By RAUL GARCIA JR | The Mercedes Enterprise

Alma Gonzalez is always at the front of the store greeting customers with a smile as they walk in. Lindley Lentz can be found helping customers in the tools department who are looking for a certain something to fix the house or finish a project and Ken Eilers is usually floating around the floor ready to help a customer looking for a certain size bolt, fitting or screw in the Borderland Hardware store. 

Whether a broken door hinge needs fixing or adding an entire room, Borderland Hardware is the place to find whatever is needed to get the job done right. Most of all, customers can find a member of the Eilers family on hand to make sure they receive the personal attention and integrity that have been a tradition at Borderland Hardware since 1919.

Their friendly customer service and vast supplies for sale keeps customers stepping into the store for more. And its the foundation that’s helped the store last and grow its business over the last 100 years.

“We’re an old-fashioned, family-owned hardware store that believes the most important things we offer are a firm handshake and a helping hand,” Ken Eilers said. “For nearly a century, Borderland Hardware has been helping professional builders and do-it-yourselfers in the Rio Grande Valley build a better future.”

The aisles of Borderland are filled with every tool, plumbing fixture, nut, bolt, and household item anyone can imagine. 

If something can’t be found in the store, the Eilers family will be happy to get it for you. 

Borderland has been a staple in the Mercedes community and the heart of the Rio Grande Valley. Their story began some 100 years ago. 

Borderland Hardware of Mercedes, Inc. is one of the few remaining locally-owned, old-fashioned hardware stores left in the Rio Grande Valley. 

Their story began in 1919 when Borderland Hardware and Supply Co. opened at the corner of Business 83 and Texas Avenue, in Mercedes. That first store would grow to a chain of eight hardware stores in the Valley. 

In 1969, the original owners dissolved the company and Bob Eilers, who started working there in 1949, purchased the Mercedes location. 

The success of that one location brought the need to expand, so in 1999 the Eilers built a new store at Ohio Avenue and Business 83, where it remains today. 

That’s where customers can still find Bob, his wife, Loretta, their son, Ken, and his wife, Debbie, ready to help find what customers are looking for. 

Their motto is if you can’t find something on their store website, come see them in the modern store in Mercedes and find out why Borderland Hardware is a testament to an era when the local hardware store stood as a fixture of the community.

“We have been very busy during the pandemic and the recent winter freeze,” Eilers said. “I appreciate our staff and customers. We are so grateful for our employees and their hard work.” 

Eilers said trucks are coming from all over the U.S. to supply the store.

During the recent winter storm the hardware store closed only one day.

“We are trying to be here for them and we thank each of them and all of our customers for shopping local.”