LOGAN SQUARE — The neighborhood’s hardware store is back with an expanded footprint and product selection, ranging from paints to power tools to barbecue sauces.
The JC Licht Ace Logan Square store opened this week at 2160 N. Milwaukee Ave. It takes over the former Family Thrift shop, which closed in August 2022 following a gas leak and other building issues.
The store — a combo Ace Hardware and JC Licht Benjamin Moore Paint store — is one block away from the old Gillman Ace Hardware, a locally owned Ace that closed earlier this year after almost 80 years in the neighborhood.
At 14,500 square feet, it’s the largest Ace in Chicago, according to Jeremy Melnick, vice president of Ace Hardware for JC Licht.
The new store was opened after consulting now-retired Gillman Ace owner Alan Gillman, Melnick said.
Gillman reached out to Melnick about possibly taking over his store and keeping the Ace brand in the neighborhood, Melnick said. The two decided having a larger location nearby would be better for business and the community.
“He helped with the transition … of letting him retire and keeping the Ace brand,” Melnick said. “The new store is triple the size, has a parking lot [and] a loading dock.”
Gillman closed his shop due to declining sales, soaring rents, persistent building repairs, pandemic-related strains and the protected bike lanes installed in front of the shop in 2020 that eliminated crucial customer parking, he previously told Block Club.
The new store has been fully renovated, alleviating some of the issues of the previous location, and carries a wider selection of items and big-name brands, Melnick said.
Within the building is a 3,000-square-foot JC Licht store that can serve painters and construction workers and those with home restoration projects, making it a “two-fold” benefit for the neighborhood, Melnick said.
JC Licht and Ace Hardware are Illinois companies, based in suburban Addison and Oak Brook, respectively.
“We are excited to be part of the neighborhood and get reacquainted with the neighborhood after some absence,” Melnick said. “It’s a full-size, suburban-style store in an urban market.”
The store also sells hardware tools, barbecue grills and other outdoor supplies, and offers screen repairs, knife sharpening and key copying, Melnick and store employees said.
“All the little things that a hardware store has, we have it,” said store manager Chuck Vander. “We’re excited to be the neighborhood hardware store.”
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