Mike Windiate closes door to Belleville Pro Hardware

On Friday afternoon, Sept. 29, when Mike Windiate locks the doors to the store on Main Street, it will be the end of Belleville Pro Hardware.
“The town will miss this hardware store,” Mike said on Saturday. “It is a quick in and out. Park in front, get what you need, and get out quickly. You know what it’s like going over the bridge.”
He referred to the large box stores, with large parking lots, and plenty of traffic.
His brother Rick Windiate owns the building and Mike is liquidating his store. The U-Haul business will continue from the house in the back lot for the time being.
In the Aug. 25, 2022 edition of the Independent there was a picture of Mike, his grandson Mike, and their store. He was celebrating 36 years and announced he wasn’t going anywhere.
Then, on Sept. 15, 2022 he had open heart surgery, and decided it was easier to retire because of that.
“Mortality comes into focus,” he said.
“The last year just flew by.”
Rick had someone interested in buying the building, but when the deal fell through Mike said was half-way through liquidating the store.
Mike was born 72 years ago and his mother died of polio at the age of 19 when he was a year old. Then, his dad was killed in a car accident when he was three or four. He said he never knew his parents.
He was adopted into a family of his aunt, uncle, and cousins when he was about four and was lovingly cared for. His uncle was “dad” forever after.
He didn’t know his real name was Richard Michael Windiate until he was 14 or 15 when he applied for his social security card. Since there already was a Rick in the family, the newest member became Mike.
He and his family lived in South Dearborn Heights and he graduated from Dearborn Lowrey High School in 1969.
He married and they had a daughter, his oldest, Michelle. He worked construction.
His grandfather started Windiate Hardware at the corner of Middlebelt and Beverly, and it flourished for 75 years. It was owned by his grandfather, then his “dad,” his brother Rick, and then he bought Rick out.
At one point he had three hardware stores and then he pared down to just the one in Belleville. He was married three times.
Besides Michelle, he has a son Mike, and daughters Tara and Nicole. He also has 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
His daughter Tara worked at the Belleville store for 32 years and his son Mike for 30 years. Grandson, also Mike, has worked at the store for 12 years.
Tara is 46 and for the past three and a half years she had been on dialysis. He said the previous Saturday, she got a call to get to the hospital and the next day her kidney was replaced.
“It’s a miracle. Our prayers were answered,” he said, noting she had a small incision and was released after two days in the hospital. Her kidney started working fully right from the beginning and she has a new life, he said.
Mike said he had his kidney repaired in 1972 and he had a large incision and spent 45 days in the hospital. He marveled over the miracles of modern medicine.
Mike recalls the joy he had singing gospel music in churches for many years. He would sing his solo in a church and members visiting from other churches would invite him to their places and so on. He said it was very rewarding to praise God in song.
Then, one of his workers died and he had to work on Sundays and, “Now, I’m only singing in the shower.”
He also enjoyed being in the band in high school.
Mike and his girlfriend Stephanie Piper have been together for four years and are planning what to do with his retirement.
He said he knew her in high school and met up with her again at their 50th high school reunion. He brought one of their other classmates to the reunion and it was sort of a “date,” he said.
Mike said he saw this blonde four tables over and was attracted to her. He didn’t recognize her and thought she was probably one of his classmate’s wives. He went for a walk around the room and said hello to her and tried to see her name tag, but her hair covered it. He went back to his table.
Then, she came over and said, “You didn’t recognize me, did you? I’m Stephanie Piper.” He asked if she was married and she said her husband had died a few years earlier. Her brother, Jim Piper, had been very active with the Belleville Police Reserves.
At the reunion, he asked her to contact him on Facebook and she did. They’ve been together since Nov. 1, 2019.
“Sometimes I think, what if I hadn’t gone to that reunion,” he said.
Mike said he misses his good friend Mike Foley, the late owner of Frosty Boy, who rented part of Mike’s house and lived with him for 10 years.
“I can still smell the cigarette smoke that used to come up from his area,” he said. “We were best friends for years.”
He said their real friendship began when they fought against the big street deal in the city. He said the Independent got up on a ladder in his store and took a picture of all the people the city identified as “The Main Street Merchants,” who were against the project. He said they identified him as a leader of the opposition, but he just offered his store for a meeting place because he had the room.
“It was quite a fight, but we won 2-1,” he recalled. “They did it anyway. It all ended OK.”
He recalls Mike Foley used to make special hamburgers for him. Foley said he went to the grocery store every morning and got fresh ground beef to cook each day at Frosty Boy, never using frozen meat. That’s the kind of hamburgers Windiate liked.
“If I could make it myself, I could eat it for free,” Windiate said of Foley’s offer on the ice cream part of his store. “I just did the cones. I didn’t know how to do the other things.”
Mike said he likes to golf and he will pick up some other hobbies during retirement. He’d like to travel around the state of Michigan, since he said there is so much to see. His daughter has a second home in St. Ignace that he’s been planning to visit.
He said running the U-Haul business might be his hobby for a while.
He wants to thank all the thousands of people who came to his store over the years. He thanks them for their support and he’s going to miss them.
“I made a lot of friendships here,” he said, adding, “Over half of my life has been spent here – 37 years. It might take a while to adjust.”