Flint’s Hardware nears 130 years in business

By Anna Gibbs

Flint’s Hardware in downtown Batesville is the oldest hardware store in town, possibly in the state of Mississippi, and one family has worked behind the counter the whole time.
The store sells a little bit of everything, from cast iron cookware, to galvanized pipes, to earmuffs and Case knives, and every customer is still greeted by name, with a smile and a handshake. They still use pen and paper to keep track of their sales and have records as far back as 1918. Now, they input all the data into the computer at the end of the day, but that’s one of the only things that has changed.
First opened in 1889 by C.H. Flint, the store is on its fifth generation of family running the counter. Cole Flint, great-great-grandson of C.H., says the store’s longevity can be attributed to providing customer service and a helping hand.
“One of the only reasons we’re still here is for knowledge,” Cole said. “Everybody can have a shovel or a pipe joint, but we’ve been doing it so long. We do our own work in our homes, but we see so much coming through here, we’re able to know a little more about what we’re selling.”
To put the store’s age in perspective, owner Ben Flint says he likes to turn to history.
“Flint’s opened just 24 years after the Civil War,” he said. “It’s seen Batesville through both World Wars, the sinking of the Titanic. We’re older than the automobile and airplanes.”
However, with chain stores popping up across town, Cole admits it’s been difficult to attract a younger customer base.
“[The younger generation] is killing it,” he said. “If you don’t have something, yeah, you could run up to Lowe’s and get it, but you could click on Amazon Prime and have it at your door the next day. People aren’t coming up here as much as they used to.”
Ben, who started working at the store when he was in high school in 1971, says he attributes the store’s lasting success to customer service.
“We’ve always been kind of a casual, family owned business,” he said. “We have a large customer base, and try to give them a little extra service. We’ve been lucky enough to stay here this long.”
While Flint’s is documented as the oldest store in Batesville, it is also one of the oldest in the state. The title of longest-running store in Mississippi goes to Nielson’s Department Store in Oxford, but Cole is quick to point out a distinction between the two.
“I did some research, and Nielson’s is in fact the oldest store in the state,” he said. “But, they’ve changed hands a few times. We’ve always had someone in the family running the store.”
The store survived a decline in business during the Panic of 1907, a boll weevil infestation around the same time as WWI that left many farmers high and dry and a 1954 fire that burned down a sizable portion of the Batesville Square. After all of that, Ben says, the hardware store can survive the influx of big box stores, like Lowe’s, Home Depot and Walmart.
“Nothing lasts forever,” he said. “But as long as we have a Flint that’s willing to do it, we’ll stay open. We just play it day by day. Batesville’s been good to us.”