BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Forty years ago, a 21-year-old Pete Mickolay was facing a potentially life-changing decision.
His grandfather, Arthur Aykroyd, who had founded Aykroyd Hardware with his wife, Edith, died unexpectedly after suffering a heart attack. If Mickolay wanted the business to stay open, he would have to step up and take the reins.
“I had about 10 days to decide,” he said. “Do I keep the store going for the family, or do I move on to something else?”
Fast forward to 2025. It’s a Thursday morning, and Mickolay is talking shop with employees and customers who wander in and out of 743 N. New St. in Bethlehem. The sign hanging above the door reads Aykroyd Hardware.
Aykroyd Hardware at 743 N. New St., Bethlehem
By now, it’s obvious what conclusion a young Mickolay came to in 1985. Next week, his hardware store will be honored by the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce for marking more than 70 years in business.
Mickolay told 69 News it’s nice to be recognized. He’s not in it for the accolades, though.
“The business is such a cool business. Who doesn’t like tools and stuff like that?” he said, laughing.
The original Aykroyd Hardware traces its roots to 1954. Mickolay said his grandparents bought the shop from Gordon Payrow, the future mayor of Bethlehem, and future namesake of Payrow Plaza.
That store was at Main and Goepp streets, a few blocks away from its current home on North New Street, where Mickolay relocated in 1991.
The original Aykroyd Hardware in Bethlehem
Aykroyd Hardware
When Mickolay became a small business owner at the tender age of 21, he had to learn the ropes quickly. But he certainly wasn’t a complete novice. He spent ample time in the store while growing up.
“In the summertime, it was like sort of like my little vacation to go and stay with my grandparents who lived close by and go with my grandfather to work in the morning,” he said.
As a teenager, Mickolay continued to help out his grandfather at Aykroyd’s, while also working at a True Value hardware store in Hellertown. He said there were no hard feelings about being on the payroll at a place that could be considered a rival: “(My grandfather) was probably happy, because they sent me away to different little training seminars, so I got a little taste of the big store and the little store.”
Pete Mickolay, owner of Aykroyd Hardware, with a stool from his grandfather’s original hardware store. Many patrons today still remember the stool as the place they were told to sit while their parents shopped in the store.
Mickolay ran Aykroyd’s by himself for about a year. After his father, Robert, retired from Bethlehem Steel, he began to pitch in at the family hardware store before stepping away in 2000; he died in 2004.
The move to North New Street in 1991 was necessitated by a need for bigger digs; Mickolay estimates the old store was about a quarter of the size of the current one. But, when it came time to transport everything from point A to point B, it became apparent just how much stuff had been crammed into the small storefront at Main and Goepp.
“It was like 136, 1986 Chevy Blazer-fulls, and about four pickup truck-fulls,” said Mickolay, of the many trips needed back and forth.
Interior of Aykroyd Hardware in Bethlehem
An obvious question for any small-business owner these days is, how does one compete with big-box retailers and e-commerce companies? Mickolay said he keeps tabs on what his competitors offer to ensure his pricing is on point. Also, Aykroyd’s offers personalized service that it stands behind. Mickolay also cited the store’s long relationship with Milwaukee Tools as one of its strengths.
And, if the television show “Cheers” taught us anything, it’s that sometimes you really do want to go where everybody knows your name. On the morning that 69 News visited the store, Mickolay and his staff- there are seven total- struck up easy conversations with the clientele. A greeting was offered as soon as anyone crossed over the store’s threshold. Sometimes, the talk was strictly business- a customer needed this or that to finish a project- but more often than not, the dialogue was about catching each other up on personal news.
Owner Pete Mickolay chats with a customer inside Aykroyd Hardware in Bethlehem.
Mickolay, who is now 60, doesn’t know what the next chapter for Aykroyd’s will look like. He doesn’t have any children of his own. He said his nephew, Grant, loves visiting “Uncle Pete” at the store, but he’s only 8 years old. His sister, Debbie, helps out with accounting and payroll, picking up where his now 91-year-old mother, Ruth, left off just a couple years ago.
To be clear, Mickolay isn’t thinking about retiring anytime soon.
“I plan to be here as long as I can,” he said.
That often means six-day work weeks, with 11- or 12-hour shifts.
It’s a good thing his wife, Jennifer, doesn’t mind sharing him with the family business.
“Her dad owned his own engineering company, so she understands,” said Mickolay.
Aykroyd Hardware will be honored alongside four other businesses on Tuesday, June 3, during the Bethlehem Chamber’s annual awards ceremony at Dream Boyd Theatre on West Broad Street.