Steady, reliable, helpful. These three words describe Koppen's Hardware store of LeRoy. For the past 44 years this family-owned business on Highway 56 in LeRoy has been a regular supplier for farm and household goods. The owner, Ed Koppen took over the business from his parents, Ferd and Esther Koppen. They used to run the business as a Gamble's Hardware store.

"I grew up working in the store. I have two sisters and a brother and I just fell into the business. It is a nice feeling running the store," Koppen said.

The hardware store is located in one of the oldest buildings in town, having been built in 1894. The floors are made of wood that make homey creaking noises when stepping across it. Wooden shelves line the walls. There is a little bit of everything in Koppen's Hardware Store. Supplies for painting, gardening, crafts, gifts, clocks, toys, tools, such as ax handles, rakes, and school supplies fill the shelf aisles.

"I run a pretty hefty inventory," Koppen said.

What he tries to do with his business is make it easy for his customers to stop in and get going quickly. When someone in the 20-mile radius of LeRoy is working on a project it is easy for him or her to stop in and get that certain something to complete the job. Koppen said when people in the area shop at his store they cut down on gas, traffic, finding parking and they have personalized service.

"This is a well-managed hardware store. The chance we will have what you need is pretty good. I work to keep the business steady so I don't have as many peaks and valleys as most retail stores. This way I don't have one time of year that is busier than others. Through the years I have made sure that I have had the capitol to keep the inventory in stock," Koppen said.

He has successfully run the business so it stays steady throughout the year. There is always the holiday rush during Halloween and Christmas, but he doesn't count on these seasons to keep him going for four months afterward.

"I am primarily a service type store. People come in to get something quickly. If they have time, they take a look at the household goods and other items I have. I keep a huge amount of volume. I do a tremendous amount of refrigeration work. We used to do commercial and cooler repair," Koppen said.

Besides the hardware and household goods, Koppen's Hardware sells stoves, refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines and dryers. These are in the basement of the 109-year-old building. The biggest change that Koppen has seen since he took over the family business has been that the physical size of retail stores has evolved so much. His store was once considered a rather large space to have a hardware store in 20 years ago, and now it is considered small. His advice for others that want to run their own retail store is to select the one area that you want to tailor to your size of operation. Keep a reasonable mix of goods and don't spread yourself thin.

"What I like best about my job is the variety of things that happen throughout the week, the decision-making processes I have to do. A down about running your own business is that you have to work weekends," Koppen said.

Making decisions is not something that Koppen waffles on. He has been the mayor of LeRoy for the past 11 years. He likes this position and working with the town board and he speaks his opinion freely.

"LeRoy has been good to me. We have good people in town," Koppen said.

Mary Ann Freerksen, of LeRoy helps out in the store when needed. The hours for Koppen's Hardware are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Sheila Donnelly can be reached at 434-2233 or by e-mail at :mailto:newsroom@austindailyherald.com