SPOKANE, Wash. -- For 100 years, a hardware store has stood on the corner of Monroe and Indiana. In a matter of months, that will change; Stewart's True Value Hardware is closing up shop.

Stewart's is the kind of place you pass by and always assume will be there. The kind of store that harkens back to a simpler time in Spokane's history, when a hardware store sold simply that. The floorboards creak with every customer who enters the store. It's where Mike Czechowski has been, six days a week for the last 35 years.

"We tried," Czechowski said about his time running the store.

He did much more than try. Czechowski and his wife stayed afloat despite big box competition and a declining economy. But, two weeks ago, the "for sale" signs moved from inside on a rack to the windows outside. Store's closing. Time's up.

"The discounts will be getting bigger and bigger until its gone ... or I'm tired of looking at it," he said.

They're selling everything from the products to the shelving, even an old scale from 1920. Czechowski says last year they did half the business they did the first year he owned the store; that was 35 years ago. They just can't do it anymore.

While it's easy to think of this as a sad economic story - a Spokane business that just can't hang on - you could also think of it as an incredible success. One business, one location, 100 years.

Out of a cardboard box in the crowded back room, Czechowski pulled a piece of Spokane history. It's a blown-up version of a postcard that shows his building in the 1920's. It was Monroe Hardware back then; you can see a dozen or so employees, standing proudly behind a line of washing machines. This store made it through the depression but this downturn is just too much.

"Spokane's been hit hard by this recession," Czechowski said.

Nuts and bolts can't fix everything. And, when Czechowski closes the door for the last time, he'll be able to fish and spend time with his family. He said he'll be relieved when the door closes for the last time. But, he'll always have one regret.

"Been here 100 years ... not gonna make it 101," he said.