Whether you're looking for a cable box conversion piece, a bushing for a snowmobile, a new pair of boots or a random part, there's one place in Duluth's Spirit Valley neighborhood that might have what you need.
Joel Russell, owner of Central Sales, 314 N. Central Ave., calls the store "the handyman's candyland."
"We've called it that for years because it's true," Russell said. "If you need it, we probably have it, or at least you can find something close enough to fix your problems."
Russell grew up in the store. His parents bought the business in 1988 and ran it for nearly 20 years before Russell took over.
"I didn't plan on staying here forever, but I guess I'm here," Russell said. "I grew up in it and because of that, I pretty much know where everything is in this store. That comes in handy when people come in and ask for something specific."
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The store is essentially a hardware store; however, the merchandise also extends to some secondhand stock, especially on the second floor. The first floor is where most of the tools and parts are located, while the second floor is more dedicated to housewares, and the basement consists mostly of vehicle parts, like exhaust systems.
Russell said people often bring in items to see if he's interested. Sometimes, he receives calls from widows hoping to reduce their deceased husbands' supply.
"Every once in a while, I'll get a call from someone who says, 'Hey, my husband had a garage full of stuff and he passed away. Can you help me out?' Sometimes we say yes, but other times, we have to say no because there's just too much stuff," Russell said.
Russell also said he sometimes gets odd requests from people looking to sell items, such as individuals trying to sell a snowblower in the middle of spring or an air-conditioner in January.
"And you do your best to accommodate people, but we also have limited space. We're already pretty full as it is, so we have to be careful about what we take and when," Russell said. Part of Russell's job that can be frustrating is trying to diagnose what exactly a person is looking for.
"It happens sometimes when you get someone who knows what they're looking for, but they can't really explain it," Russell said. "So then you ask more questions, like what are you doing with it? Of course, cellphones help save time now because they'll take a picture or look up what they need, then come in and say, 'I need one of these.'"
Does Russell worry about the internet putting a dent in his part sales?
"What I think is nice about our store is that the person can come in, look at the part, hold it and see if that's going to work for them," Russell said. "They can take it home, try it out and if it doesn't work, we're just a short drive away. That's something that you can't easily do with the internet."
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The part of Russell's job he enjoys most is hearing from customers as they come back.
"We've helped a lot of people over the years build different race cars, stock cars over the years. A lot of interesting other projects, a lot of parts have gone into the different robotics programs," Russell said. "We always tell people to come back and share their photos with us so we can see what they did with that random part. It's always interesting."
Central Sales is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
