ASHLAND –  The Runyan family has been operating Planters Hardware & Building Inc. on the square in downtown Ashland since 1916. The Garrett family founded the business in the late 1800s and named it for the planters who would buy seeds, plows and other farm equipment on credit, then pay their debts after harvesting their crops.

Today, during its annual meeting in Montgomery, the Alabama Retail Association presented Planters Hardware & Building Inc. with an Alabama Centennial Retailer award. The business received a bronze plaque to place outside its store and a certificate for display inside. Planters Hardware has been an Alabama Retail Association member since 1998.

Planters Hardware has always been on a corner of the square in Ashland, just not the same corner. Through the years, the hardware store has occupied three different corner spots on the square. Much of what is sold and how it is sold there is as it has been for more than a century.

The store continues to sell “everything in hardware” as well as building supplies, including water pumps, plumbing, electrical supplies, lumber and paint. Shovels, rakes and post hole diggers, coveralls, hats and work shoes, pocketknives, cast iron and generators also line the aisles of the 10,000-square-foot store and warehouse. Planters Hardware also cuts glass, threads pipe, mixes paint and duplicates keys, even high-tech car keys.

“We offer our customers cost-effective solutions and personalized service” six days a week, said Walt Runyan, the current Runyan in charge said.

Bruner Runyan	Boyd Runyan	Joe Runyan

Bruner Runyan took ownership of Planters Hardware “in the early teens” of the 1900s, said Walt. Boyd Runyan – Bruner’s brother and Walt’s grandfather – joined the partnership in 1928. Joe Runyan, the second-generation owner and Walt’s father, ran the business from 1966 to 1999, but he continued to come into the store on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays well into 2022. “Joe never truly left the business he had known since childhood. He was the go-to guy for any repair or building advice and would often hold court with anyone eager to hear an entertaining story from days gone by,” his obituary read. Joe Runyan died March 16 of this year. He was 89.

After working for a few years in hardware sales after college, Walt joined the family business in 1988 and bought it from his father a decade later. Walt’s wife, Lisa, is the office manager. Their son, Cole, has worked at the store on school breaks since he was 10. A licensed private pilot since high school with an undergraduate degree in aviation management, Cole Runyan is now pursuing a master’s in business administration and more likely to fly than take over the family business. Walt says the run of the Runyans at Planters Hardware may soon come to an end.

Alabama Retail Association President Rick Brown said, “For a business to survive the dramatic changes of the past century is a remarkable achievement. It is fitting to celebrate the contributions Planters Hardware & Building Inc. has made to Ashland and the entire Clay County community.”

For more, read: For more than 100 years, Planters Hardware in Ashland has sold ‘everything in hardware’

>> Those Previously Honored as Alabama Centennial Retailers

The Alabama Retail Association represents retailers, the largest private employer in the state of Alabama, before the Alabama Legislature and the U.S. Congress. Through sales of food, clothing, furniture, medicine and more, our 4,300 independent merchant and national company members touch almost every aspect of daily living. Since 1943, we’ve worked to promote what’s best for the retail industry in Alabama. Whether voicing the retail view when public policy is made, educating members about issues that impact them, negotiating rates for benefits and services or communicating the retail story, the Alabama Retail Association and its members are better together.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Walt Runyan, Planters Hardware | 256.354.2311
Nancy King Dennis, Alabama Retail Association | 334.868.2195 | 800.239.5423