McKenzie's Hardware has been operating in Sydney's Surry Hills for 110 years, but what was the norm is now an anomaly.
Original paint peels off the walls and onto shelves scattered with different stock; the small shop looks aged with its owner being no spring chicken either.
"I've been working here for almost 40 years," Andy Benardos, 76, says.
Paint peeling off exterior of the hardware store. Source: SBS news
"It's not as busy as it used to be, but it keeps me out of the pub."
The original owner, Mr McKenzie was ran over by a tram in 1948.
The hardware store was run by several others before Mr Benardos came along in 1979 and purchased the shop and all its stock for $84,000.
Decades later he's still serving locals who pop in steadily throughout the week for odd bits and pieces.
"Usually it's stuff that they've run out of, screws or nails, or if they've lost a hammer or something," Mr Benardos says.
Andy Benardos says some people come to his hardware store for small items they might have lost. Source: SBS news
"That's why there's such a variety of stuff in the place."
Throughout his tenure Mr Benardos has seen his fair share of interesting and unforgettable customers too.
"A guy from up the street came in and said "Do you sell tomahawks?" and I said "Yes." He was pleasant enough and he paid me," Mr Benardos says.
"But next thing you know he ran up on the corner and attacked a bloke [with the tomohawk] in the pub! And that is a true story!"
Mr Benardos recalls the impact bigger hardware chains have had on his business and on others in the industry.
McKenzie's Hardware has been trading for 110 years. Source: SBS news
"There was Hudson's down on Elizabeth Street they were a big store and Nock and Kirby's," Mr Benardos says.
"They all felt the impact of Bunnings so it didn't only apply to us little fellas."
Mr Benardos says he had several accounts with tradesman and building companies that fell through over a period of two years.
"They didn't even say they weren't coming any more, suddenly they just didn't come."
Over 50 per cent of the Australian population is estimated to shop at a Bunnings store every month.
Mitre 10 is the most popular hardware store for tradespeople with only 3 per cent of Australia's hardware stores being independently owned.
But Mr Benardos isn't in it for the money.
"My wife works too and she supports the family and I just sort of stay out the way," Mr Benardos says.
Andy Benardos says he isn't in his hardware business for the money. Source: SBS news
He says he finds a lot of locals telling him they would rather visit his store for the personalised service.
"I suppose I will eventually fall over or they'll carry me out, but there's no reason I should stop," he says.
"I've got to do something, I talk to a lot of people and I know a lot of locals."
