It wasn't long ago that every handyman's secret weapon was the guy who worked at the hardware store. The staff there would fill in your knowledge gaps through customer service. Good ones made do-it-yourselfers look like geniuses.
But, just like in any industry, the times they are a changing. And Olson's Ace Hardware in downtown Waukesha is no exception. After 65 years, it will close its doors soon.
How many places were made better by the hardware and help that the people of Waukesha got there?
Any downtown retailer like Olson's has been under relentless attack from larger stores and chains for decades. Even the Internet is eroding the hardware niche with cheap merchandise and free advice. Toss in an economy that has been battered by the Great Recession and you have a challenging recipe that makes many a sole proprietorship a threatened species.
There is a thinning of the pack going on in the hardware business, just like a lot of industries. Stores are closing or changing hands. In Milwaukee and Wauwatosa, long-standing Ace stores have recently closed, and, a few years earlier in Waukesha, two True Value stores — one on the north side and one on the south — shut their doors.
If you don't count the big-box home-improvement stores, Waukesha, a city of 70,000 people, is being served by a single hardware store. Only Tomcheck's Ace on Sunset remains and it appears to be going strong. Bigger stores with ideal locations and strong management are surviving the barrage, but it isn't easy. There is little margin for error.
For downtown Waukesha, it means shedding yet another retail destination and becoming home to ever tinier niche stores, banks, restaurants and watering holes. On a larger scale, Waukesha, already suffering from a lot of vacant large retail locations scattered about the city, will soon have a prominent one downtown in a location on Main Street that is prime for redevelopment.
It might be months before the best use of that site gets serious discussion, but the corner of Barstow and Main is one of the most prominent in the city. Will it be home to more housing? Will there be room for some interesting retail business? Or will it sit vacant waiting for fate to knock on the door?
The city needs to be pro-active in working with developers to make sure this location does not fall on hard times. With good planning, it could be a catalyst for another important phase in downtown redevelopment, which is as good a second life as anyone in the hardware business could hope for.