Business keeps open doorway to the past
Most market analysts wouldn’t recommend opening a new business in the current economic climate.
But Suzanne Hines had both nostalgia and deeply rooted history on her side when she opened Mixed Bag on Memorial Day in Hamburg Township’s village area south of M-36.
The building at 10596 Hamburg Road was built in 1870 and was first a general store and then Hamburg Hardware.
So far, Mixed bag has drawn crowds of people interested in the store’s antiques, books, art pieces and gifts, as well as the snapshot of Hamburg’s history it provides.
Several customers in their 60s and 70s said they recall stopping by the hardware store as children, Hines said.
The building, then owned by the Odd Fellows fraternal organization, had a community room upstairs.
Since opening, Hines has met two couples who held their wedding receptions in the community room more than 50 years ago.
“They remember coming into the hardware. They can recognize the creaky floors,” she said. “They’re there, they’re just cleaner.”
“It seems to make so many people smile when they come in,” Hines added.
