Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Lime green, chocolate, baby blue—to see those colors on a charcoal grill, you may need to travel back in time a few decades. Or, you could visit the barbecue shop at Scheels Home and Hardware.
While this Fargo, North Dakota, retailer has a large barbecue shop filled with the latest products from several major grill manufacturers, a large presentation of accessories and more sauces and rubs than you’ll find at most grocery stores, one of the highlights of the department is what store manager Mark Hulbert calls their Weber Museum.
“Our Weber Museum is the collection of one of our long-time employees, Tom Molm, who started collecting these more than 15 years ago,” says Hulbert.
The collection includes Weber grills and memorabilia from Weber and other companies, dating back as far as the 1960s. Placards identify the year the grill was made, who donated it and a note indicating if the grill was originally purchased at Scheels, which itself has been in the community for more than 100 years. There are more than 25 grills on display at the store, and Molm has many more at home. He got a lot of these grills at garage sales or auctions, or even rescued them from dumpsters. Now, people bring in donations to his collection.
“The collection has a nice visual appeal that makes our barbecue shop unique,” says Hulbert. “A lot of our customers used to own some of these grills, and it’s nostalgic for some to look and remember a grill they used to have. Grilling has an important place in our history, and this display is a great way to remember that.”
