The cash register at Stella Hardware is newer than it looks; it only dates to 1987. Most everything else on Third Avenue's most crowded 900 square feet, including the rolling ladder, the nail bins, and the hand-painted sign reading "IF WE DON'T HAVE IT YOU DON'T NEED IT," has been there since Salvatore Aiello opened the store in 1951 and named it for his mother.

Seventy-five years later, his granddaughter Gina Aiello-Reyes runs the place, and on Saturday she is closing Third Avenue's sidewalk to traffic of the retail kind for a block party: free key copies from noon to 2 p.m., a tool swap, and the return of the paint-stirring raffle, which is exactly what it sounds like and has a waiting list.

Stella has survived two floods, the big-box era, and the Gowanus rezoning that turned its neighbors into condo lobbies. Aiello-Reyes credits a simple policy. "We answer questions before we sell things," she said. "Half the people who come in need a $4 part and the confidence to install it. We stock both."

Regulars say the confidence is the real inventory. "I rebuilt my whole bathroom off Gina's advice," said Terrence Whitfield, who lives on Carroll Street. "She talked me out of three purchases in the process. Try getting that online."