Summary

Brown’s Hardware will shutter by April 1 with the sale of the property where the store is located at the behest of Hugh Rose Brown’s heirs.
John Taylor, the current owner of the business itself, has no plans to reopen the hardware store at another location in the City.
The buyer and plans for the business’s location at Broad and Washington Streets are not yet public.

At the end of March, the oldest business in Falls Church will close its doors. Brown’s Hardware, a landmark in the City since 1883, will shutter with the April 1 sale of the property on the northwest corner of Broad and Washington Streets.

The buyer and plans for the location at 100 W Broad Street have not yet been made public. Attorney John G. Jackson, a partner with the Falls Church firm of Baskin, Jackson, Zetlin & Mothershead, P.C. and now retired and living in North Carolina, is handling the sale.

Historic Brown's store — The original Brown’s store

Different owners of the business and the property

John Taylor, current owner of the name “Brown’s Hardware” and the business itself, explained that the land and the building in which the store is located, and the parking lot are held in a family trust. When he died on November 5, 2018, Hugh Rose Brown, the third generation to own and operate Brown’s Hardware, had no children of his own. He left the business to Mr. Taylor, his longtime store manager, and the property to his heirs, Charles Brown of Augusta, Georgia, and cousins throughout the east coast.

As a result, “there was always a chance that such a sale would happen,” Mr. Taylor said. He does not know what will replace the hardware store but anticipates the space will be gutted and a long-term lease of five to ten years sought by the new landlord, perhaps for a restaurant. The City assessed the value of the property at $1,322,400 in 2024; it is probable that the sale price is multiples of that amount.

A changing retail landscape

Interior photo of Brown's today — Inside Brown’s Hardware

The sale of the property also follows a decade “of big changes” in retail, Mr. Taylor added. “With Amazon, big box stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s, and inflation and energy costs driving up the cost of the products that Brown’s stocks, it’s gotten harder to compete.”

Buying habits have changed, too. “We will help some customers address a problem for 15 minutes, come up with a solution, and then they’ll take out their phones and say they can get the product we’ve suggested cheaper online,” he said.

The pandemic years saw a respite in Brown’s downward trajectory. “People were home, doing projects, and working in their gardens,” said Mr. Taylor. But as vaccines made Covid less threatening and the shift in buying habits from brick-and-mortar stores to online purchasing continued, it has become more difficult to make ends meet. “The only time people don’t bother to check the price of an item is when the weather is cold and it snows,” he added ruefully.

Hard to hire staff

In addition, Mr. Taylor said it has been difficult to recruit and retain staff who are interested in and committed to the hardware business. He has spent 55 years in this field, arriving at Brown’s in 1997 when Snyder’s Hardware on Lee Highway in Arlington closed. Mr. Taylor’s son, Dave, began work at the store when he was in high school, some 26 years ago. Larry Gutierrez has been a Brown’s employee since 2003. The three full timers at the store are joined by part-time employees Charles Rydell and Ryan Eliades. Ellen Stewart is the business’s longtime bookkeeper, “our Chief Financial Officer,” said Mr. Taylor.

“We are really, really sad that we won’t be able to accommodate our loyal customers,” Mr. Taylor said on behalf of the Brown’s staff. “Their support, their loyalty was the reason for coming in every day.”

Photo of Brown's staff — Brown’s staff, from left to right, Charles Rydell, Larry Gutierrez, Dave Taylor, and Brown’s owner, John Taylor

No Brown’s 2.0

Mr. Taylor says he has no plans to continue Brown’s Hardware at another location, despite efforts by some City representatives to persuade him to do so. The lack of a convenient location able to accommodate delivery trucks and with sufficient parking, coupled with the area’s high rents and taxes make such a task seem impossible, he said.

With the closure of Brown’s, the Falls Church community is losing another of its distinctive and valued features. Reviewers on Yelp offer 21^st century testimony to the store’s convenience, expertise, and customer service. Said one reviewer, “Every town needs a good hardware store. This is a good one. There’s always somebody there to help you find that one little part that you need. Lots of yard tools, mulch, sand, potting soil, birdseed, etc. keys made, All kinds of glues, paints, nuts and bolts, tools. Prices seem competitive. And worth it for the expertise and convenience of having a local hardware store, even if you might occasionally pay a tiny bit more. And I’m not even sure that you will.”

Brown’s history

Hugh Brown of Brown's Hardware — Hugh Rose Brown

Opened by schoolteacher James W. Brown as Brown’s Groceries and Hardware 142 years ago, the establishment was the City’s—then township’s—first commercial enterprise. Mr. Taylor calls James Brown “the godfather of hardware.”

When James died in 1904, he left the business to his son Horace, who not only ran the family’s general store, but also served as vice president of Falls Church Bank across the street. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, Horace offered long-term loans to help local residents get back on their feet. He also served as an original trustee of the Falls Church Volunteer Fire Department in 1925 and participated in ceremonies in 1952 to dedicate George Mason High School, today Meridian High.

Hugh was born in 1926 to Horace and Augusta Rose Brown and grew up in Falls Church. He helped his father at the store from a young age, becoming a partner in the family business in the mid-1950s. Horace and Hugh planned to expand Brown’s and focus exclusively on hardware when Horace had a stroke and died in 1959, leaving Hugh to execute their vision.

Over the next 60 years, Brown’s thrived, offering the specialized products and small quantities typically missing at chain stores. Hugh faithfully ran the shop with what Mr. Taylor and others describe as “honesty, kindness, and hard work” until his own death in 2018 at the age of 92.

Accolades

Since then, Mr. Brown has been honored with Virginia House Joint Resolution No. 744, “Celebrating the life of Hugh Rose Brown” in 2019; an October 4, 2021, PBS episode of If You Lived Here titled Brown’s Hardware Has Been Building Falls Church Since 1883 and featuring Mr. Taylor; and a special cocktail at the Dogwood Tavern named “Mr. Brown’s Rusty Nail,” a mix of Drambuie, scotch, and cinnamon syrup with a cinnamon stick and orange rind garnish. The City also recognized all three generations of Browns by naming a downtown park “Mr. Brown’s Park.”

Mr. Brown—for that is how the community referred to him—always credited his knowledgeable and devoted staff with maintaining the values on which the business was founded. In an October 19, 2007 article in the D.C. Examiner, Mr. Brown is quoted saying, “I’ve got a good man—John Taylor—running the place. Hopefully, he’ll keep things going for a while.” And that Mr. Taylor and the team at Brown’s have done.