By Gary Ruegsegger
Correspondent
While the menu at Small’s Smokehouse and Oyster Bar lists a tasty assortment of seafood, steaks and ribs, the atmosphere is flavored with generous portions of local history.
The walls of the eatery, which opened in February, are lined with vintage photographs, newspaper clippings and city proclamations collected by the Small family, which has been in business locally for nearly a century.
“We’re all about great food and great service,” said owner John Small III. “Customer service is something I learned at my father’s knee – something his father instilled in him.”
In 1919, John French Small Sr. opened Small’s Hardware Company at 4301 Hampton Blvd., just across the street from where Old Dominion University’s Ted Constant Convocation Center stands today.
According to a memorial announcement on the 25th anniversary of his passing in 1977, “John French Small was an intelligent businessman who made things happen.”
In addition to running a top notch hardware store, Small was active in community service.
If a project helped people, his fingerprints would be all over it.
As president of the Hampton Boulevard Businessmen’s Association, he stood on the podium with Mayor John A. Gurkin when the Hampton Boulevard underpass was dedicated on Nov. 18, 1939.
Norfolk Naval District commandant Adm. Joseph K. Taussig and director of public works Walter H. Taylor III also
provided dedicatory remarks. You can read the whole story on a wall in the restaurant near a clock that used to hang in the old hardware store.
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