After fire, restaurants rally to support Falkenhan’s Hardware employees

In some ways, Casey Jarvis’ budding hot dog business was built by Falkenhan’s Hardware in Hampden.

“Many of the screws and bolts on my hot dog cart that hold it together were purchased from Falkenhan’s,” said Jarvis, owner of Glizzy’s Wagyu Dogs. “I’m in there three to four times a week. Well, I was.”

Regulars of Falkenhan’s like Jarvis have missed the family-owned store since Dec. 15, when a two-alarm fire caused by an electrical accident engulfed the neighborhood staple on the corner of Chestnut Avenue and West 34th Street.

On Monday evening, local restaurants and businesses will rally to host a benefit event at nearby Union Craft Brewing for the employees of Falkenhan’s, which remains closed.

The benefit will feature a buffet of food from roughly 20 local restaurants, including Glizzy’s, Clavel, Frazier’s on the Avenue and the Charmery, along with a silent auction, said Jon Carroll, one of the night’s organizers and owner of Carroll & Son Fine Foods, the brewery’s on-site eatery.

Tickets, which cost $28.25 online, include the buffet, a drink ticket and access to raffles and the silent auction.

“We love the store so much; we just wanted to help,” said Carroll, an area resident for two decades.

First, though, they had to get Debbie Falkenhan, the store’s owner, on board — a tall task.

“I have been totally against a fundraiser, and I was definitely against GoFundMe, because I’m not that kind of person,” Falkenhan said Friday. Three months after the fire, she acquiesced with a stipulation: All of the money would go to her staff, not her.

“I said, OK, as long as it’s for the guys,” said Falkenhan, whose late father opened the store in 1968.

For fans of the hardware store, Falkenhan provided a positive update. She hopes to enter the building by the end of March to begin cleaning up. The ideal scenario would be to reopen by Dec. 15, one year after the fire, but it will depend on the severity of the damage.

“It’s something to shoot for. I just can’t guarantee it’s going to happen,” she said.

The break has given Falkenhan a chance to reevaluate the store. Before reopening, she plans to modernize it, including installing a point-of-sale system.

“It will still have that old hardware store feel, but we have some plans, if it works out, to make some changes,” she said.

One thing that won’t change is the staff. “We miss all of our customers, and everybody is planning on being back when we reopen,” Falkenhan said. “We’ll have the same crew.”

That’s music to the ears of Carroll, who praised Falkenhan’s helpful and knowledgeable employees. The store is “one of the last bits of dying Americana,” Carroll said — a remnant of a time before online shopping and big-box stores.

“You’re not walking around endless aisles of stuff, looking for somebody to find something for you,” he said.

For Jarvis, helping Falkenhan’s is a no-brainer.

“They’re ingrained in the community, and they have everything anybody might need,” he said. “They’ve always been there for us, and we gotta be there for them.”