Imagine or remember the average household in 1964. The home would have cost about $20,000, with its inhabitants making at least the $1.15 minimum wage. One hour's pay would have netted you enough to buy a gallon of milk and a stamp.

That was the climate 50 years ago when Glenn Miller and Junior Steigerwalt, taking the initials of their last names, opened M&S Hardware Store on Broad Street in Tamaqua. To celebrate 50 years of business, M&S plans an anniversary event Sept. 26 and 27, with Massachusetts chain saw artist Jesse Green, the Iron Pigs mascot, a live radio broadcast, and plenty of manufacturer representatives, product giveaways, and refreshments.Although there have been lots of changes since then, including remodeling, adding property, changing products and launching new ventures, the store has thrived by not changing the most important thing, customer service."There are a lot of reasons for our success, but our employees are the major reason," said Todd Miller. "We all focus on customer service, and if there's a mistake or question, we do our best to resolve it."The store has a couple longtime employees, including Assistant Manager Shirley Frantz and Store Manager Jerry Muffley, each with the store for more than 30 years. Todd and his brothers, Trevor and Kyle, bought out Steigerwalt in 1992. Kyle was killed in the crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 in 1996.After that tragic loss, Trevor and Todd, who also run a contacting business, became more active in the store. Their father, Glenn, still comes to work every day, mainly handling pickups, deliveries and errands."When the property next door became available, we got it and expanded into outdoor power, including the equipment, mechanics and the shop," Todd Miller said. "We've also added the M&S Commercial Supply Division, providing things like paint and paint supplies, and power equipment to small to medium businesses, municipalities and schools."Products change seasonally, such as a focus on canning supplies during summer and snow removal and holiday decorations in winter. The family continues to expand the product mix, with industry staples such as Husqvarna, xMark, Echo and Ferris. Todd's wife, Cindy, holds knitting classes upstairs at the store.Miller said that being able to offer parking adjacent to the store has been a factor to its success. M&S leases the area from the Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad Company."Having the parking has been tremendously important," Miller said. "That's crucial to business survival in a small town.""Another nice thing is that because of the way the store is laid out, we can change direction in a short time," Miller said. "We lay out the store with the aim of being able to get people in and out, because time is a commodity that most of us don't have."