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Mauffray?s Hardware Store
who opened the store in October of 1903. The elder Mauffray?s original ledger is still kept near the cash register and is often displayed to visitors.
Mauffray enjoys telling how his father got the money to open the account.
now anywhere else.
His only child, Lawrence Alden Mauffray Jr., is now in his mid-50s and the hardware store owner does not expect his son to succeed him.
?He's had half a century to decide,? Mauffray said, explain-
He used to have a lot of merchandise which had gone out of production. Because the items were no longer manufactured, customers appreciated being able to buy them. He lost almost all of those things after Hurricane Camille.
Mauffray has slide-type clotnes-pins and pot mending kits.
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crockery items, but recently sold the largest beer crocks.
?A local institution bought them and when the payment came in, it said it was for two
flowerpots. So, I put them down as flowerpots.?
?We also have gumbo dishes that ring,? he said, picking up two and clinking them together. ?Most of today?s gumbo dishes don?t ring. Today they sound terrible.? To demonstrate, Mauffray picked up two plastic bowls from among the few plastic items in the store, and clinked them together.
He sells pot-mending kits, kitchen match holders, galvanized and ungalvanized nails, fuses, keys and the short, kick-off type of rubber boots in sizes ranging from the smallest available for ladies to the largest for men.
?If it says brass, it isn?t,1 almost every time,? he told e? customer who dropped by, explaining that the particular item he wanted in brass was not solid brass, but did have a brass coating. Mauffray has a method of testing for such imitations.
He did sell a large number of spigots that were actually brass to a group of out-of-state visitors who came in and made a
purchase of several hundred dollars? worth of items.
To some other strangers, he sold a lot of stoneware.
While he knows most of his customers by name, he also remembers the strangers who
come in, because many tell him they can not get a particular item back home, then tell him where they are from.
One of Mauffray?s favorite stories is ? the one about the young woman from New York who happened to be in the store when he was selling someone else a crab knife. She had never heard of such a utensil so the store owner explained it to her.
The woman was so charmed by it she bought several to take home to friends. The following summer, she returned and bought six more.
Mauffray knows where everything in the shop is, despite an appearance of disarray on some of his shelves.
?I have a special place for everything and if I change a place, I do it for a very good reason. I also tell Mrs. Mauffray immediately,? the store owner said.
If someone asks him how he remembers everything, he tells the story of the famous pianist, Paderewski, andhis response to the fellow who askedhim how to
get to Carnegie Hall----------
?Practice, practice, practice.?
Mauffray remembers a great deal in addition to things pertaining to hardware; he remembers some of the history of Bay St. Louis.
to welcome the worldwide head of the Order of the Sacred Heart, who was stopping by on the way to New Orleans.
He delivered the entire speech in the classical French he had learned from his father?s books.
After graduating from St. Stanislaus in 1924, he became' active in community affairs. In
the 1950s, he served as pre$; dent of the Bay St. Louis Rotar, Club and Chamber of Commerce. A member of Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church, he is also
a former grand knight of the Knights of Columbus.
He was active in Boy Scouts and once actually served a? ' den mother when a Cub Scl pack temporarily lost its leader to maternity leave. After about 10 years, he retired from regular participation but was often invited back to manage the games at larger camp gatherings.
He also served in the Merchant Marine, which was one of the two times he visited Europe. Mauffray?s other visit to Europe was when he was selected as a voting delegate to Rotary International in 1953.
He has traveled elsewhere, with his favorite destinations
?Go downstairs and to the wall on your left, take three steps and you will find it at knee-level?Mauffray