“It’s just the way we do business here,” Cullen said nonchalantly. “Brant’s has always been about customer service. I’m just following in the footsteps of the owners.”
For 80 years, Brant’s, Lebanon’s friendly neighborhood hardware store, has prided itself on being the store down the block ready to help out a customer in need.
“We repair things instead of replace them,” said Anna Stoker, Brant’s office manager. “Our motto is if you can’t find it at Brant’s, you don’t need it.”
Brant’s began as a coal and feed store in the 1850s. In 1929, former Warren County Sheriff Alfred C. Brant purchased the business, which at the time was called Lewis and Drake. It was not renamed Brant’s Hardware until 1945.
Alfred had two sons — Richard and Zane — who took over the business from him. At age 88, Dick Brant Sr. still visits the store that bears his name, usually three times a day. Brant likes to know what’s going on, but also enjoys chatting with employees he considers family and offering advice to customers.
“Dick senior remains our greatest resource,” Stoker said. “There is nothing he doesn’t know about hardware.”
“I love just being in the store and knowing the products,” said Brant, eyeing a seemingly endless row of nuts and bolts, separated by minute distinctions in size and shape.
The store remains a community center for many. Stoker remembers many times seeing people come in just to sit and chat with one of the Brant’s for a while.
“We have a very small town feeling here I think people usually associate with the South,” Stoker said.
Being around for 80 years, Brant’s has seen loss, but every employee said nothing was as devastating as losing Dick Brant Jr., who died from a brain tumor in May. Dick Jr. had worked at the store since 1973.
“There’s not a day that goes by, I don’t think about him,” Stoker said, pointing to a picture of Dick Jr. that sits in the office.
“Following in Dick (Jr.’s) footsteps hasn’t been easy,” Cullen said. “The Brant’s family are good business people but they are just good people, too.”
Stoker and Cullen said they will continue to compete with larger hardware chain stores, using their knowledge not just of tools but of their customers as their focal point.
“Being here for people, serving the community, just knowing people’s names,” Cullen said.
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