You are reading

Archer Hardware Store to Close after 79 Years

Archer Hardware Store

March 28, 2018 By Tara Law

Archer Hardware Store, which has been in Jackson Heights for 79 years, will close Saturday.

Vasantal “Victor” Mehta, 72, has operated the store at 73-21 Broadway with his wife, Jayaovaben, for 35 years. The pair have decided that its time to retire.

Mehta, who moved to Queens as a young man from the Indian province Gujarat, purchased the hardware store from a man named Mr. Goldstein after answering an ad in the newspaper.

Mehta, in recent times, has tried to sell the store, but he has not found a buyer.

Vasantal “Victor” Mehta, Owner of Archer Hardware Store

“The business is different now,” said Mehta. “Nobody wants to buy a hardware store.”

Mehta said that he believes customers are more interested in buying goods online and in “giant” stores.

Mehta, however, is a strong advocate of small hardware stores.

“They’ve got better service, actually,” he said. “They’re very fast. When you go to the big stores, you’re there for an hour.”

Mehta plans to spend his retirement with his seven grandchildren and at his temple, the Jain Center of America, and to visit his family back in India.

The store is currently offering up to 50 percent off on hardware supplies.

email the author: [email protected]

3 Comments

Click for Comments 
Mike Goldstein

I’m the original owner of Archer Stores. My father Bill Goldstein and Jack Band opened after WW2. They both retired and I ran the store till I sold it to Mr Mahta. I’m glad that he had a successful career and I’m sure my hardware store needs a rest. It served its purpose to the neighborhood and I thank you. Mike

Reply
Nicolapoulis poppadoupolopadis

Yeah how things change
Put a giant kabob restaurant there that also sells plumbing parts and wrenches

Reply
Anonymous

A terrible shame. And, yes, if you go to a large chain, you are ther for at least an hour…often with employees who do not know the products!

Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Met Council leader warns of ‘catastrophe’ for low-income families in Queens due to lack of pandemic-era federal food aid

Mar. 28, 2023 By Bill Parry

As an accomplished legislator, law professor and media personality with broad experience in government and not-for-profit organizations, Met Council CEO and executive director David Greenfield is well aware of the power of words. With Passover arriving on Wednesday, April 5, and with federal pandemic food assistance no longer available to low-income families in Queens, the leader of the nation’s largest Jewish charity organization warned of a coming “catastrophe” and called for the city to step up to provide $13 million in emergency funding for pantries to help New Yorkers facing food insecurity and elevated costs of living in the borough.

Pair of Queens community organizations will activate public spaces to celebrate local cultures

Two Queens community organizations are among an inaugural cohort of five groups citywide that will lead new projects to celebrate local cultures and histories in public spaces under a new initiative called The Local Center in a partnership between Urban Design Forum and the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD).

At a time when New York is grappling with an uneven pandemic recovery and as displacement looms large for communities and neighborhoods across the five boroughs, this new endeavor will convene interdisciplinary teams to transform and activate the shared spaces where cultural traditions flourish — and importantly, center the community visions and leadership that is too often left out of the process.