End of an Era as Iconic Home to Old-Time Monsey Businesses Torn Down to Make Way for a New Generation of Rocklanders

By M. C. Millman

One block west of Route 306 on Route 59  in Monsey is a building that, although vacant for years, has not entirely faded from the memory of old-time local residents, although the building was torn down today.

Once home to Ramapo Hardware, a longtime Monsey fixture, back in  1963, since the start of the trickle that eventually turned into a full-fledged flood of Orthodox Jews moving to Monsey, which eventually moved onto a larger location in 2019. 

"My grandfather was the third owner of the store, which opened in  1952," says granddaughter Sandar Baker, who owned and operated the store with her brother Joe after her grandfather. "When he came, the neighborhood was changing, and people who moved in suddenly discovered that they were on their own when it came to fixing up their new homes. 'What do you mean there is no super?' they asked, and then they came to my grandfather and said, 'I don't know how to fix-' Whatever their problem was, he showed them how to fix it and even lent out the tools.

"People really appreciated my grandfather, who unfortunately passed away in 2010. Some people only see customers as dollar signs, but to my grandfather, you were a friend, not just a customer, and people felt it. I remember customers going on vacation, and when they came back, they brought him a souvenir from their trip! People liked that style, and my grandfather trained his grandchildren in it as well, and we never changed it."

Buying a store that was frequented by so many Orthodox Jews was definitely a learning curve for the new proprietor of the store.

"Everyone knew us as Joe's Hardware," reminisces Sandy. "Just like Monsey Housewares was Nagel's. It's how we were all known back then."

A big part of the learning curve involved realizing what seasonal products were going to be needed. The first Sukos Joe's Hardware experienced was indeed a confusing one, with all of the customers seemingly needing the same items, which were rapidly out of stock. But while the first year surprised Joe, over the years, he came to perfect the system. Soon enough, all of the sukos items were moved to a dedicated section of the store with blue arrows placed on the floor to direct the customers to the right place should the owner be busy with another customer when someone else came in. Not only that, but people no longer had to pick out the thirty, four-inch bolts, wingnuts, and washers. Joe's Hardware started combining them in packages – just to make everyone's Sukos projects that much smoother. Not only that, but customers could even get step-by-step diagrams on how to build a sukah, all printed out by Joe for the customers who weren't particularly handy in order to make the holiday easier for them. All of this came from a store owner who had never even heard of Sukos before buying a hardware store in the heart of Monsey.

Other holidays also had their unique requirements, and Ramapo Hardware's proprietor learned to make sure to keep enough stock of everything his customers needed most.

"Passover and Sukos were the busy seasons," Sandra says. "Passover was a little more challenging though because, for sukos, everyone pretty much needs the same items, but for Passover, the projects customers were doing were limitless. People would come in because they were trying to fix things up, paint, get new cooktops, etc."    

Chanukah also comes with its own particular needs. Usually, it's lots and lots of hex nuts that have to be stocked for all of the teachers coming in requesting the hex nuts in hundreds so that their classes can make menorahs. The Chanukah candles fit into the hex nut perfectly. Even Purim has its unique requirements, such as the time when dryer ducts were required to build the arms and legs of a robot costume.

In 2010, Ramapo Hardware moved from its original location on Route 59 down the block on the other side of the street – still on Route 59. Although customers missed the old store with its creaky wooden floor and warm memories built over half a century of positivity and respect, the upgrade was one whose time had come through.

"When we saw ladies with their strollers zipping around the aisles of our new store," Sandra recalls, "we knew we had made the right decision. The old store was just too cramped for strollers, and now we had a bright, modern store with wide aisles. We did try to hold on to the old-fashioned flavor, though. I still have an old typewriter and crank cash register in our front window just to remind us of the good old days." 

 "Any retail business requires that you have patience," says Sandra. "Customers would come in looking for something which they couldn't exactly explain, either because they didn't know what they were looking for themselves or they didn't have the right words or the right language. Even if we had to resort to pantomime, we would  make sure to figure it out and help them."

After so many years in the business, Sandra says she picked up on the critical words needed – "gelt" and "Nisht tochen," after hearing parents tell that to their kids countless times. 

Others remember the location as the home of 59 West, a fleishig restaurant, and eventually Kol Tuv Pizza. And after today, the memories of the long parade of businesses on site will be all that's left of the decades-old building.