Out with the old and in with the new for Palmetto hardware location

Ace Hardware is announcing a new location in Palmetto that will take the place of Jackson Hardware, which closed in early 2017 at 1118 Eighth Ave. W. in the downtown corridor.

Palmetto city planner Karla Owens said it’s still early in the process to determine a timeline of when the new store will open, noting that a site plan has yet to be submitted, but is expecting one in the near future. Owens said if the city receives the site plan fairly soon, she estimates it will take about three months for Ace to open its doors.

“The two gentlemen who bought the property are working on the exterior improvement plans, but it will be an Ace representative who submits the interior plan,” Owens said. “I don’t expect a huge reconfiguration inside, but Ace has their standard floor plans.”

According to the Manatee County Property Appraiser website, Alwan Ziad Yousef and Asfoor Fathi Awad purchased the building built in 1970 for $850,000 in July 2017. Property records indicate the men have been investing heavily into downtown Palmetto and own several other properties. The fact that the pair purchased the property, rather than leased, means a lot to Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant.

“It shows they are vested in that property and I’m sure it will look wonderful and it’s an area that needed to be cleaned up,” Bryant said. “It’s been vacant for a while now. I’m really excited because it also fills a need in that area of the city since the previous hardware store unfortunately had to close.”

Bryant said city officials heard there was someone interested in opening another hardware store, “But we got really excited when we learned it was Ace. We’ve been working with them for a while now and I think it’s going to go forward quickly.”

The new owners did not immediately return a call for comment, nor did Ace Hardware’s corporate office.

According to Ace Hardware’s corporate page, the company was founded in 1924 by a group of Chicago hardware store owners and more than 4,600 of the company’s 4,700 stores are independently owned.

It’s an advantage, Ace states on its website, that gives the company an edge in providing hometown service by local small business owners, but with corporate backing to stay competitive with larger retail hardware companies.

This story was originally published February 8, 2018 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Out with the old and in with the new for Palmetto hardware location."