Democracy on the Front Lines
City Administrator’s Blog
Walter Denton
December 12, 2006
We issued a building permit last week for a new Ace Hardware Store at the old Barnett’s Furniture in Southview on Hwy. 50. The owner currently runs an Ace Hardware in Belleville and is expanding his business into O'Fallon. In addition to the standard hardware items, seasonal planting supplies will be sold there as well. They are doing both internal and external remodeling and plan to be open in March for the spring growing season.
I am excited about this for several reasons. First, the old Barnett’s Furniture building has been underperforming for years. It was the original location of the Hart Grocery Store until they built their current building. After that, it was Choice Furniture, then it was vacant for a while, then it was Barnett’s Furniture, and now it has been vacant again for more than a year. Ace Hardware is a solid anchor store that should draw a loyal customer base.
Which leads for my second reason: it is important that Southview remains a successful and viable shopping center. While we have seen extraordinary commercial growth along I-64 in recent years, it is critical that the inner core of O’Fallon remains strong. At one time, Southview was the only shopping center in town and it still sees a lot of traffic at the corner of Lincoln and Hwy. 50.
Southview has served O’Fallon residents well for many years, and we would like for the shopping enter to be positioned for future success as well. A key to that is an anchor store at the old Barnett’s Furniture building. Grocery stores are ideal anchors, but I believe Ace Hardware will also fit the bill. If you get steady traffic at Ace Hardware, then the entire shopping center will benefit.
My third reason for looking forward to the Ace Hardware is personal: I know I will use it a lot. Home Depot is nice if you are doing a big project or need a lot of different things, but to me it is overkill to go there just to buy some screws. If I need to get a few things, it is more practical and convenient to pop into my local hardware store and find what I need right away. I think the market exists for both stores to be successful.
I am pleased to see a strong business like Ace Hardware locating in the inner core of our community. When McDonald’s builds their new restaurant in front of Ace at the liquor store site and when the strip center opens at the old Texaco/KFC site (both sometime in 2007), then the Southview shopping area will be greatly improved.
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