The
Journal of the POCONO PLATEAU ©2023, All Rights Reserved
VOLUME 28, NUMBER 6
Mid August, 2023
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Matirko Hardware Co.
Half century of service, supplying people with what they need by Ruth Isenberg
Businesses in the Poconos come and go. Many hopeful entrepreneurs open and flourish for a while, then fade away. A few buck that trend, because they meet the changing needs of a changing population. Matirko Hardware Company is a perfect example. This family-owned firm has not just survived, but thrived, for a half a century in Pocono Lake. The business grew along with the community. As they get ready to celebrate their 50th anniversary August 18 and 19, owner Chris Matirko shares a bit of the history of this popular Poconos service business. Matirko Hardware came into being because Chris and Bob Matirko discovered a need. Both were working near where they lived in New Jersey, Bob as a computer guru for Exxon, Chris for equipment manufacturer Techtronix. Friends told them about the Poconos, how it was a
MATIRKO HARDWARE, 1973 great spot for a vacation. They looked around, and found a spot in Locust Lake Village for a weekend getaway. “It was a perfect Poconos day,” Chris remembers. “Blue sky, fluffy clouds, beautiful beach.” They were hooked. They purchased property for a weekend vacation house. It took them almost two years, with the help of family and friends for the DIY project. The weekends were fun and they learned
about the Pocono Mayflies. During the process, they decided one of the things the area really needed was a hardware store, since if they needed something, it was a long way to Eynon on a Saturday or a Sunday. “We quit our jobs,” Chris says, bought the property and contracted for a shell of a building for a hardware store, even though suppliers warned them that they wouldn’t have enough traffic in the sparsely populated western Poconos. In fact, the
MATIRKO HARDWARE, 2023 large supply houses wouldn’t even stock them to open. Sales representatives for merchandise brands were interviewed over coffee at their kitchen table. In August of 1973, Matirko Hardware opened right where it is now, on Route 940 just east of Blakeslee Corners. The first couple of years were very lean. But business grew, as did the Matirko family, with daughter Karen and son Matthew. An addition was built onto the store, then taken down
for another addition. A Radio Shack TRS-80 made Matirko’s one of the first area businesses to computerize its point of sale system. More contractors started businesses in the area, and housing boomed. As demand increased, products and services were added, from paint to plumbing supplies. “We try to stock what people in our area need,” Chris says, “not necessarily what the supply houses want us to sell.” Matirko’s keeps a See MATIRKO’S, page 2