"Staying Sharp"

The above is the title of an article about Heimerdinger Cutlery that was published in the Voice Tribune, Wednesday, July 30th. Here's a link to the article so you can read it for yourself!

Matthew Ralph came to the store with his photographer and they interviewed Carl, Glenna, and their daughter (my cousin) Nicole.

Here's a couple of excerpts:

Over the course of 147 years, Heimerdinger Cutlery Co. has sold thousands of knives and scissors – and even a few refrigerators along the way.

Since its establishment in 1861 by the son of a German tailor, the one constant in the Heimerdinger name has been innovation.

Unlike some of his ancestors, Carl E. Heimerdinger doesn’t hold patents on elaborate sharpening or cutting devices or run an elaborate manufacturing facility, but his decision to invest in e-commerce six years ago was just as innovative in terms of keeping the St. Matthews business afloat...

Today, purchases through the company’s elaborate Web catalog – heimerdingercutlery.com – account for about 50 percent of sales.

That’s good news for Nicole Heimerdinger, Carl’s gregarious 14-year-old daughter who knows the store like the back of her hand and likes the sound of “sixth generation business owner.”

Yeah, keep up that internet business, so I can keep blogging for your delight and entertainment! Or is that laying it on too thick?

Though the company has moved several times since it opened in a downtown storefront in the 19th century – moving to its current location at 4207 Shelbyville Road 25 years ago – reminders of the Heimerdinger legacy are always looming overhead in photographs of the past owners and a large pair of golden shears Carl’s father carved in the early 1920s. The shears used to hang outside the Market Street shop.

A refrigerator label from the early 1900s hangs on the wall as a reminder of some of the interesting items the company sold through the years...

“It’s very unique and very exciting being part of a business that’s been in the family so long,” Carl said. “There’s all of this history behind you.”

Even for those of us who aren't in line to own the business someday, the history is still strong. I started working in the store my junior year of high school, when I needed to earn some money for a school trip. I went in on Saturdays; a few years later I worked full time in the summer.

The store has always been a part of who I am. My dad brought me in when I was too young to see over the counters, when the most marvelous thing in the store was the tray full of Swiss Army knives, each in their own little section. The rows of gleaming knives in the display cases are paired with the whir of machinery from back in the shop where my grandfather and uncle were sharpening things. The sounds the displaycase doors make when someone slides them open and the challenge of climbing on to the tall stools behind the counter are an integral part of my memories of spending the weekend with my grandparents.

(It should be capitalized, "The Store." That's how we all think of it, and that's how everyone in the family uses it. In our address books, in conversation, even in my cell phone, that building is what we mean when we say "The Store.")

Even though I don't work in The Store regularly, and haven't for two or three years, I am still involved. The most obvious way is through this blog. But I can look at the website and see photos that I either took or assisted with. If you see a disembodied woman's hand on the website, it's most likely mine. During the holiday season or summer, if extra help is needed and I'm in town, I'll come in. I enjoy going to visit, talking with the people who work there, getting to play with new knives and things.

Some things you can't get away from, they're in your blood. Luckily, I love being a part of The Store.