Local independent hardware stores face fierce competition from big-box home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s, which requires local stores to curb their expenses and keep their prices down to compete.
One of retailers’ biggest expenses which continues to rise is their store rent. If a store owner can’t negotiate an affordable lease with their landlord, the shop will either need to relocate or shut down permanently.
And that’s the problem facing Minnesota-based Kuipers Ace Hardware, whose 72-year history is coming to an end.
Kuipers Ace Hardware closing
Kuipers Ace Hardware in Golden Valley, Minn., is conducting a store closing liquidation sale and plans to permanently shut down by the end of the year.
The Ace Hardware store near Minneapolis, which has anchored the Golden Valley Shopping Center since 1954, is closing after its owner Dale Hoffman failed to reach a lease agreement with the center’s new landlord.
Hoffman, who began working at the store when he was 9 years old, said the decision to close was based on sustainability after lease negotiations with the shopping center’s management collapsed, according to CCX Media.
“Our customers have just been fantastic, and we’re sorry it had to happen this way,” Hoffman said. “They’re understanding and they’re supporting us. It’s going to be a tough one.”
Liquidation sale proceeds
Kuipers Ace Hardware is conducting a store-closing liquidation sale, with many items at 50% off, according to signs posted on the store’s windows. The store will remain open through the end of December or whenever all of the shop’s inventory is sold.
The closing of Kuipers Ace Hardware will follow at least 11 other independently owned Ace Hardware store closures across the country in 2026 for various reasons, such as ownership retirement or financial distress.
Ace Hardware stores closed in 2026
Independent Ace Hardware store owners closed stores in San Dimas, Calif.; Aguilar, Colo.; Jasper, Fla.; Branford, Fla.; Westmont, Ill.; Winthrop, Mass.; Virginia, Minn.; Starkville, Miss.; Indiana, Pa.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Carrollton, Texas.
Kuipers Ace Hardware is part of Ace’s hardware cooperative, which is the largest in the world and serves 9,050 locally owned and operated stores worldwide. The Oak Brook, Ill.-based hardware cooperative has 5,300 independently owned retail stores in the U.S.
Same-store transactions declined
The 102-year-old hardware chain reported $2.5 billion in revenue, or a 2.1% increase year-over-year, in the third quarter of 2026 ended Oct. 3. About 4,000 Ace retail stores that share daily retail sales data reported a 2% increase in same-store sales supported by a 4.5% increase in average ticket, though same-store transactions declined by 2.3%.
Competition in the home improvement and hardware sector in the first quarter of 2026 was dominated by Home Depot with 29.5% of market share, followed by Lowe’s at about 23.3% of the market, according to data from PassBy.
Harbor Freight Tools had about 14.8% of the market ahead of the Ace Hardware chain with about 11.4%. Do It Best captured about 10.8% of the market, and its affiliate True Value had 7.1% of market share, followed by Menards with 3%
“Everybody’s going to miss it. It’s the go-to place,” Hoffman said. “When people need help on something, you’re not going to get it from the big box. You’re going to get it from the small hardware store.”
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