Antiques, bluegrass music, and hardware supplies and services all have at least one thing in common, Beck and Benedict Hardware in Waynesboro.

Beck and Benedict Hardware, located at 118 Walnut St., is owned and operated by the husband and wife team Richard and Della Boschert. The Boscherts purchased Beck and Benedict in 1984, and two years they expanded the shop and began offering antiques.

Just three years after that they added a small theater for live bluegrass music. The Boscherts eventually realized that the building was too small, so they moved to their current location in 2000.

The business has gone through quite a few transformations over the years but it is still furnished with many of the original pieces from 1915. The hardware store also continues to offer very unique services as well. Richard Boschert does custom glass cutting in a back room, and the shop repairs guitars and toy train sets. The store operates under a motto that Richard calls, “buy by the each.”

Every month the Boscherts will hire two bluegrass bands to play in their 200-seat auditorium. Tickets are $14 but children under 12 are free. The bands will each play twice, and refreshments are provided. During the concerts, the antique store is open for people to browse during intermissions. On good nights, the Boscherts say, they get upwards of 50 to 60 people and at least half of them will spend some time in the antique shop.

Just in case you cannot make it to the monthly concerts, the Boscherts host what they call the “Old Tyme Jam” every Friday night. Musicians of every skill level are welcome to come and play. During this event, all three parts of the store are open, and the cover charge is $4.

Richard Boschert says people will come in to play, buy instruments and learn from other musicians, as well as to hear all the different music. He said that many times people who were there Friday will come back the next week and purchase something they saw in the antique shop or ask for a service they learned about while attending the jam.

The Boscherts are both retired and admit that even though large crowds come to the store, running Beck and Benedict is more of a hobby than a money-making venture.

Richard would like to see the business stay in the family, but he said he recognized that his sons all have their own full-time jobs and running the store just would not work out for them right now.

But Richard is not worried as he says, “I’m not tired yet!” For more information including the stores hours and a full concert schedule, visit the company website at www.beck-benedicthardware.com or call at 717-762-4711.

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