Santa Clara Merc

From its beginnings, the Santa Clara Merc became a presence on the main street of Santa Clara and grew from a one-room operation into a thriving mercantile that supplied essentials to residents and jobs to many of the town's youth, becoming the heart of the community. Its story began when early citizens of Santa Clara, tired of traveling by wagon to St. George for meager supplies, decided to open their own store and chose John G. Hafen as manager despite having no mercantile experience. Hafen eventually bought out the other stockholders and, with a small capital of ten dollars, built up a business of his own, while much of the store's work was done by his wife because his work took him away from home so often. The store first occupied a small room in their home, but as business increased, a small brick building was erected adjoining the house in 1900. The business remained there after Hafen retired in 1917 and sold it to his son Adolph and two grandchildren, continuing as a general store that handled the varieties of goods needed by the community and remaining the only mercantile ever established in Santa Clara. In 1928, a new modern building of concrete block and adobe was constructed one block west of the original site, providing a much larger store and space for a large garage that was rented to the Stucki and Wittwer Produce Company, with gas pumps installed outside. The new store, called the Santa Clara Coop, remained in Hafen family ownership. In the late 1930s, merchandise became extremely difficult to buy and inventory dwindled almost to nothing, and the store was sold to Adolph's daughter Ethel and her husband Horace McArthur, who returned from California and took over operations on September 1, 1945. Much of Adolph's business had been run on credit, and that tradition continued under McArthur's Santa Clara Merc. Horace and Ethel expanded the store and its merchandise, and it became known for selling dishes, appliances, horseshoes, nails, dresses, shoes, fabric, toys, and the town's first television. In 1960, Horace's son Douglas became manager, and he and Ethel operated the business until July 1, 1986, when the business begun by John G. Hafen was sold out of family hands for the first time in more than one hundred years. The Santa Clara Merc continued for another ten years until competition from modern supermarkets forced it to close.

Santa Clara, Utah · United States