Monday as he watched firefighters mopping up a day after a fire destroyed his store, 5511 N. Nebraska Ave., and Sullivan's Holster Shop behind it.

Roberts and his wife, Susan, learned of the fire about 6 p.m. Sunday when they got a call from a friend, a relative of the Sparks family, who sold the store to Susan Roberts' father, Earl Branch, in 1974.

The business opened as Sparks & Jordan Hardware in 1941.

"My father loved hardware stores," said Susan Roberts, whose memories of Sparks & Jordan date to her childhood in Seminole Heights. "We came here every Saturday. It was part of the community. That has carried over through the years."

Sleepless Night

Tom Roberts has been on site almost constantly since the fire. He went home to rest but couldn't sleep.

"Ten thousands things go through your mind," he said.

More than 50 firefighters battled the three-alarm blaze that engulfed the hardware store and holster shop and drew hundreds of onlookers. Firefighters were stationed along Ninth Street, behind the shops, to protect homes.

On Monday, heavy equipment was used to knock down walls in danger of collapsing.

The fire remains under investigation but the cause does not appear suspicious, Tampa Fire Rescue spokesman Bill Wade said. Building damage is estimated at $1 million.

Nebraska, which had been closed between Hillsborough and Hanna avenues, was reopened Monday afternoon.

As the Roberts family sought to understand the disaster, they kept watch for Rebel, an 11-year-old cat often found lounging at the checkout counter or wandering among the aisles.

Rebel hasn't been seen since the fire.

Greg and Fran Gutcher also held vigil for their holster shop, which they briefly thought might be saved before a flare-up caved in the roof.

About 30 years ago, they bought Sullivan's, where they primarily make fine leather sheaths for Orlando-based Randall Made Knives.

"It's all gone," Greg Gutcher said, including leather, equipment and a personal treasure of collectible knives.

He hopes to reopen in a new location but isn't sure insurance will cover the losses.

Tom and Susan Roberts don't know what comes next. If they rebuild, the store could never be what it was.

"We're trying to figure this out," Tom Roberts said.

A Trip Back In Time

On Monday, the two families took comfort in unexpected discoveries.

Greg Gutcher recovered some of his knives.

"Some are salvageable; others not," he said.

Firefighters pulled a 1940s safe from the hardware store, charred and melted on the outside but with valuable records inside almost untouched. Other books and tax records also were recovered.

Tampa Bay Hardware was a walk through the past. The great Southern comfort - air-conditioning - had not found its way there. Technology also was among the missing, though calculators were considered OK.

Receipts came handwritten.

"People come in here and say, 'I used to come in here with my Dad when I was a kid,'" four-month employee Andrew Holmes said. "It's just beautiful all the people who came here and loved the place. There won't be another place like this."

Peering into the ruins, he remembered a glass display case with a 1913 Ybor City Bank check, old barber's shears and dentures. At a miniature flea market table near the front people could sift for $1 bargains.

For a time Sunday night, Greg Gossett feared his home on Ninth might be in danger. He often walked over to the hardware store to shop; it was different from a trip to a home improvement store.

"They'd scrawl on a piece of paper," Gossett said. "The cat would be eating at the counter.

"You can't be the oldest in Tampa and not be a huge loss," he said.

Susan Roberts remembers visiting the store as a child and getting rides inside commercial cleaning buckets. More than one generation zipped along the aisles in tricycles and roller skates.

Her daughter, Jennifer Overton, held back tears recalling a visit to the store last month.

"I gave my son a ride in one of the buckets," she said.

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 835-2103 or ksteele@tampatrib.com.

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