Becker Hardware to mark
100th anniversary with
special event, sales
JEFF GRANIT A lot of things have changed in the past century, including the product line offered at Becker Hardware, Colts Neck, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Jeff, Dan and Art Becker (l-r) continue to operate the business that was started by Art Becker’s grandfather.
on back of N.J. peddler
Becker Hardware to mark
100th anniversary with
special event, sales
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
COLTS NECK — Becker Hardware is 100 years old and still hardy, still evolving and still family owned.
Located in the Colts Neck shopping plaza on Route 34, the business has grown from a door-to-door back pack operation to a 22,000-square-foot store with 7,000 square feet dedicated to an outdoor power equipment showroom and service facility.
In order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the business, Arthur Becker, the present owner, is planning to offer "One Hundred Days of Giveaways," starting with an open house on June 7, which will include a cake cutting in the afternoon.
"We’ve invited a lot of people: longtime customers, local politicians and a Dixieland band. We’re going to have a good old time," Becker said.
He explained that during the 100 days, he and his two sons, Dan and Jeff, are going to give away a prize a day, starting with a $1,000 Weber grill and culminating with a big screen television. They are also going to roll back prices on selected items each week. For instance, a Husqvarna riding mower, which regularly sells for $9,299, will sell for $8,000, and a Manco Deliuz two-seat go-cart that regularly sells for $2,499 will sell for $2,200.
How the business has evolved over the past century is a story of hard work, flexibility and a kind of instinctive market research. Becker said his grandfather was a peddler, although he does not know what products his Lithuanian grandfather, Morris, sold from his pack when he started peddling products sometime between 1885-90 at the age of 16.
"He was a young man at the time, the youngest in his family. He came to this country with his mother and had two older siblings already here. He sold his products in the Montclair and Bloomfield area," the business owner said.
According to Becker, his grandfather couldn’t read or write English when he came to America, but by the time he (Becker) came along, his grandfather spoke flawless English and without an accent.
"He had a gift for language. I remember different immigrants coming into the store. My grandfather could communicate whether they were speaking, Russian, Polish, Italian or Spanish," he said.
Morris Becker eventually got married and settled in an Italian neighborhood in New York, his grandson said. Apparently, Becker’s grandparents displayed the adaptability that seems to be characteristic of the family.
"We are Jewish, but since my grandparents lived in an Italian neighborhood, my grandmother learned to make the best Italian dishes. She also made traditional Jewish dishes, like chopped liver and chopped herring," Becker said.
In 1903, Morris and a partner started a hardware and housewares store in downtown New York City on the corner of Thompson and Bleeker streets, he said.
"Then, in early 1920, my grandfather and two of his sons, my father, Joseph, and an uncle, moved the store to Red Bank. They came to Monmouth County because Morris had two brothers already settled in Red Bank.
"One had a general store. My grandparents bought that building from them because there was a tragedy in the family and they wanted to move to California. My grandfather moved his business to their Red Bank building on the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Catherine Street, on the west side of Red Bank," Becker said.
The business survived the Depression and moved to Colts Neck in March 1972 after 50 years in Red Bank.
Besides changing locations, the merchandise the store carries has changed, too. According to Becker, his grandfather fixed coal and wood burning stoves, and sold tools and hardware in the store on Bleeker Street.
"It was somewhat of a fix-it shop. He was very handy and he could fix anything," he said.
When Joseph Becker took over he expanded the business to include lawn and garden products and now, with Arthur at the helm, the store carries power equipment.
The product line reflects the personality and interests of the owner at the time, Becker said.
"It was right after World War II when my father took over. He liked growing things so we got into lawn and garden care. Victory gardens were popular then.
"When we came out here to Colts Neck, I added outdoor power equipment. I like the outdoors, and so it reflects on me a bit. I’m more mechanical than my father. We are selling a lot of power equipment, and we service the equipment," he said.
Becker said competition also forced the business owners to change things.
"There was a time when toys were a staple in hardware stores. Hardware stores were more like general stores. The first thing we got out of was toys.
"I remember in the early 1950s that we had a great amount of housewares but because of competition from stores that specialized in housewares, we got out of that. You learn as you go along. Sometimes you need more space for other things and you get rid of items that aren’t performing well," Becker explained.
Although they gave up selling toys, they have added go-carts.
"They are big, expensive toys, but it goes along with the power equipment. We also sell outdoor barbecues now. Basically, nothing is the same as it was 30 years ago, not even the lawn mower," the owner said.
Becker, who is the same age now that his father was when he moved the business to Colts Neck, said when his father announced they were moving, "people thought he was nuts to buy another store at the age of 57 in the middle of nowhere. But look at the area now. We’ve added a lot more power equipment and bought another dealership, Central Repair Services in Marlboro."