DIXFIELD – Towle’s Hardware and Lumber is open for business and now offers three times the space and number of items than the previous store, which had been in the family for three generations.

“We expanded. We decided not to participate in the recession,” Norman “Butch” Towle said Friday afternoon. He and his wife, Donna, own the business.

He said plans had been under way for quite some time to expand, and, so far, the recession hasn’t hit.

Now, the 7,300-square-foot building on Weld Street offers more hardware, a new line of paint, more plumbing and electrical merchandise, tools, and building materials, and a wider variety of grains for farm animals.

“People don’t have farms, but they do have a few animals,” Towle said.

If geese need corn, or horses, cows, chickens or pigs need grain, it can be found at Towle’s. So, too, can a greater selection of fencing and other farm-related supplies.

The new paint line can match nearly anything. All someone has to do, Towle said, is bring in a curtain, pillow or anything else with the color desired, and it can be matched.

In the spring, the garden section will be much larger, too.

Towle’s grandfather started the business in 1911 as a lumber company that also sold tools. Butch worked at the store all through school, then took it over from his father in 1976.

The expanded business meant three more people had to be hired, bringing the total to six full- and part-time employees, plus Butch and Donna.

The old store was razed last summer, and now it is being turned into a parking lot next to the hardware store and John “Chip” Towle’s recently opened Towle’s Corner Store.

The fourth generation Towle opened that 4,000-square-foot business about a year ago. Besides gasoline and many of the usual convenience store items, Chip Towle employs a chef who creates unique foods for customers. About 20 full- and part-time people are employed at the younger Towle’s business.

At age 63, Butch Towle said he has no plans to retire.

He and Donna, who met as students at Dixfield High School, have been working in and building up the business since 1976.

Pieces of the old store are placed throughout the bright, spacious showroom, including a framed photograph of the old store matted in a section of the original building’s tin ceiling. Decorating the walls are a variety of antique wooden planes, and a wooden chest that once stored thousands of screws.

In addition to the thousands of hardware, building, and farm items, Towle’s also offers a variety of services ranging from the capability to send faxes, UPS shipments, and screen repair.

With the family working almost around the clock getting the new store in shape, Butch said an official open house won’t take place until spring.

“We hope the new businesses will help the town, spur people to dress up their buildings and bring life to the town,” Butch said.