Third Generation of Family Keeps Wagner’s Hardware Current
When customers walk into Wagner’s Hardware and Gifts, a Century Club retailer in Cuero, Texas, they find themselves in the atmosphere of an early 1900s hardware stores, writes Kathryn Cargo in the Victoria Advocate.
It’s been in the Wagner family for three generations, in a location that has always been a hardware store.
Almost all building infrastructure is original, including the wall cabinets, display units, longleaf pine floor and wall shelving. The only updated infrastructure is the inner shelving.
The building at 110 North Esplanade was built in 1891 by R.C. Warren and operated as R.C. Warren Hardware. Walter Pettit Wagner bought the store in 1945 from family members and it has remained in the Wagner family ever since.
Reed Wagner and his wife, Beverly Wagner, married in 1979 and soon ran the store. He bought Wagner’s from his grandmother, Faye Wagner, who continued to work there until her death in the late 1990s.
The Wagners sell a wide range of products and keep them competitively priced, which allows them to compete with the big-box stores.
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