Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
Little Hardware 2014
Park Lane owner Michael Mouron gutted the building to make as part of his renovations for Little Hardware. The store’s brickwork, ducts and metal trusses will be exposed as part of the building’s vintage feel.
When customers walk into Little Hardware’s new location in October, they might think they’ve been transported back to its 1946 opening. The Park Lane building, formerly inhabited by Kathy G’s, is being completely remodeled to show off more than 60 years of history.
Park Lane Grocery opened in the late 1940s, right around the time Little Hardware was starting out in Ensley. The building was also home to a restaurant and Kathy G’s before Michael Mouron of Capstone Real Estate Investments bought the property earlier this year. After signing a lease agreement with Little Hardware owner Frank Davies III in April, Mouron decided to gut the interior and rebuild it.
“He’s going all out to make a new home for Little Hardware,” Davies said.
With help from architect Pete Pritchard, Mouron’s goal is to make Park Lane look like “an old-timey hardware store.” The storefront will have a new patio, decorative lights and cypress beams supporting the awning. Inside, the kitchen, raised seating areas and even the ceiling has been torn out. The building’s original brickwork and metal trusses will be exposed, and new LED and vintage lights are being installed. Lumber from Park Lane’s former sub-ceiling is being repurposed to create baseboards and the front of the store’s mezzanine.
“We’re going back to what [the store] was originally,” Mouron said.
Behind the 8,100-square-foot store, Little Hardware will also have a dry storage shed for small engine repairs and storing bagged goods such as concrete and pine bark. The shed will feature seven storage bays with roll-up doors, and Mouron is installing a fence to separate the shed from nearby homes. Mouron said neighbors have been very supportive of the renovation process; architect and nearby resident John Carraway even designed the storage shed.
“Little Hardware is so popular and everybody in Mountain Brook and Homewood seems to shop there, so the neighbors were thrilled to have Little Hardware come in,” Mouron said. “We had great support from the neighborhood, which is not often the case.”
Little Hardware can begin moving into Park Lane on Oct. 15, but it will take a few weeks before the store is open for business. Davies said he’s looking forward to reorganizing the store’s layout, but almost everything else will stay the same.
“We don’t really plan on changing much. All the customers want us to keep everything like it is,” Davies said. “It’ll allow us to make minor improvements where we see best fit.”
After 55 years at the Mountain Brook Village shopping center, Davies said it will be hard to say goodbye to his neighboring shop owners and break decades-old habits. He’s excited about Little Hardware’s opportunities in its new location, but it will take some time to get used to it.
“My car is probably going to drive itself to this [Mountain Brook Village] parking lot automatically. I don’t know how I’ll ever change my habits of where I go in the mornings,” Davies said.
