Wednesday, March 7, 2012 | The Courier-Journal NEIGHBORHOODS | courier-journal.com/southwest SOUTHWEST | PAGE 3

H&S Ace Hardware, aLouisville fixture for morethan 80 years, closed its doorslast month.

Store manager Dave Phelpssaid the company’s securedcreditors ordered that theyclose the 135,000 square-footstore, 5416 Preston Highway.

Phelps declined to commentfurther.

Commercial real estatecompany NAI Walter WagnerJr. has the property listed forsale for $2.2 million.

Harry Sosowsky started thebusiness in 1929 at 25th andMarket streets.

He named it H&S for him-self and Stanley, his son whostarted working for him fulltime after returning fromWorld War II.

In 1954, Stanley Sosowskyopened a 5,000-square-footstore on Preston Highway.

After numerous additions,the building grew to 135,000square feet on the 7.5-acre site,making it comparable in sizeand selection to modern home-improvement chain stores.

“It was a place where youcould always get the hard-to-find items and good customerservice,” said Jerry Giancola,a Valley Station resident whoworked at the store from themid-1990s until 2004.

Giancola’s former job atH&S involved buying electri-cal parts, tools and hardware.

He said H&S was one of thefirst area hardware stores tobegin carrying ACE hardwareand continued to stock hun-dreds of other vendors’ prod-uct lines as well.

“If we didn’t have it, we’dget it for you,” he said. “Youjust don’t get that kind of ser-vice at a big-box chain.”

Giancola said Stanley So-

sowsky was a generous manwho gave jobs to immigrantshe met through his volunteerwork at the Jewish CommunityCenter, as well as people withdisabilities.

“Other employers might not

take a chance on them, but hewould always find somethingfor them to do,” Giancola said.

Over the years, H&S diver-sified its inventory by sellingabove-ground pools, startingin 1975, and displaying more

patio furniture beginning inthe mid-1990s.

Just a decade ago, H&S hadabout 150 employees at itsthree area locations — Pres-ton, Taylorsville Road in Jef-fersontown and Dixie High-way in Valley Station.

The J’town location laterwas converted into a flea mar-ket, and the Dixie Highwaystore was converted into otherretail space.

In recent years, Sosowskyhanded over the reins of the

business to his son-in-law, Da-vid Snow, who was married toSosowsky’s daughter Wendy.Snow died of cancer last year.

Sosowsky, who died at age84 in November, told The Cou-rier-Journal in 2002 that he stillenjoyed working in the Pres-ton store with his wife, Rose.

“I like to have a happy cus-tomer walk out that door,” hesaid.

Reporter Charlie White can bereached at (502) 582-4653.

H&S Hardware closes on PrestonStore had beenopen nearlysix decades

H&S Ace Hardware closed Feb. 10. Harry Sosowsky started the business in 1929 at 25th and Market streets. CHARLIE WHITE/THE COURIER-JOURNAL

By Charlie Whitecwhite@courier-journal.comThe Courier-Journal

“It was a place where you could alwaysget the hard-to-find items and goodcustomer service."JERRY GIANCOLA, Valley Station resident who worked at the storefrom the mid-1990s until 2004