Courtesy of Cat Kerr
The first time I wandered into Intown Hardware in Virginia-Highland was by accident. Suffering from dreary winter blues, I had decided to brighten my apartment with some indoor plants, and happened to drive past the store. They might have plants there, I thought. The easy parking won me over, beating congested big-box parking lots by a landslide.
Yes, they had plants—abundantly. Indoor and outdoor ones, so many calming and alluring greens that I circled the garden and gift areas over and over, struggling to choose what I wanted to take home. I discovered that besides its extensive garden section, the shop serves as a general store for home maintenance and improvement, as well as other charming goods: Alongside aisles of paint, tools, and basic repair supplies, there were gifts, seasonal greeting cards, and holiday decor.
In my wandering, I noticed something on the floor under a display shelf: a cardboard box with a heating pad in it. There’s a shop cat somewhere! I know a cat bed when I see one. I found her by the front register: Saffron, a gray and white tabby. She squinted her sleepy eyes as I stroked her cheek, and the cashier told me a second cat, black-and-white Felix, was also hanging around.
I keep going back to Intown Hardware—for the plants and cats, of course, and because I prefer to shop at small businesses when I can. Ace Hardware is a national brand, but the stores operate as co-ops: Store owners purchase some of their inventory from Ace at a discounted bulk rate—Intown also buys from other suppliers—but proceeds from those sales remain with the store’s owners. So the brand association benefits store owners rather than exploiting them.
Since I’ve learned about this store’s history and values, I’m all the more enthusiastic about shopping there. Doug and Joe Eifrid opened the store on St. Charles Place in 1979, and brought in their sister, Suzie, and their two other brothers to help run it. In 1981, the family moved the store to its current location at 854 North Highland Avenue. Suzie was the first—and, for a long time, only—cashier.
The store has stayed in the family ever since. As a kid, Suzie’s daughter Pearl Carlton-Eifrid spent her school-day afternoons at Intown Hardware. She worked as a cashier there while she was in college. After working as an EMT for a few years, she came back to the family business. Now, she’s the general manager, and she and Suzie run the store together.
“I like to challenge the notion that women are not knowledgeable in the hardware field,” says Pearl. “My mom was always the power-tools girl.”
Extending that defiance of restrictive stereotypes, a pride flag is always hanging in the store. Pearl says she wants everyone to feel safe shopping here, especially if they do not feel safe at other hardware stores.
“Let’s make it obvious before you even come in here,” she says, explaining her intention for the flag. “I grew up in a place where everyone was included and equal, and it would feel very foreign for me to have this place any other way.”
That message of inclusivity was one of the reasons I felt safe checking out Intown Hardware in the first place, and why I keep going back—plus, if there’s a chance to pet some cats while I shop, why would I go anywhere else?
This article appears in our March 2026 issue.
