Jeays hardware clan still nailing it after 100 years

The owners of a Brisbane business have revealed how their family-owned operation has survived 100 years in the face of a world war and the rise of competitor giant Bunnings.

Jeays Hardware in Sandgate circa 1950s

It survived a depression, a world war and the ultimate challenge of category killer Bunnings.

But 100 years after Charles Joshua Jeays opened his building and plumbing supplies business, Jeays Hardware is still going strong in the beachside suburb of Sandgate.

For his grandsons Peter, Charlie and Richard, keeping the fourth-generation business in the family name is a matter of pride and testament to good old-fashioned service.

“I remember working in the business as a teenager handing out flyers at the front of the shop and being paid 50 cents,” recalls Peter Jeays, now 60. “I have been in retail more than 40 years and have the busted knees to prove it.”

Jeays Hardware traces its roots back to 1922 when Charles Joshua Jeays made the decision to start his own firm after working at Perry Brothers Hardware. He rented a small building and yard in Albert Street with his brothers Joe, Albert and Arthur.

In 1932, they moved into a larger building in Margaret Street with Charlie’s son Charles Albert (the father of Peter, Charles and Richard) joining a few years later.

During World War II, the business was relocated to Sandgate, where the Jeays family had lived since the 1870s. In the days before forklifts, the Jeays clan worked hard loading heavy bags of cement, timber and iron onto their delivery truck by hand.

Jeays Hardware founder Charles Jeays

Charlie Jeays says his great uncles Albert and Arthur were seriously injured in World War I but still managed to complete a full day of physical labour. “Arthur had a bad limp after being shot in the leg, while Albert lost his leg in Gallipoli,” Charles says. “Arthur always wore a suit, tie and hat even when he was driving the delivery truck.”

The younger Jeays clan remembers their father’s love of Moreton Bay where he loved to sail and fish when not busy in the hardware business.

“Dad, who served in the Army’s small-boat unit in Borneo, came back from the war and built a boat which helped in his recovery,” says Peter.

Charles Albert Jeays retired in 1985 after 50 years of service, with Charlie Junior taking over the reins as managing director. Peter joined the business in 1987 and became manager of the Jeays Aussie Auto Business.

Jeays Hardware in Sandgate circa 1950s

Charlie says the biggest change in the hardware business during his time has been the move from bulk product to pre-packaged items.

“In the old days, you would sell nails by weight,” he says. “Things like kerosene and turps also were in big drums and you would buy a small tin. Now it is all prepackaged.”

Peter Jeays says the arrival of big box retailers such as Bunnings had been a challenge but a loyal customer base and the fact Sandgate had few large development sites had protected the family business. “We have had customers coming to us for over three generations,” he says. “People like the fact they can pop into our shop for a can of paint or brush and get away quickly without having to walk 300 metres across a big car park.”

Charlie says his father, who died aged 98 in 2018, was one of the first to join the Mitre 10 cooperative in the 1960s, with Jeays being the last of the original nine Mitre 10 hardware shops in Queensland to survive. “We would not be here today without being part of Mitre 10 because it helped with buying power and marketing,” he says.

The family will celebrate the centenary of the business this weekend in typical humble fashion, a staff dinner at the local Italian restaurant.

Among those attending will be Harry Jones, who drove the firm’s delivery truck for 60 years, and Carole Green, who was the office manager for 40 years. “We have always believed our staff are the most important people because they make the business,” Charles Jnr says. “The staff’s current total length of service to the business is in excess of 250 years.”

Charlie, Peter and Richard Jeays in front on the family business. Photo: Glen Norris

Albert Jeays (left) with Harry Jones, who drove the firm's delivery truck for 60 years