UWS fixture forced out of NYC

Farnoosh Torabi | Special to amNewYork

January 21, 2008

Scott Mackles is the owner/operator of Schall Paint & Hardware on 311 Saws Mill River Road in Yonkers, New York. Mackles was previously owner of Academy Hardware on 111th and Broadway in Yonkers so he is known by hardware aficionados around Yonkers. (Photo by - RJ Mickelson/Veras / January 20, 2008)

When the going gets tough, the tough sometimes get packing.

That's the story of John Mackles, 53, second-generation owner of Academy Hardware on 111th street and Broadway, who, when faced with a costly rental market, decided to close the neighborhood fixture last December and head 12 miles north to Yonkers.

"I was looking to get more security for myself and knew down the road the landlord was going to sell the building," said Mackles, who had a month-to-month lease.

Mackles said that to stay in the neighborhood was cost prohibitive, with rents going for nearly $20,000 for the space he needed.

Instead, opportunity for Mackles came knocking 20 minutes north, off exit 5A on the Henry Hudson Parkway, where on Saw Mill River Road the owner of Schall Paint & Hardware was retiring and selling the 78-year-old store. Mackles bought the whole building, moved in as much of his stock as he could and kept the Schall name.

"The store is very, very well known with a strong reputation. It made a lot of business sense to keep the name," Mackles said.

The departure from the previous rental space in Manhattan provides a few securities, he added.

Mackles said he looks forward to managing a fixed rate mortgage payment over the next 20 years, as opposed to his previous questionable month-to-month renting scenario.

"I'm buying a new business, as well as owning a building and keeping my accounts in the [OLD] neighborhood," said Mackles, who, thanks to a 20-minute drive back and forth between the Upper West Side and Yonkers, he can maintain his bigger clients like Columbia University and The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.

The new location is also giving Mackles, a Westchester resident, more time with his wife and three children.

"It's a lifestyle change," he said. "I don't have that kind of stress anymore as far as sitting in a van, taking an hour or more to get home sometimes."

What can never be replaced, Mackles said, is the camaraderie he shared with old neighborhood walk-ins.

"I had an outpouring of goodwill from everyone," said Mackles, who described his departure from his Manhattan neighborhood as "gut-wrenching."

But, he said, "I knew for my future this was the best move for me."

Upper Manhattan Small Business Help
Founded in 1995, The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone is a non-profit organization that uses public funds to support existing and new business owners in Harlem, East Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood.

The group is sponsoring a "Business Essentials" workshop on marketing this coming Wednesday and on Jan. 30.

For more information visit www.umez.org.