Ever since their father, Pete Thrower, opened his FiDi shop back in 1962, sisters Monica Funk and Maria Thrower Kay have been in the hardware business. These days, they own and run ACE Financial District Hardware at 140 Pine St.
Back when the store opened, the area was a mix of warehouses and office buildings; the sisters watched the FiDi grow. They marveled as the Golden Gateway (now Gateway Apartments) towers went up in the mid-1960s. And they learned the ropes as they grew up working in the shop, which was originally situated where the 101 California office building now stands.
Pete originally opened his store to sell paint and wallpaper, adding hardware later on. In 1969, he decided to affiliate the shop with ACE. Five years later, it moved to 195 Pine St., where it stayed until 2003. After a few months' closure, the store reopened at its current location, just down the street, in October 2003.
Raised in the Richmond district, the sisters and their siblings, Josephine and Paul, would take the 38-Geary bus downtown after school to help out. "There was no slacking off for us; no summer fun; no getting in trouble," Kay says. Even their grandmother pitched in.
But there have been perks: All three Thrower sisters met their husbands while working at the store (well, Kay met her first husband, anyway). And they've become rather handy at home, of course. "I fixed my lawnmower," Funk says.
The job also comes with built-in family time: Kay's son used to have a job there, and Funk's son, Kyle, currently works there, along with three other part-time employees.
Callie Scott, an ACE employee, does some organizing.
Over the store's the 3,000 square feet of floor space, you can find everything from nuts and bolts to light bulbs, shelf paper, electric fans or keys—they make a lot of keys. "We try to have a lit bit of everything," Kay says, adding that they try to cater to the neighborhood. "Gardening is not going to be our biggest department, whereas in other places, gardening is huge."
Kyle Funk makes keys.
Back in the early days, the sisters recall, the clientele was mostly building engineers and others in the building industry. Now, it's a mix of construction workers, office workers and nearby residents. "We get a lot of people who come in on their lunch and their break to buy things for home," Funk says. "A lot of people commute. By the time they get home, the stores are closed or you're tired."
Either way, she adds, "All we hear is, 'Oh my God, you guys are a lifesaver.'" They often come to the rescue when someone at a construction site needs a specific plumbing fixture, pipe fitting or other random item. Some will call ahead to ask for a part, and they'll have it waiting at the counter. "We kid people that we should put in a drive-thru at the corner," Funk says.
Funk and Kay have been in the area for so long that they know all of the building engineers and property managers. "It’s like a little family down here for sure," Funk says.
And for the casual customer, "a lot of people like us because we’re women," she adds. “They find it not so intimidating.” Being women, they add, means the store is always clean and organized. "We run a tight ship," Kay says.
