Lowes Hardware to close in Sparta

Lowes Hardware Inc. announced Tuesday evening that it would be closing the Sparta store.

Lowe's Regional Vice President Frank Beam was in Sparta after 5 p.m. Tuesday and stopped by to visit Mayor John Miller, giving him a release concerning the store's closing.

"It's quite a blow," Miller said of the store's closing. "I was just real disappointed when I heard the news."

Bob Black is a stock holder who retired from Lowes Hardware after working there from 1955 to 1975 after working at the Wilkes store, the central office and a store in Charlotte. He now lives in Piney Creek. As of Tuesday night, Black said that he had not heard about the closing prior to being contacted by a reporter.

"It's something that we've been trying to put off for years," Black said. "In my opinion its one of the worst things that could happen to the community."

The company picnics were once held here in the county, Black said. Employees from about a dozen stores would come to this area. Edwin Duncan Sr., a former Alleghany resident, was the company's first president. The picnics were held at his farm in Glade Valley.

"There's just a lot of history here that someone in Wilkesboro just must not be aware of," Black said. "The people here need the store."

He also voiced concern for the store's 40 employees. "They have some excellent employees," Black said. As for the Sparta location, Black said that has traditionally been a money-maker.

"It's always been a good profit maker and it still is," Black said. "You've got some people over there who think big is better....they just don't want to fool with small stores."

A lot of people have trained here and gone on to be in management at other stores and the central office, he noted. Black said a number of the company's stockholders still live here in the county.

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