Schultz Hardware & Paint Co.
Schultz Hardware and Paint Co. has been providing homeowners with quality products and service for 65 years.
Raymond Schultz returned from service in WWII determined to run his own business. A pharmacist before the war, Ray now found job prospects to be limited, and began peddling Proctor and Gamble's Pepto Bismol line full time. But it was the moonlighting gig he picked up on weekends that would change the course of his life and fulfill his business dream: He began to learn the hardware business at West End Hardware on Lawrence and Austin Avenues on Chicago's Northwest side. In 1946, Ray purchased 12-year-old Household Hardware at 7016 Higgins Ave. (buying his first car, business, and home in a single transaction), and promptly renamed it Schultz Hardware and Paint.
Ray made the most of his space in the tiny 1,500 sq. ft. store at 7016, adding a stone storefront to increase sales space to 2,000 sq. ft., until he was positively out of room. Half of the store's stock had to be placed on the sidewalk every morning to make the inside accessible. He purchased the two adjoining empty lots in 1956 and began construction of an expanded 5,000 sq. ft. Schultz Hardware store. Raymond continued to live above the store, always on call for a midnight plumbing emergency, until his death in 1990.
Raymond's son Greg Schultz and son-in-law John Prince were by this time running Schultz Hardware and had expanded the business considerably: By 1990 they had added a Garden Center and propane filling station.
As the neighborhood evolved so did Schultzes: Many of the employees were multi-lingual, catering to the burgeoning Polish and Italian populations on the northwest side of Chicago. Though small by today's standards, the 5,000-sq.-ft. store held more than 10,000 items in stock. Forever the family business, every member of Greg's and John's families at one time or another worked for Schultz Hardware and learned the trade.
In 1993 Greg and John purchased West End Hardware Store on Lawrence Ave., the very same store where Raymond had worked 48 years earlier.
Schultz Hardware was a Chicago institution from 1946 until 2007, and continues to provide online expertise with access to more than 10,000 quality products at competitive prices.
All with our own personal satisfaction guarantee.
Feel free to drop us a note with any questions about your home, our products, or just to reminisce about the old neighborhood. Check out our other photos from the old days, and even though our retail stores are closed, check out our great local ratings on Yelp.
Greg Schultz
Hardware Guy
