'100 years, four generations': Toronto business celebrates century of service with block party

Weiner's Home Hardware can be seen above. (wienershomehardware/Instagram)

A Toronto business run by four generations of the same family is celebrating its centennial anniversary this month by throwing a community block party.

Wiener’s Home Hardware, located 432 Bloor Street West, has been run by the Wiener family since 1922 when Hyman and Ida Wiener purchased the space and began operating a hardware store in the Annex community .

Now, nearly 100 years later, Wiener’s Home Hardware is still going strong, run by Hyman and Ida’s grandson, Marty Wiener.

“It's an achievement,” Marty told CTV News Toronto over the phone. “I don't know that many businesses have been around [long enough] to be able to stake that claim.”

When Hyman and Ida Wiener first opened the store, they lived in the back room of the building.

“My grandmother ran the store while my grandfather was out in their service truck,” Marty said. “At the time, he was working on most of the radiator plumbing for the new homes that were being built in this area.”

Then Marty’s father, Gerry Wiener, graduated and took on a position at the store.

Marty himself first started picking up shifts at the shop in 1968 and hasn’t stopped since.

“I started working here Friday nights and Saturdays in 1968,” he said. “I used to bring dinner down on the bus to my dad because we were open till 9 p.m. on Friday nights,” he said.

On June 18, Marty’s Home Hardware is hosting a block party to celebrate their centennial anniversary – an event in which Marty’s 35-year-old daughter, Melanie, will step into the store’s primary management role, making her the fourth generation of Weiners to operate the shop.

The party will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., he said.

“The Bloor-Annex BIA is setting up a street closure on Howland Avenue,” Marty explained. “The Residents Association are setting up booths and tables, Victory Cafe is going to be supplying pizza, we've rented a cotton candy machine and they [will] have displays set up in the windows of old photographs and paraphernalia.”

Marty says he feels the party is a show of gratitude from the community.

“It's a thank you from the neighborhood for sticking it out and still being here.”

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Wiener's Home Hardware (@wienershomehardware)