The Hecox Hardware store in Ontonagon County, Michigan, as it appeared in 1910 (above) and 2003 (below). The business has been in continuous operation for 95 years under five different owners in three different narrow storefronts on the town's main commercial street. Its most recent incarnation, Chapman's Hardware, includes three narrow aisles instead of one wide one, puts more merchandise within easy reach of the customer, and displays fewer goods that might require the assistance of a salesperson. The modern floor plan may make for efficient shopping, but the large display racks screen customers from seeing each other, salespersons and the store as a whole. Shoppers can move in and out of the new store quickly, but the open center of the old store provided a place to congregate and chat, which patrons did frequently enough to make the store itself a social center for the surrounding community. Top photograph courtesy of the Ontonagon

No abstract