Ace won't be the place

Bare shelves, clearance tags and signs reading "all sales final" can be found throughout Lodi's Ace Hardware store.

After opening its doors 10 years ago, Ace Hardware on Kettleman Lane is liquidating its stock and closing. Once again, the economy is being blamed.

Tom Kiriu, who has been coming to the store since it opened, greets a friend, shakes his hand and chats a bit before looking through items selling for 35 percent off.

"I got Lowe's in front of (my house), but I still come here," Kiriu said, referring to the big box home improvement store on Kettleman and Lower Sacramento Road. "I'm disappointed. They're so nice and helpful here."

Ace store manager Celeste Taylor, who has worked at the store for seven years, said Randy Lawrence, the store's owner, informed employees of the closing on Nov. 1. There are 12 fulland part-time employees, all of whom are being let go.

"We're shocked," Taylor said. Since she has worked at the store for so long, Taylor, a single mother of a 6-year-old, said the connections she's made with regular customers has opened up various job offers, but she is still weighing her options. "I might go back to school, but I'm going to stick it out till the end — whenever that may be."

Six other storefronts in the Vineyard Shopping Center, where the Ace store is located, are empty. Mervyns department store will soon follow suit.

As inventory is sold off and remaining products are absorbed into Lawrence's Ace stores in Elk Grove, Galt and Sheldon, Taylor believes the store may close at the end of the year, though she wasn't sure.

The liquidation has gone through four stages of discounts, and currently hardware is selling for 20 percent off the regular retail price. Everything else is discounted at 35 percent off. Taylor said about $2,000 to $7,000 in inventory was being taken to the other stores on a regular basis.

Taylor said she was told that the tough economy is the reason for the store's closure. Lawrence could not be reached for comment.

And though Taylor and the other employees will soon be looking for new jobs, they are still doing their best to help Ace's customers.

"We're trying to keep our spirits up," Taylor said.

Contact Business Editor Marc Lutz at marcl@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

Cogito wrote on Dec 7, 2008 7:58 AM:

" JD, Henderson brothers was still in business for 2 to 3 years after the current Lodi Ace was open. So that means they've only been out of business for 7 to 8 years. So Henderson's survived the opening AND closing of the old Ace Hardware. "

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Cogito wrote on Dec 6, 2008 8:36 AM:

" Henderson Brothers still advertises their plumbing business, I think they're still here. "

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JD wrote on Dec 5, 2008 9:06 AM:

" Cogito, my recollection (potentially flawed) is that the hardware store arm of Henderson Bros went under before the first Ace did (I believe that Henderson had a plumbing arm that remained in business until relatively recently). "

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Cogito wrote on Dec 4, 2008 6:15 PM:

" PS, JD, why do you think the previous ACE failed while Henderson Bros. stayed in business? Kind of blows a hole in your argument wouldn't you say? "

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Cogito wrote on Dec 4, 2008 6:13 PM:

" JD, I wasn't demonizing anyone. What I was attempting to do was to point out the fact that WalMart seems to be the only business that has all this controversy surrounding its arrival. Why wasn't the same concern expressed at Lowes for the same reasons.
The current ACE is owned by a different person than the previous location. The current ACE has only been there for 10 years. They have 4 stores, and the LODI location has been their lowest performing for years. They planned to sell or close long before the economy went south. Lowes has been open over 5 years now, and has significantly affected their business. "

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JD wrote on Dec 4, 2008 11:44 AM:

" Cogito, Ace has been in Lodi for far longer than ten years. I had pretty much left Lodi for good when the Kettleman location opened up, but before then there was an Ace out by Raleys on Lower Sacramento Road and Lodi Avenue.

And regardless of any distinctions between "franchise" and "corporate", my point still stands: Ace and its ilk drove other businesses away by underselling them. I'm sorry to see any business big or small go under, but it seems just silly to demonize Lowe's for beating Ace with a strategy that Ace itself was using ten or twenty years ago. "

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Cogito wrote on Dec 4, 2008 12:09 AM:

" Finally JD, ACE, big box? What have you been smoking? The Ace in Lodi probably has less square feet than Hendersons had. Go in there, it's pretty small. "

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Cogito wrote on Dec 3, 2008 9:32 PM:

" Besides JD, Ace was only open for 10 years in Lodi, not 20. "

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Cogito wrote on Dec 3, 2008 9:29 PM:

" JD, Ace Hardware stores are franchises owned by independent individual owners. Lowes, and OSH, are company stores owned by large corporations. I miss Henderson Bros. too, but they were the most expensive place to buy hardware. That's what eventually killed them. "

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JD wrote on Dec 3, 2008 3:18 PM:

" Cogito, where were the "big box haters" when Ace was being built twenty years ago? It's largely due to corporate chains like Ace and OSH that the truly independent stores--like Henderson Brothers--have gone the way of the dodo.

As I recall, Ace swept into town pioneering a business model that largely eschewed individualized service in favor of reduced prices. It's hard for me to get worked up simply because Lowe's is now beating them at their own game. "

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Cogito wrote on Dec 3, 2008 7:27 AM:

" Where were all you big box haters when Lowes was being built? Now it looks as if there are no independent hardware stores left in Lodi. You can still shop at Ace with a short drive to Galt. Otherwise, it's the choice between corporate behemoths. "

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Lodi's last independent hardware store will soon be closing shop

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