About Us

Gordon Hardware was opened in 1946 by brothers Max and Ben Gordon. What they established was a store where people could not only purchase hardware, but also receive actual help from knowledgeable people. We attempt to continue that tradition. We don’t know everything about everything, but what we don’t know, or don’t have on hand, we try to find for you. We also try to continue their tradition of carrying hard to find items and full lines of stock especially in fasteners and plumbing.

The store has always been in its current location first opening in our nuts and bolts “room”. They carried all the usual hardware items, but it sounds like they had a unique way of organizing things.

In the mid 1950’s, Max and Ben added major appliances to the building next door, currently our main “room”. Max ran the hardware section and Ben ran the appliance business, which continued until Ben’s death in 1971. Ben was very active in the community, especially in promoting mental health treatment and care. The Ben Gordon Center, a behavioral health organization, was named in his honor.

Max and Ben are fondly remembered by many of our older customers. They were known to be kind and generous. We hope to maintain that atmosphere in our store.

After Ben’s death, Max sold the appliance portion of the business. He maintained ownership of the hardware store until 1973, when he sold it to his employees Bob Fant and Dennis “Doc” Royalty. Bob bought Doc out of their partnership in 1975, so that Doc could pursue his wish to own a bowling alley/bar called Four Seasons Sports in Sycamore. Max continued to work at the store until his death in 1978.

Over the years, Bob expanded the store from the original building to the current three adjoining ones. Bob’s decisions and hard work, both as an employee and as an owner, was why the business grew. We believe Max knew that he was passing the store into good hands.

In 2006, employees Buz Blair and Trixy O’Flaherty bought the store. Their partnership continued until 2013 when Trixy bought out Buz. He still works here part time imparting his wisdom and drinking coffee. Through all of this we have tried to carry on in the spirit that Max and Ben established and Bob continued.

In addition to the items in our store, we have access to 70,000 items from our Co-op, Do It Best Corp. We also make special orders extensively; including small items like faucet parts or large items like industrial gas-powered pressure washers. We offer screen and window repair, key cutting, lock rekeying, and blade sharpening.