While Ace Hardware sees record growth, a list of independent locations across the country are shutting down, highlighting the pressures facing local owners.
The familiar chime of the front door at neighborhood hardware stores is going silent in a dozen communities as 2026 brings a wave of closures. Despite record growth for the parent company. these individual retail hubs—each an independently owned cooperative—are closing their doors. leaving local landmarks shuttered.
From a 94-year-old staple in Massachusetts to small-town locations in Colorado and Texas. the list of affected stores includes: 65 Main Street. Winthrop. MA; 202 Central Avenue NW. Jasper. FL; 105 Suwannee Avenue NW. Branford. FL; 631 Philadelphia Street. Indiana. PA; 212-214 Chestnut Street. Virginia. MN; 118 Highway 12 W. Suite 10. Starkville. MS; 5143 Quince Road. Memphis. TN; 201 W Bonita Avenue. San Dimas. CA; 155 E Main Street. Aguilar. CO; 3044 Old Denton Road. Carrollton. TX; and 20 E Quincy Street. Westmont. IL.
Ace Hardware operates as a cooperative of nearly 5,300 locations across all 50 states. Owner-operator Jeff Smith describes the model as a strategy to stay nimble. “Every Ace store is sized and stocked to best cater to the neighborhood that they serve,” Smith said. “The stores have the flexibility to order from many sources. which helps to be more efficient. and keep up with customers’ ever-changing needs.” Many owners lean into this local identity. often naming stores after their city. family. or regional landmarks while relying on the cooperative for inventory and back-end supply chains.
But that independence carries a heavy price. Christina Lindley. founder and CEO of VPRG Consulting. notes that while the cooperative model offers shared resources—such as an Instacart partnership that helps local stores reach customers without building their own delivery infrastructure—the burden of survival is solitary. “Staffing, inventory, cash reserves, and succession planning all rest heavily on the individual operator,” Lindley said.
The decline of these stores is not tied to a single root cause. but the individual struggles mirror a difficult landscape. Woodside Ace Hardware in Winthrop. Massachusetts. closed in August after 94 years; owner Lauren Murphy. who took over from Paul Levy in 2021. had been navigating health issues. Others have been forced into legal action. with D&D Venture Group filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its Chase Ace Hardware in Northern California and Woodcrest Ace Hardware in Riverside. California.
These closures occur as Home Depot. Lowe’s. and Amazon command between 56% and 57% of the home improvement market. squeezing independent retailers. While Ace Hardware reported second-quarter results showing same-store sales up 1.1%, those numbers mask the reality that transactions among U.S. stores fell 1.9%. Expansion and record growth at the corporate level do not guarantee the longevity of the individual corner store. Ace Hardware did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the 2026 closures.
Ace Hardware hardware store closures retail business news 2026 closures independent retail