Mitchelle Stephenson — For The CapitalTOP: Ted Kramer shows off one of his mannequins in the back room of his Edgewater hardware store. Kramer creates interesting displays on the roof of his building each month.
BOTTOM: The displays on the roof of ATW Hardware in Edgewater are part of a marketing scheme to attract customers to the store. This month a fun house clown chases down a seemingly-frightened little man.
Many towns have their landmarks - Italy's Pisa has its Leaning Tower, St. Louis has its Arch, and Edgewater has, well, Edgewater has a lively and ever-changing "art" installation on the top of the local hardware store.
Ted Kramer is the owner of the ATW Hardware store, which sits at the corner of Pike Ridge and Solomons Island roads. He's been in business for more than two decades at the same location. He's watched the Edgewater community change over the years. His clientele used to be mostly blue-collar workers; now he said it's more "people who hire the work out."
The empty forests and fields down the road from his store have been converted into strip malls and drive-through fast food restaurants.
In an effort to attract some attention to his establishment, he decided about three years ago to put up a scarecrow on the roof of his low-slung, flat-roofed building. It was around Easter then, so just for fun he added some bunny ears to the scarecrow.
South county residents and customers seemed to like it, so after a few weeks he changed the display to something else. Over the next few years, he's had some interesting, and bizarre, scenes play out on the top of his store.
For example, a man dressed like the late journalist Hunter S. Thompson holding a rat over a pinned-down pirate; a cigar smoking zombie and a monkey together riding a tandem bicycle; a snowman driving a sleigh with a leggy mannequin popping out of Santa's toy sack; a zombie with a rainbow Afro wig presiding over a half dozen female mannequin legs sticking up from the roofline (torsos removed); and of course, the zombie with bug sprayer aiming the nozzle toward a very large hornet nest.
Right now, the roof is adorned with a mad funhouse clown chasing a smaller man, seemingly off the front of the building.
"I've been dealing here for years, the displays are very clever - they're amusing and eye catching," said Ray Manogue of Edgewater, a regular customer at the store.
Ted's son Sam said that people at the stoplight in front of the store are always looking over. Ted added that they often see people pointing from their cars and taking pictures.
Eric Rolens is one of the managers at the Goodyear tire store next to ATW. He said that he uses the store as a landmark when giving directions to his store. Eric tells customers, "we're beside the guy who puts the display on the roof."
"They always know where it is," Eric said.
Ted's wife Laura said that they get items for their displays from all over. "We hit yard sales and people give us stuff," Laura said. The mad funhouse clown is from a local party store. They saw it and bought it on the spot. An upcoming display of a King Kong-type gorillawas gifted to them from Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville.
The staff at Homestead made it for one of their festivals a few years back and it had been sitting in a warehouse collecting dust. They were going to throw it out, but someone at Homestead contacted Ted, who of course thought it would be a great addition to his collection of zombie men, monkeys, and mannequins.
The giant gorilla hand and head are covered in plastic at the back of the store where Ted is slowly gathering the components for his next installation.
In 2007, one of his displays was stolen right off the roof. The story ran on the front page of The Capital. The theft inspired Ted to do a milk carton "Missing Man" display seeking the return of his man, and then after that an alien abduction scene.
"After a while I almost didn't want to get him back because I'd had this idea for the alien," Ted said.
"Even when he's tired of it, the customers keep him going," Laura said.
"They try to give me ideas, but I like doing my own thing," Ted said.
The interesting installations on the roof go along with Ted's business philosophy and the mood of the store. There's no Top 40 or piped in background music. Ted hooks his iPod up to the store stereo and plays an eclectic mix of blues.
When pieces to his display aren't in use, they double as decor in the store interior. A huge hornet nest hangs in one corner, a swinging monkey in another, and around back a mannequin sits atop the Pepsi machine with a giant stuffed snake coiled around her neck.
Ted likes to think that a small business like his is uniquely positioned to be dynamic to meet customer needs. He's had to do that a lot. He said that when Kmart opened, he lost his painting and garden supply end of the business, but that the addition of Johnson Lumber up the street helped him because they refer people who need items they don't carry.
"We still cater a lot to the trades people," Ted said.
Marie Willis is a longtime customer from Harwood. She popped in for a few hard-to-find items last Saturday. "This place is like an old-time hardware store - if you can't find it here, you won't find it anywhere," Marie said.
Anyone interested in seeing the displays they may have missed over the years can visit the MySpace page where Ted posts photos of his unique art installations. Use the keywords, "the man ATW hardware."
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