McCallums form MC Hardware for Holyoke’s future projects

For the McCallums, it started as an inside joke.

After selling their former business, Glen’s Diesel Repair, in January 2022, the project-oriented family had begun taking on new, personal endeavors. Often, family members would attempt to buy products from Smith Hardware in Holyoke, but couldn’t due to the store cutting back on its hours. As a result, they would need to make trips outside of town for parts.

Soon, they started to tell each other, “We should own Smith Hardware.”

“We said it as a joke,” Ranae McCallum noted, “but then came October, when we were doing work [and] needed it the most.”

Previous owners Doug and Tess Smith had taken “a step back in the last three years,” according to Glen McCallum, and the McCallums decided they could lend the Smiths a hand by running the business. And just like that, the McCallums reoriented toward this new project and made hardware store management a full-time gig.

They bought the store on Feb. 1, aiming to build on Doug and Tess’ foundation, and provide what-the-job-called-for hardware parts and products. The store now has a new name: MC Hardware.

“Doug and Tess operated pretty much by themselves for a long time, but we are gonna try to run it as a family,” Glen said. “We haven’t really advertised; we haven’t really done anything because we have just been trying to get inventory on a computer.”

The family’s vision for MC Hardware, according to Ranae, will involve reorganizing its inventory into a regular, easy-to-understand layout, “like every standard hardware store.” While she wants to keep the same inventory, Ranae said, she also wants to “change and add!”

MC Hardware’s hours, come spring and summer, will be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Sundays, the store will be closed. MC Hardware is located at 635 West Furry Street.