Shores Sure Return Home to Cave Springs Was Right

Gary Shores, president of Shores Enterprises Inc., was dying to get out of Cave Springs in 1975. Now, he’ll probably be buried there.

rUnder its third generation of family ownership, Shores Hardware is one of only three stores in this Benton County town of 1,103 people. But Shores said the business, which dates back to the late 1800s and is one of the oldest stores in all of Northwest Arkansas, boasts about 2,000 customers or 300-400 walk-ins weekly.

rIt comes down to tradition, he said.

rThe somewhat rural 6,000-SF store, which employs three people and does business as Shores True Value Hardware, sells everything from saddles to solar-powered electric fences. The friendships are free.

r”I had an older man who used to trade here all the time come in today,” Shores said. “He was asking about my dad and uncle Eddy, what they’re doing and all. That makes me feel good, like I’m a part of something that’s been here so long. It makes me feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

rShores’ grandfather, an apple orchard farmer named Carl Shores, bought the business on May 15, 1930. The family orchards occupied a big block of land just south of what today is Pinnacle Country Club. The family had saved money to buy farmland, but decided the hardware store was a better investment.

rBuying the store outright paid off since most Benton County banks and farm owners went broke within a year under the strain of the Great Depression. Gary’s father, Don, and uncle Eddy eventually joined their parents at the business, and by 1953 the name was changed to Shores Hardware & Propane Gas Inc.

r”We had a lot of rural propane customers who are in the poultry growing business,” Gary Shores said. “We also supplied Scott Paper in Rogers and all of Schwans Northwest Arkansas trucks for a time. It was a good business, but I don’t miss being on call 24 hours per day.”

rCarl and his wife, Cecil, were killed in September 1971 in a car crash. The propane segment was sold in 1997 because Don wanted to retire. Other than sojourning for a three-year stint at Harding College from 1975-78, Gary Shores said he’s been working around the store all of his life.

rNowadays, he said, the business thrives on its affiliation with True Value Hardware. That gives the small company buying power that enables it to compete with mammoths like Lowe’s and National Home Centers.

r”I can compete on most items that we both carry,” Gary Shores said. “I can’t imagine having any other job. It can be hard working with family, but you come to appreciate the history and tradition.”

rShores Hardware’s store contains a display case that functions as the psuedo museum for the city. Everything from old hardware products to memoribilia from the town’s defunct Coon On A Log spectacle, which in 1930 made the cover of Life magazine, can bee seen there.