As she approaches her 91st birthday, Carol Oda thinks back to just a few years ago when she was looking forward to expanding the Garden House store that she helped open 60 years ago.

Her son, Stephen, had operated the landmark hardware and plant store at the corner of South Beretania and Pi'ikoi streets for years and the mother-son partnership had dreams of a bigger and better store.

But Stephen died in April 2006 of cancer and suddenly Carol Oda was left with the task of continuing to run the Garden House. Oda said no one knew the business like her son, so she made the difficult decision more than a year ago to shut down the store that had thrived despite the influx of big-box hardware stores.

"I was left without a complete knowledge of the business. It became very difficult for me," Oda said. "If I could have had maybe five or 10 years more, this property would be worth more and it would be worthwhile to develop this into a bigger and better company."

Oda recently made the upcoming closure public and she has been selling merchandise at discount prices. As the Garden House approaches the July 3 closing, longtime customers steadily drop in to get a few items at discount, but mostly to say goodbye to Oda and her loyal employees.

Walter McKeague of Makakilo visited yesterday to "see what they've got." The 72-year-old has been a customer for nearly 30 years and said he routinely traveled all the way to town to shop at the Garden House "because of the people, the way they treat the customer."

"They have any kind of information you need," McKeague said. "If I get a certain type of weed in my yard that I'm not familiar with, I pull one up and I bring it here and they tell me, 'This what you need,' and it works. So why not keep coming? I get some personal contact."

McKeague said he doesn't know what he's going to do once the Garden House closes.

If a new weed pops up in his yard? "Then I've got a problem," he said. "I may have to go to the university. But Stephen, he had all the answers."

Stanley and Carol Oda founded the Garden House in 1947 with two other partners. The first store was a "one-room shop" where the Honolulu police station now stands. The Garden House later moved to Sheridan Street and then to its current location in 1955.

Stephen Oda took over the company after a brief career in marketing and he implemented a policy of treating the customer with care. His simple approach to business kept customers coming back despite bigger and more convenient hardware stores popping up in recent years.

"Stephen always specified that we must take care of the customer's needs ... that is why our employees are especially good to customers," Carol Oda said. "We do not just take their money for a bottle of chemical. We show them how to do it. We did everything we could to teach them."

McKeague agreed.

"If I had a question, he had an answer," he said.

The Garden House is the latest in a long line of mom-and-pop stores to close in recent years. Only a block away from the Garden Shop is the former site of the Wisteria restaurant, which closed in December 2004 after 52 years in business.

Unlike many stores that have succumbed to the larger Mainland chains, Oda believes the Garden Shop would have continued to do well if not for the death of her son. But at her age, Oda said, she can't run the business alone.

"If he didn't die, Stephen and I could have accomplished great things here," she said. "I've been running this the best I could with the able help of (longtime employee) Albert Agcaoili. Without him, I would be nowhere."

Oda said shutting down the business will keep her occupied beyond July 3. After that, she said, she wants to do volunteer work, travel, and spend time with her two grandsons.

But Oda said she will miss the business and what it has meant to her the past 60 years.

"I'm very sad, first and foremost, that we are closing," she said. "I'm also heartbroken, having lost my only child. This is my biggest sadness and I still cry every day."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.