Bed-Stuy Mourns 'Queen' Clara Hayes, Owner Of Macon Hardware

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Janell Smith has made it a habit to stop by the Macon Hardware store where she once bought school supplies as a young girl growing up in Bed-Stuy.

But over time, it wasn't the book covers, toys or even the homemade church hats that kept her coming back: it was the woman behind the counter, shop owner Clara Hayes.

"As I got older, what I got there was just an ear to listen," Janell Smith told Patch. "You came in there to buy things, but you really came in there for the experience — to see Ms. Hayes."

Smith, whose grandmother was a good friend of Hayes, is among hundreds of Bed-Stuy neighbors mourning those long talks this week.

Hayes — who ran Macon Hardware for more than 70 years — passed away in February at 93 years old. She was buried on Wednesday.

"It’s going to be really lonely without her now," said Catherine Soloman, who has helped Hayes run the store since 2004. "She was a beautiful, beautiful person."

Hayes took over Macon Hardware, which has been open for 116 years, with her late husband after the couple worked in the store under its previous owners, friends said.

A native of North Carolina, Hayes' favorite topic during talks with customers was her time growing up on a farm, Smith said.

But more often, Hayes was checking in on others.

A common refrain at the end of Smith's visits to the shop was Hayes saying, "give this to your grandma," as she handed candy, a notebook or another item over the counter.

Smith said she always appreciated that Hayes would ask, without fail, how a relative was doing, often catching her by surprise when Hayes knew and remembered even distant members of her big family (Smith's grandmother is one of 18 kids). Smith often noticed the dozens of photos of neighborhood grandchildren tacked up on the wall behind the counter.

"She knew everyone," Smith said. "She was like a therapist, like an auntie."

In the weeks since Hayes' death, Smith holds onto the fact that she brought her grandmother, who uses a walker, to see Hayes on her grandma's birthday in 2019.

Hayes' far reach in Bed-Stuy was abundantly clear in the likely hundreds who paid their respects this week at the funeral, which was live-streamed on Zoom, according to Smith and Soloman.

Even as Bed-Stuy changed through the decades, Hayes' magnetic personality was a constant that drew in new neighbors as well as old friends, Soloman said.

For Soloman, who met Hayes when their children grew up together, it was that "beautiful" personality that led her to move in with Hayes when she retired. A self-proclaimed "volunteer" at Macon Hardware, Soloman held a front row seat to those talks Hayes was known for over nearly two decades.

"People used to come just to see the two old ladies — that was us," Soloman said with a laugh. "People would tell her their problems and she would try to help as much as she could."

Soloman, along with Hayes' family, has been keeping the store running in the weeks since her death. She wasn't sure of the family's longterm plans for the store when reached by phone Thursday.

In the meantime, Soloman knows her friend would be happy about her mark on Bed-Stuy.

"She always said," Soloman recalled, "'If anything happens to me, I want people to say I was well-liked and I was a good person."