UWS Hardware Store Owner Hopes GoFundMe Can Save Business

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The owners of a longtime Upper West Side hardware store, Beacon Paint & Hardware, are fighting to keep the store in business and getting a helping hand from a crowdfunding effort started by their customers.

A friend of Beacon Paint & Hardware's owners established GoFundMe campaign with a goal to raise $100,000 for the 119-year-old business on Amsterdam Avenue and West 78th Street. The store isn't in imminent danger of closing, but competition from online and big-box retailers combined with rising costs may eventually force the business to shutter, store owners told Patch.

Bruce Stark, one of the store's owners, said that he's "overwhelmed" by community support for the business and said that he loves his customers. The Stark family has owned Beacon Paint & Hardward since 1971. Stark said that despite the proliferation of big-name retailers in New York City, small businesses offer customers better service.

"You get to deal with somebody that cares. Somebody that is responsible. They know what you need and it’s hands on service," Stark said.

Unlike many situations where a small business is threatened, Beacon Paint & Hardware's landlord is not to blame. Stark said that a change of the minimum wage to $15 — a policy he agrees with politically — has contributed to rising costs of doing business.

The idea to set up a GoFundMe was inspired by the recent successful crowdfunding effort to save Westsider Books, the neighborhoods last remaining used and rare bookstore.

"This came about because I was talking to a friend about the Westsider Rare & Used Books on Broadway, and how $50,000 was raised in four days to allow that store to remain open. My friend remarked that we could raise twice that amount," Beacon Paint & Hardware's owners wrote in a statement posted to the business Facebook page.

Owners said they were "flabbergasted" and " embarrassed" when they noticed the fund had been created, but eventually warmed to the idea.

Those interested in donating to the fund can click here.

Patch reporter Gus Saltonstall contributed to this report.

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