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Jackson Hardware opened on South Main Street in Brundidge in the Year 1900.

The storied hardware is in the process of closing its doors, perhaps, to reopen as a hardware or a business tailor made for this day and time.

Owner Brian McDaniels said it was with a heavy heart that the doors will close on the hardware that has been a staple in Brundidge for seemingly always.

“For so many years, Jackson Hardware had been the go-to place for Brundidge and the surrounding areas,” McDaniels said. “Brundidge is and has been a great town with the best kind of people. My plan, my hope, was for Jackson Hardware to continue to provide a needed service to the community and be an asset to community.”

However, times have changed and the changes have made it difficult for the mom and pop kinds of businesses to survive.

“Through it all, Brundidge has managed to hold on to its hometown atmosphere,” McDaniels said. “Brundidge is a community of friends and neighbors. And, I wanted to be a part of downtown business and also an active part of the community.”

McDaniels quickly joined the Rotary Club and the Brundidge Business Association and was soon its president. He organized BBA’s parades and other activities. He joined the Brundidge Historical Society and assisted with its annual parade and took the stage in the organization’s folk life play and he was Santa Claus on the firetruck and made visits all around.

“It was important for me to be part of the community and I will continue to be because I love Brundidge and its people,” McDaniels said. “But, times have changed and it’s hard, almost impossible, for small businesses to compete with the big box stores. Then, you have people ordering on-line and the Amazon(s) making home deliveries. There was no way for Brian McDaniels and Jackson Hardware to match up with that kind of competition.”

As the doors close on the hardware store that has, for more than 100 years, been “the” Brundidge hardware, McDaniels said, if there had been any other way, he would have taken it.