For me, there’s something magical about an old-fashioned hardware store, crowded with bins and shelves filled with a tantalizing variety of useful objects and whats-its, and staffed by people who seem to know where everything is and what it’s all for. Downtown Hardware lacks the wood floors and high ceilings that I remember from the hardware stores of my childhood, but it fills the bill with its inventory and its staff. Best of all, it’s efficient. When I need something specific, I can walk into the store, tell the young staff what I need, and be out the door with my purchase in roughly the same time it would take me to park my car at that big-box home improvement store that often doesn’t even stock whatever it is I was looking for. Yes, I’m a fan, and I hope that Downtown Hardware stays in business forever.