Warsaw’s Ace Hardware Closing; Liquidation Starts Thursday
July 17, 2018 at 4:57 p.m.
Warsaw’s Ace Hardware Closing; Liquidation Starts Thursday
By Mark [email protected]
Ace Hardware, which stakes a claim to being the oldest retail business in Warsaw, will begin its liquidation sale Thursday. The business is closed until then to prepare for the sale.
The Great Wall restaurant closed July 8
What became Ace Harware began when a building was constructed at 107 E. Center St. by John Grabner in 1869 to house a hardware store that was eventually managed by Grabner’s grandsons, Royal and Thurl Pottenger. The business evolved with new owner Andy Goshert and his son Lew, who added a Skelgas propane service.
Current owner Jim Maze said his father, Ned, worked for the Gosherts and eventually became a partner. In 1954 the propane business was separated from the hardware, with Ned Maze taking on the latter. A 1964 fire destroyed the business, and two years later Ned’s son Tom joined the company.
The old store was rebuilt before the business moved to its current location. Jim Maze joined the business in 1970. He and his wife, Bambi, took over in 2001 when Tom retired.
The legacy of the business includes being awarded the “Dimensions in Excellence" award by the greater Warsaw Chamber of Commerce in 1987 and again 19 years later.
Jim Maze said the idea of retirement first came up five years ago. Being very aware of the role the hardware store had played for 149 years, the decision to close didn’t come easily.
“We really did (look for a buyer). We went to our Ace friends in northern Indiana as part of a dealer group and talked to all of those folks, and talked to some people who run a chain of 48 stores in Michigan,” Maze said. “We had a lot of interest. What I’ve probably known, but learned to accept is, from interacting with these people and having them do their forecasts and budgets, this store in this size and model does not fit in the Warsaw market any longer because of big-box competition.”
Like thousands of other locally owned businesses in the last 20 years, national chains hurt the Mazes’ family enterprise.
“We grew and grew and grew in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, and took advantage of expanding and bringing in new departments,” Maze said. “Then we get Walmart and it has an impact, but not huge. Then we get Lowe’s; big impact but we were still doing a good enough volume to be profitable and make things work, but it really knocked us down a peg.
“Then we had economic issues in 2008, and that had an effect where our sales didn’t grow. Then boom, we get Menards, then we get Meijer, then we get Big R. Granted, they don’t sell everything we do, but they all sell nursery items, shrubs, trees, plants, and every little bit took more out of our volume.”
Maze said he and his wife gave it their best shot, but after a certain point it became obvious what needed to be done.
“We feel we’ve done every good practice in retail that we should be doing, and still losing sales volume,” he said. “My wife and I personally have had to support some of our losses, and we’re just not going to do that anymore.
“Warsaw should be a great community for a hardware store. But it needs to be probably half our size, maybe even a third, and be a convenient, neighborhood fix and repair, nuts and bolts type of operation, almost a convenience store. I do believe that would be successful here. We just got to the point where I’m going to be 70 and we’re just not excited to go do that. We’re ready to retire.”
Maze said they sent letters to regular customers and account holders a few months ago letting them know of the decision, but asking them not to say anything publicly. He added that they wanted to have one more spring season, the busiest time of the year in the hardware business, and then begin the process.
“The hardest thing for me isn’t me, it’s the friends that have sent me texts saying, ‘Tell ’em it ain’t so, I can’t believe it. You guys have been here for so long.’ Granted, we have a big mix of customers, but a lot of them are older customers that knew my dad, and comment that they remember when we were downtown on the courthouse square. They remember the goldfish and the bicycles and the cane poles out front and all of that. From that standpoint, that’s the tough thing.”
Maze said they want to either sell or lease the property, and the sale of all inventory and fixtures should be completed in September.
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Ace Hardware, which stakes a claim to being the oldest retail business in Warsaw, will begin its liquidation sale Thursday. The business is closed until then to prepare for the sale.
The Great Wall restaurant closed July 8
What became Ace Harware began when a building was constructed at 107 E. Center St. by John Grabner in 1869 to house a hardware store that was eventually managed by Grabner’s grandsons, Royal and Thurl Pottenger. The business evolved with new owner Andy Goshert and his son Lew, who added a Skelgas propane service.
Current owner Jim Maze said his father, Ned, worked for the Gosherts and eventually became a partner. In 1954 the propane business was separated from the hardware, with Ned Maze taking on the latter. A 1964 fire destroyed the business, and two years later Ned’s son Tom joined the company.
The old store was rebuilt before the business moved to its current location. Jim Maze joined the business in 1970. He and his wife, Bambi, took over in 2001 when Tom retired.
The legacy of the business includes being awarded the “Dimensions in Excellence" award by the greater Warsaw Chamber of Commerce in 1987 and again 19 years later.
Jim Maze said the idea of retirement first came up five years ago. Being very aware of the role the hardware store had played for 149 years, the decision to close didn’t come easily.
“We really did (look for a buyer). We went to our Ace friends in northern Indiana as part of a dealer group and talked to all of those folks, and talked to some people who run a chain of 48 stores in Michigan,” Maze said. “We had a lot of interest. What I’ve probably known, but learned to accept is, from interacting with these people and having them do their forecasts and budgets, this store in this size and model does not fit in the Warsaw market any longer because of big-box competition.”
Like thousands of other locally owned businesses in the last 20 years, national chains hurt the Mazes’ family enterprise.
“We grew and grew and grew in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, and took advantage of expanding and bringing in new departments,” Maze said. “Then we get Walmart and it has an impact, but not huge. Then we get Lowe’s; big impact but we were still doing a good enough volume to be profitable and make things work, but it really knocked us down a peg.
“Then we had economic issues in 2008, and that had an effect where our sales didn’t grow. Then boom, we get Menards, then we get Meijer, then we get Big R. Granted, they don’t sell everything we do, but they all sell nursery items, shrubs, trees, plants, and every little bit took more out of our volume.”
Maze said he and his wife gave it their best shot, but after a certain point it became obvious what needed to be done.
“We feel we’ve done every good practice in retail that we should be doing, and still losing sales volume,” he said. “My wife and I personally have had to support some of our losses, and we’re just not going to do that anymore.
“Warsaw should be a great community for a hardware store. But it needs to be probably half our size, maybe even a third, and be a convenient, neighborhood fix and repair, nuts and bolts type of operation, almost a convenience store. I do believe that would be successful here. We just got to the point where I’m going to be 70 and we’re just not excited to go do that. We’re ready to retire.”
Maze said they sent letters to regular customers and account holders a few months ago letting them know of the decision, but asking them not to say anything publicly. He added that they wanted to have one more spring season, the busiest time of the year in the hardware business, and then begin the process.
“The hardest thing for me isn’t me, it’s the friends that have sent me texts saying, ‘Tell ’em it ain’t so, I can’t believe it. You guys have been here for so long.’ Granted, we have a big mix of customers, but a lot of them are older customers that knew my dad, and comment that they remember when we were downtown on the courthouse square. They remember the goldfish and the bicycles and the cane poles out front and all of that. From that standpoint, that’s the tough thing.”
Maze said they want to either sell or lease the property, and the sale of all inventory and fixtures should be completed in September.
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