Hardware store heading toward opening Hardware store heading toward opening (March 09, 2005)

Shoppers checking out their reflections in the glossy new front windows of 700 Santa Cruz Ave. may not be seeing a lot of change inside these days, but plans for the new Ace hardware store are taking shape, owner Vasile Oros says.

"Everything's set up. The inventory and the shelving are ordered," he says. As of last week, he was waiting for permits from the city to build a mezzanine of about 900 square feet for storage.

Mr. Oros hopes to get his permits in a week or so. After that, it should be six to eight weeks before the store opens, once other work such as installing flooring and lighting is complete, he says.

This will be the second hardware store for Mr. Oros; he's owned the Ace on Market Street in San Francisco since 1999.

When the hardware store-church meeting room combination was proposed, a concern raised was whether the store -- located in the front of the building -- would have easy access to the back parking lot, for easier loading and unloading. So a hall has been built that runs alongside the meeting room and connects the store with a door in back.

Mr. Oros is well aware of the community's fondness for the old Menlo Park Hardware, which occupied 700 Santa Cruz Ave. for decades before closing in 2001. He says he hopes residents will give him suggestions on how to make his store more like that beloved institution.
-Rebecca Wallace

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