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Island fixture, Bilmore and Son, goes up for sale




Randy D’Herde, right, and his father, Donnie examine a fishing reel at their hardware store, Bilmore and Son, last March. The store was put up for sale, and in July a buyer took control. Hurricane Harvey shuttered the store, and apparently the building sustained enough damage that it will have to be demolished. Staff photo by Dan Parker

Randy D’Herde, right, and his father, Donnie examine a fishing reel at their hardware store, Bilmore and Son, last March. The store was put up for sale, and in July a buyer took control. Hurricane Harvey shuttered the store, and apparently the building sustained enough damage that it will have to be demolished. Staff photo by Dan Parker

There’s something about an old, homegrown hardware store. Bilmore and Son, which has been operating in Port Aransas for 63 years, has a look and feel that cannot be found anywhere else.

The front exterior wall of the 115 N. Alister St. building features a big painting (by longtime Port Aransan Ed Zeiglar) of the store’s founder, Bill Moore, surf fishing at a local beach as redfish swim nearby.

Inside, there’s hardware, of course, but there’s also a lot of fishing gear, and a rod and reel repair service, attesting to the store’s long involvement in this town’s fishing community. On the walls, framed photos faded with age show anglers reeling in marlin during offshore trips out of Port Aransas.

But all that might be going away soon. Bilmore’s, one of the longest continuously operated family businesses in Port Aransas, was put up for sale a couple of weeks ago. And there’s no guarantee that whoever buys it will continue operating it as a hardware store.

“I hate it,” said owner Randy D’Herde. “I wish we didn’t have to. I don’t want to at all, but at this point, I don’t have a choice.”

The store is being sold be- cause “business is off, and we can’t pay the bills,” D’Herde said. “We can’t stay open.”

Asked why business is off so much, he said, “The main reason, I think, is that the town is moving south, and we’re not the first stop.”

He referred to increasing development along State Highway 361, The Island Road.

Bilmore’s first opened in February 1954. The store was built by Bill Moore and his wife, Dora, with their son and daughter-in-law, Carlos and Marguerite Moore.

The property was owned by Roy Turnbull, who owned the Island Food Store, nextdoor. The Moores eventually bought the land from him.

Carlos and his foster son, Donnie D’Herde, continued operating it for years before Donnie’s son, Randy, took the helm.

When it first opened, Bilmore’s was more like a convenience store with fishing gear than a hardware store, and it had a full-service gas station and auto repair shop, Randy D’Herde said.

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