Cedar Falls first
A store is only as good as its town
Money spent here stays here — that's the deal, and it runs both directions. This is where Holloway shows up in Cedar Falls, from the dugouts to the tool library. All of it started with a customer asking.
Since 1974
The Holloway Hammers
Westside Little League — 52 seasons and counting
Earl sponsored the first team in 1974 because the coach was a customer who couldn't find a sponsor, and Ruth liked the name too much to say no. Fifty-two seasons later, the jersey wall in the Main Street back hallway is three rows deep — green and cream, same as the storefront.
Every spring we close an hour early one Friday, load the truck with field paint and lumber, and re-do the dugouts and score booth before opening day. Players bat free at the Repair Café's bike-tune table all season.
52
seasons sponsored
Since 2019
Cedar Falls Tool Library
Borrow before you buy — we mean it
The tool library lends neighbors the tools nobody should have to buy twice a decade — post-hole diggers, tile saws, drain augers. We service their donated tools at cost, keep their loaner blades sharp, and send customers their way when borrowing beats buying.
It costs us tool sales every single week. It's also the best thing we do. People who borrow a sander this year buy their sandpaper — and their trust — here for the next twenty.
300+
loaner tools serviced
Since 2011
The Earl Holloway Shop Award
Cedar Falls High School industrial tech
Every June, one graduating senior headed for the trades gets $500 and a starter toolbox we build from the shelves ourselves — the honest stuff, not the flashy stuff. The shop teacher picks; we just write the check and argue about which hammer goes in.
We also run an October tool drive for the shop classroom and pass along display models and open-box tools all year. A town that can fix things needs kids who learned how.
15
toolboxes awarded
Since 2023
Repair Café
Third Sunday, every month, free
Part event, part public service: neighbors bring broken things, volunteer fixers bring know-how, and the Riverside workbench does the rest. Some months we fix forty items that were headed for the curb.
It runs on volunteers — retired electricians, quilters who can re-web a lawn chair blindfolded, one very patient bike mechanic. If that's you, the counter or the workshops inbox will take your name.
40
items fixed in a good month
Running something in town?
The sponsorship process is a conversation
No application portal, no quarterly review cycle. If you coach a team, run a club, or fix things for people who can't — come talk to Sam at the Main Street counter, or write to counter@hollowayhardware.example. We say yes more than we should and regret almost none of it.
The whole pitch
Bring the broken thing. We'll take it from there.
The bolt, the chip of paint, the photo of the drip — whatever you've got. Sixty-four years in, the answer is usually ten minutes and a few dollars away.
Main Street
214 Main Street · Downtown Cedar Falls
- Monday – Friday: 7:30 am – 6:00 pm
- Saturday: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
- Sunday: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Riverside
1080 River Road · Riverside, Cedar Falls
- Monday – Saturday: 7:00 am – 6:00 pm
- Sunday: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm