McGuckin co-founder Dave Hight dead at 91

BOULDER — Dave Hight, the McGuckin Hardware co-founder who spent six decades building the iconic, family-run Boulder retailer, died Jan. 18 at the age of 91.

Hight, whose cause of death was not disclosed, partnered with his father-in-law Bill McGuckin in 1960 to help operate the recently formed hardware store. After McGuckin’s death six years later, Hight took the helm before ultimately handing the reins to his son Barry Hight.

Although the store has relocated three times since the doors first opened, it has never moved more than a block from its present location at 2525 Arapahoe Ave. The store currently carries more than 200,000 items on roughly 60,000 square feet of sales floor and employs about 300 people.

“Dave played an integral role in the Boulder community by serving thousands of customers — helping with remodels, small projects, hobbies, or just telling a quick joke to a shopper passing by,” according to a remembrance post on the McGuckin webpage. “He will be remembered for his hard work, innovation, tenacity, and love for his family and community.”

In an email, McGuckin marketing coordinator Tyler Musslewhite said, “Even though he hadn’t been directly involved with managing the store for a number of years, even up until recently you could count on seeing him there almost everyday. You could usually find him tending shop in the trash can aisle, where he liked to hangout and price inventory, or else at the intersection of the store’s two main aisles, where he would sit and greet customers passing by and look for familiar faces.”

A Facebook tribute by McGuckin this week drew a flood of condolences and happy memories shared by family, friends, employees and customers, some of whom said they’d travel from hundreds of miles away to shop at the store. 

“My heart is broken to hear of my [uncle’s] passing,” Kevin Hight wrote. “So many great memories and life experiences come to mind … most of all, working at McGuckin’s.”

McGuckin is a case study in perseverance and longevity, weathering countless storms and thriving through a multitude of evolutionary periods in the retail environment.

“We now live in a challenging retail environment where brick and mortar stores are dealing with heavy competition from online shopping,” Boulder Chamber president John Tayer said. “But the number one defense to that is creating a shopping experience — Dave Hight understood that from the very beginning. Dave and McGuckin created a shopping experience that’s become a magnet for our community.”

Part of the store’s success lies in the fact that it’s not simply a hardware store.

The store is “a community center,” Tayer said, “a place where you come and connect with the local community, your friends and neighbors. We all see it as a place where you’re welcome and you are valued.”

Musslewhite added, “I know that Dave had numerous opportunities for expansion or franchising the store over the years, but he was a big believer that a business was meant to serve the unique needs of a specific community. He would say that for every small town in America there should be an equal number of local hardware stores, each owned and operated by a member of that particular community. That, to me, best sums up his dedication to the people he employed and the entire Boulder community, specifically.”

Dave and his wife Dee Hight were recipients of the Boulder Chamber Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014

“It really was a partnership between him and Dee,” Tayer said of the Hight family’s collaborative business operation. “That is the sign of a man who recognizes that he is an inspiring leader but whose roots and grounding are in his family and his community.”

In Hight’s tribute post, the store wrote, “The spirit of Dave lives on through every interaction here at McGuckin Hardware. When we say we’re proud to be family owned and operated, we really mean it. This store was built on a dream and the call to serve a community.”

Dave Hight, whose memorial service has yet to be announced, is survived by Dee, their sons Barry, Brent and Robb, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

“It’s clear that Dave, through his example, has passed on a legacy of customer care and an inviting shopping experience that his family members carry forward,” Tayer said. “It’s an example for all of our retailers to follow.”

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