THE HAMMOCK
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 1, NO. 7
BACK TO SCHOOL! PAGE 1B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2025
From Shack to Grill: JT’s reopens Johnny and Brandy Doering’s restaurant is now ‘Hammock Grill by JT’s,’ with a new atmosphere. PAGE 9A
INSIDE NOT A NURSE ...
FCSO arrests Palm Coast woman who posed as a registered nurse at AdventHealth. PAGE 2A
INFIGHTING
‘Not a good look:’ Flagler County state senator Tom Leek expresses concern about ‘infighting’ during overtime legislative session. PAGE 3A
A LIABILITY?
Flagler Beach boardwalk is ‘teetering on a liability,’ Commissioner Eric Cooley says, but city manager says the order of construction matters. PAGE 4A
Four generations of the Russell family, the owners of Hammock Hardware, with long-time employee Nina Caton. From left to right: Alex Russell holding Jolina Caton, 4; Tinsley Russell, 10; current owner Robyn Jennings; founder Margaret Russell; employee Nina Caton with her 5-month-old daughter Naomi. Photo by Sierra Williams
2 YEARS OF KUNG FU
‘It belongs to the Russells’: Hammock Hardware turns 45
Dragon Institute in Bunnell celebrates second anniversary with Wing Chun kung fu demonstrations. PAGE 5B
INDEX
Business..................... PAGE 5B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword...................PAGE 7B Letters.......................PAGE 12A McMillan....................PAGE 12A Public Notices............ PAGE 6C Sports......................... PAGE 6B Tributes ...................... PAGE 3C Real Estate................. PAGE 4B
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Hammock Hardware will always be women-owned and -operated, said owner Robyn Jennings, who inherited the shop from her mother. SIERRA WILLIAMS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
For 45 years now, Hammock Hardware & Supply has been a staple to The Hammock community. “When we first opened, we were open seven days a week and pumped kerosene by hand,” shop founder Margaret Russell said. Russell, 83, said she and her husband John Russell opened the shop out of their home on July 8, 1980, on the 16th birthday of their daughter Robyn Russell, now Robyn Jennings. At the time, she said, Flagler County had a population of only a few thousand people; there was no Hammock Dunes toll bridge and Hammock Hardware was the only shop of its kind in the area. The store has been located at 5652 N. Ocean Shore Blvd. since the shop building was completed in
1981. Russell said she ran it virtually on her own for the first three years while her husband John, a minority owner of Hammock Hardware, worked to support them. “And then we started getting busier and busier,” Russell said. “And it just grew and grew and grew.” Jennings, 61, said her parents knew The Hammock was going to grow. “They knew the area was getting ready to boom,” she said. “It took a little longer than they expected.” Originally, Russell said, they only sold PVC, fasteners and plumbing supplies. But over the years, the store has expanded its supply as more development moved in, selling a larger variety of plumbing and building supplies, like what was used in nearby construction projects and homes. “And if somebody comes in and needs something and we don’t have it, we’ll get it for them,” Russell said. Jennings said she did not always want to run the hardware store, but eventually returned and took over the shop so her mother and father could retire. It wasn’t always easy as a woman running a hardware store, Jennings
and Russell said. There have been times when customers have wanted to speak to a man, they said, assuming a woman wouldn’t have the correct answer. But as time went on, the community came to know the Russell women and trust their advice. Through it all, Hammock Hardware has become a centerpiece of memories for the Russell family. Jennings said she learned all she knows from her father and mother, and remembers spending her free time after school in the shop. John Russell died on Aug. 12, 2024, and Jennings said it’s a blessing to have something her parents worked so hard on, but it’s also difficult sometimes being so reminded of her father. “Sometimes it’s hard,” Jennings said. “Sometimes I walk in, and all I can think of is him.” Jennings and her mother taught the tricks of the trade to Jennings’ nephew and future owner, Alex Russell. Alex Russell, 37, said he, too, spent his childhood running around the store: He had fond memories of rolling tape down the aisles with his brother when the shop was slow. “Man, grandma would chew my a-- out for that one,” Alex Russell
said. “But they still did it every time,” Margaret Russell said. Now, Alex Russell’s daughter Tinsley, 10, is learning how to run Hammock Hardware, too. She spends her summers at Hammock Hardware & Supply, alternating between ringing customers up at the cash register and playing with the children of Nina Caton, a 10-year employee at Hammock Hardware. Jennings said she started Tinsley’s education early — when the girl was just an infant, Jennings would carry her great niece around the store and tell her what all the tools did. For four decades, the shop has been women-owned and womenrun, Jennings said. After her, Jennings said her great niece Tinsley will inherit the shop alongside Tinsley’s father Alex Russell and uncle, John Russell. “It’s a Russell hardware store. It belongs to the Russells,” Jennings said. It’s equally important that Tinsley inherit it at the same time as her father and uncle, Jennings said. “There will always be a woman in this business, to be a womanowned store.”