Longtime Bushwick Business Krown Hardware to Reopen on Broadway

Bushwick’s Krown Hardware store will continue its more than 70 year run on Broadway when it reopens to the public in its former building but in a scaled-down space.

The three-generation mom-and-pop is one of the few local businesses to survive the arson fires and looting of the 1977 blackout. Owner A.J. Adipietro is taking the reins from his father, longtime owner Anthony Adipietro, who took over the business from his father, Pat Adipietro. Located at 1325 Broadway since the 1980s until its closure more than a year ago, the store plans to reopen in a smaller area walled off from the neighboring business L Train Vintage.

The Adipietro family, through their LLC Mr Bigs Adi Realty Corp., spurred development on the block when they sold a community garden and empty lots behind 1325 Broadway in 2017 for $8.75 million. To the dismay of locals, the community garden was razed and a 20-story apartment tower is now going up on the site, close to Bushwick’s recently designated first historic district.

They kept hold of their building at 1325 Broadway, but Anthony said at the end he “was really up against the wall.” A plan to add more stories to the building didn’t come to fruition, and in 2023, the family sold 1325 Broadway to L Train Vintage owners Broadwayper LLC for $5.6 million. But Anthony said terms of the sale gave them the right to sublease a section of the building for the hardware store — something his son insisted on. The decision to sell, he added, came down to struggling to keep the business afloat amidst competition, burnout, and impact of the pandemic.

His son A.J., however, wasn’t enticed by the idea of shutting up shop and was determined to keep the family business running. “I wanted a better store for the community, something to be proud of, and I want to keep the legacy going,” he said. “When I think about everything I’ve done, it all stems from here. Life lessons I’ve learned, relationships I’ve made with people in the community, people that have worked here, that really hit home for me.”

Recently, a customer walked in with a key A.J.’s late grandfather had cut decades ago, and A.J. said knowing that customer could still walk into the store and that key was still around, “it couldn’t be more rewarding than that, it really couldn’t.”

Given the reduced size of the space, some of the services formerly offered by Krown Hardware will no longer be available, such as glass cutting, but the family still has their trusty key cutter and are currently perfecting the paint palettes.

Already the shelves are stacked with hardware, gardening supplies, paint, tools, pet supplies, and more. A.J. said the new store will have more variety than when it closed, but with the same quality of service the family has always provided. “That’s what I want to keep going, that same service, more product availability, but that same, home feel, quality service.”

The store is reopening just as Williamsburg’s beloved Crest Hardware is closing (whose owner A.J. called an idol), and the family has picked up some bits and pieces there for the store, he said.

Krown Hardware first opened on Broadway near Monroe Street, where McDonald’s stands, in 1951 as Broadway Krown Floor Covering Corp., Anthony said. As the store grew, it moved next door to the site that now holds Walgreens. During the fires of the ‘70s, the top floor of the building, which was residential, burned down. Anthony’s father, Pat, who ran the store at the time, put drop cloths all over the ceiling, but for years when it rained, it would stop outside and continue in the building for another 20 minutes or so, Anthony reminisced.

After giving up on the landlord’s promise to fix the roof, Anthony said, his father and older brother gave the ultimatum that if he didn’t join the family business they’d give it up, but if he came aboard, they’d move to another building. He joined, and the family purchased the then-abandoned building at 1325 Broadway and the adjoining abandoned property at 1333 Broadway and associated lots from the city in the mid-’80s.

The plan to reopen in the subleased portion has been a welcome surprise to many locals, Anthony said, and despite not officially having opened yet, they’ve already made a few sales to people who have popped in despite the papered-over windows. He said the plan is to open this week.

“People are excited,” he said. “There are a lot of people here that I’ve known for many years.”

[Photos by Anna Bradley-Smith]

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