Loyal customers share memories as Soukup's Hardware store prepares to close

The day after the Cubs finally won the World Series, the place to be in downtown Glen Ellyn wasn't the sports bar.

Soukup's Hardware became the unofficial gathering spot for a few reasons. The shop's window displays have remained a shrine to Wrigley Field. And owner Ryan Soukup is a lifelong - and chatty - Cubs fan.

But the customers poured into the store mostly because Soukup runs the Main Street fixture less as a business and more like a community hangout. Dogs and desserts are always welcome when folks come in to shoot the breeze with Soukup and his employees.

"Everybody just came in and talked Cubs all day," Soukup said. "I don't know if I sold anything. I don't care. People called me congratulating me like I won the World Series, and that just goes with the job. We're running a hardware store. You talk about whatever."

And so when he made the painful decision to close the 81-year-old store, customers again showed up Thursday to talk.

One looked back on the time they bought their first Red Ryder wagon at Soukup's. Another asked for a keepsake Soukup's shirt because he wanted "something to hold on to."

Bobbi Laing let Soukup know she received the store's letter about the closing in the mail and interrupted her husband's shower to relay the sad news.

"It's been a treasure," Laing said.

Soukup's also has been a cozy and reliable place, a source of hometown pride. Black-and-white pictures trace the family business back to the 1920s. Doughnuts sit on the counter. Cubs jerseys hang from the ceiling.

"A lot of talk around here is Cubs," Soukup explains, "hardware and Cubs."

His relatives didn't pressure him into joining the family business that once operated eight hardware stores across the suburbs. He started in the toy department in the old Elmhurst shop at 13 years old and enjoyed the relationships that came with the job.

Soukup grew up and still lives in St. Charles. But he wanted to work in Glen Ellyn, where his immediate family bought the store from another side of the Soukup clan in the 1960s.

"It comes down to the people and this town just especially ... Glen Ellyn has just embraced us. It's not really a job coming in here. I come in here and get to talk to people all day."

Fixer-uppers could count on Soukup to answer their home improvement questions. He's even sent his employees to their houses to help them shut off their water or gas.

"You're helping people all day long," Soukup said. "If you don't want to help people, you're in the wrong business in a hardware store. I think you're going to find that in any independent hardware store."

Like other independent stores, Soukup said he's seen declining sales on items that can be bought online and "dropped on your doorstep." So he focused on "niche" products such as Weber grills and washers and dryers.

But the time is right to close the doors, partly because the family-owned building has been purchased by buyers who are expected to invest in renovations, Soukup said. He expects he will know more about how the new owners will use the building next week.

Soukup has no immediate plans after a closing sale ends and the store shuts its doors by the end of the month. His employees - one has worked for more than 25 years at Soukup's - are staying until the last day, too.

"This has to be done right, and then we can move on from there," he said.