When I was eight or nine years old, I didn't think of myself as a tomboy. (Does anyone even use that expression now?) Of course, I didn't think of myelf as a sissy either. What I did know was that it was more fun to tag along with my Dad to the hardware store than to go to the department store with my Mom.
Hardware stores had a better smell and had aisles full of mysterious implements that I couldn't reach. It was a man's domain, and I was a visitor to this strage land. Maybe the smell was of metal rusting combined with oil, but I liked it. The deities were the men who knew where everything from a molly bolt to a belt for the tractor was kept. I don't remember any women staff.
The way I remember it (which may/may not be the way it really was) is that it was ok for a little girl to tag along with Dad, but when I was over 18 and went in the hardware stores by myself to select a tool or supply, I was looked at suspiciously, as if I had the wrong religion or had wandered into the wrong territory--sort of like Gary Powers flying over Russia.
Now, the big box stores that sell hardware may have a department called hardware. But they are more than that. They actively market to women. There are sections that sell home appliances such as vacuum cleaners, dishwasher. And just wander down the curtain and window covering aisles, called home decor. There are women who actually know where the molly bolts are and who can direct me to the lumber section of the stores.
Yes, I miss the mystery and smell, but I like that men and women seem to be equally ignored by the staff. Well, in fairness, there are actually helpful staff who've shown my everything from the deck stain to the molly bolts.
In fact the last time I went into the "hardware" store which is now a home improvement store, searching for a variable speed drill, I knew more about it than the "helper." I'm glad I was able to visit those mostly disappeared wooden-floored, male-dominated stores as a girl.
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