Nicks Hardware auction to unveil decades of history

The tools, firearms and oddities are too numerous to list.

But the man handling today and tomorrow's auction of the Nicks family's merchandise, collectibles and curiosities inside their 115-year-old Downtown Dickson landmark is giving his best effort.

"I have been through 90 percent of it," said Will Sanders, president of Bill Collier Realty and Auction. "There is no way to list everything."

Sanders will head up his company's auction of the former Nicks Hardware store contents. The auction became necessary after City of Dickson officials deemed the building, located on South Main Street, unsafe and a threat to pedestrians. Once the auction is complete, the process of demolishing the building will begin.

Building owner Sammy Nicks, whose grandfather started the business in 1929, has been in the store in recent weeks clearing out and cleaning up the items – and coming to terms with the change.

Nicks tried to stay upbeat, describing the auction and expected demolition as a "new era."

"I'm sad, at times," he admitted. "I pray that I will be at ease about (the auction) and not regret it."

Though he admits he's had disagreements with Dickson city officials about the future of the building and its contents, Nicks said the relationship has been amicable in recent months while preparing for the auction.

Sanders said the preparations have kept his staff busy.

"It has taken five men, four full days to go through it to this point. Six men, counting Sammy (Nicks)," said Sanders, noting that preparations would continue up until the auction.

Sanders said he's not been part of another auction where there are "just thousands" of "small items" old and new, mixed in together throughout the store like at Nicks Hardware.

It's the peculiar assortment of stuff that has drawn calls from around the Southeast and history buffs, including an official with the state museum.

"There is a piece or two they want in their museum," Sanders said. "He said (state museum officials) are coming."

Sanders assured everyone that the Harley Deal shoes are not in the auction.

Nicks said he enjoyed growing up around the store and "meeting people that I otherwise wouldn't."

"I wished it could continue," Nicks added.

He stated that the nearby railroad helped bring about the building's eminent end. The constant and increasingly stronger vibration from the trains passing nearby on the railroad tracks have caused the building walls to crack and "it's in jeopardy," Nicks said.

Albert Nicks, started the business with his brothers, Buckner Clay and Charlie Emmett, in 1929. They moved the store to Wrigley, Tenn. and then moved back to Dickson in 1939. Albert bought the store from his brothers after they moved to its current location in 1949. He managed the store until his death at 94. Albert's son Samuel Clay then took over the store until his death in 2004 at which point Sammy took ownership.

So many locals remember shopping or simply looking at all the merchandise over the decades. In recent years, that's often meant only looking through the window.

While the estate sale was happening in March last year, TV's famed "picker" Mike Wolfe and partner Frank Fritz, who star in the hit History Channel reality show American Pickers, visited Nicks Hardware and haggled with Nicks.

The size-22 shoes worn by White Bluff's legendary giant Harley Deal are in the building. Deal, the 7-foot tall, 500-pound farmer is still remembered by many locals for his Paul Bunyan-esque feats decades after his death in 1976.

The shoes are not in the auction and White Bluff officials hope to secure them from Nicks.





















Nicks Hardware auction

Friday, starts 9 a.m.

Saturday, starts 9 a.m.

Nicks Hardware building

100 South Main Street

Dickson