Bio: Gehrke – True Value Hardware Grand Opening ( Nov 1975)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Gehrke, Haselow

---------Source: Owen Enterprise (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 05 Nov 1975

It was just two years and four months ago that Tom and Dorothy Gehrke set off on their first business venture when they purchased the hardware business established years ago by Elmer Haselow. The couple did well and soon found out that the quarters were too confining and restrictive to the needs of the trade area and prohibited their expanding their line of merchandise.

There was only one recourse they concluded, and that was to build a new and adequate building.

And that is what they did.

This weekend Gehrke True Value Hardware will welcome guests and visitors to their new store at the south end of Central Avenue that provides 4,800 square feet of floor space, offering spacious display area, well lighted by new florescent fixtures with the light value being further reflected by white ceilings and walls.

These new facilities have enabled the sstore to expand its farm hardware line, including bulk farm oil. And the expansion also includes the addition of a much larger display of Christmas merchandise, as many more toys and gift items have been added to the inventory.