After 62 Years, Brooklyn Says Goodbye to a Local Hardware Store

“We are gathered here tonight,” the Rev. Vince Anderson began.

Standing in the back garden of Crest Hardware in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Mr. Anderson, wearing a red cowboy hat, Birkenstocks and a black-and-white tunic, preached from a pulpit made with Crest Hardware lumber. Around one hundred mourners had gathered beneath the string lights for a wake.

“We celebrate a family business that has been exactly that,” he said. “We welcome the spirits of every person who has walked through the doors during the last 62 years: the artists, the hobbyists, the home improvers.”

For 62 seconds, one for every year of Crest’s life, silence hung, until the stretch was broken by Mr. Anderson with the words, “and the people of Williamsburg said …” “Amen,” the crowd replied.

After 62 years of selling drill bits, Allen wrenches, mouse traps and Christmas trees, and copying many keys for the neighborhood’s newcomers and old-timers alike, Crest Hardware and Urban Garden Center will close its doors on Aug. 30, due to the property being sold. The store, whose patrons were greeted by Finlay, a 26-year-old talking parrot that meows and barks, and Franklin the pig, had over the years become known as a neighborhood hub. It hosted art exhibitions, music festivals and several weddings (including Mr. Anderson’s), in addition to appearing as an emblem of Williamsburg onscreen, including in the TV series “Girls.”