San Jose will get new Ace Hardware, filling big empty store space

SAN JOSE — A new Ace Hardware is headed to San Jose, a retail use that will take over a big store space that’s been empty for about a year, executives said Wednesday.

Westlake Ace Hardware has leased a shuttered Pacific Sales Kitchen & Home store at 634 Blossom Hill Road in the Sunrise Plaza shopping center.

“San Jose is thriving and rapidly growing,” said Joe Jeffries, president of Ace Retail Holdings, the owner of Westlake Ace Hardware. “We can’t wait to join this fantastic community.”

All told, the Ace Hardware store is leasing 25,000 square feet, according to David Taxin, a partner with Meacham Oppenheimer, the commercial real estate firm that arranged the rental deal.

The new hardware store location is a short distance from the scene of a massive fire in April 2022 that torched a Home Depot store, also on Blossom Hill Road in San Jose.

“With the absence of a Home Depot store not even a mile away, this new Ace Hardware should fill a big need for these kinds of customers,” Taxin said.

A soft opening for the store is slated for the July-through-September third quarter of 2024, the retailer said. The amount of retail space in the new hardware store will be about 19,000 square feet.

“In addition to offering such services as key cutting and automotive key fob replacement, propane tank exchange, and knife sharpening, the store will sell lawn and garden supplies, fasteners, tools, plumbing, and electrical supplies,” the retailer said Wednesday.

Among the brands expected to be offered at the new store:

— Benjamin Moore and Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines paints

— Stihl, Ego, and Milwaukee outdoor power equipment

— Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Craftsman power tools

— Weber, Traeger, and Big Green Egg grills and accessories

— Scotts lawn care products

— Yeti coolers, drinkware, and accessories

The store is also planning an outdoor garden center that will take up some spaces in the adjacent surface parking lot.

“This will be bigger than most of the Ace Hardware stores you see in the Bay Area,” Taxin said. The new San Jose store is owned by the corporation.

Typically, franchisee-operated Ace Hardware stores are around 10,000 square feet, he estimated.

Westlake Ace Hardware operates at least 155 stores in 12 states, the company said.

The Pacific Sales Kitchen & Home store closed about a year ago, Taxin said.

“We had other people interested in leasing the space, but none of them were as good as Ace Hardware,” Taxin said. “The hardware store is a good retail match with Dick’s Sporting Goods and Chavez Markets in the same center.”