Brian Edwards-TiekertNov 25, 2023
Aaaaagh I just found out Ellis Ace hardware is closing at the end of the year. What a neighborhood treasure.
Show threadBrian Edwards-TiekertNov 25, 2023
The store opened in 1946. Paul and Barbara Eames took it over from their father in 1985.
Since the 70s, it's been an old-timey counter-service operation: you tell them what you need, they run in between the towering shelves of inventory and fetch it for you. (Or, you vaguely describe what problem you need to solve, and they tell you how to solve it, because they know everything).
Show threadBrian Edwards-Tiekert
There was always a steady stream of working people queued up at the counter on weekdays who didn't have time to waste wandering the aisles of a box store. The counter service model got them high sales per square foot, and also required high labor, which meant they employed a lot of folks from the neighborhood. It saw them through the construction of the world's worst Home Depot just down the road in Emeryville. https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/RETAIL-CLASSIC-Counter-Culture-Service-key-to-3237737.php
Nov 25, 2023 at 10:58pmWeb
Show threadBrian Edwards-TiekertNov 25, 2023
It's amazing to think of everything the store's seen change. It opened in a neighborhood that was predominantly Italian-American, fronting a street car line to downtown Oakland.
In a couple short decades white families had moved en masse to new suburbs, North Oakland had become a hotbed of radical black organizing (Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale was a customer) and Grove Street (now MLK) was being torn up for elevated BART track that drove out most of the other local businesses. https://oaklandlibrary.org/content/bart-and-black-communities/
BART and Black Communities

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Show threadBrian Edwards-TiekertNov 25, 2023
Now the neighborhood's filling with well-paid professionals buying homes for 7 figures. Paul and Barbara are still making money, but they want to retire -- and couldn't find anyone willing to take over the business who could buy the building at current prices.
Show threadBrian Edwards-TiekertNov 25, 2023
Anyway, Ellis Ace is open til the end of the year, selling off everything that's left from 77 years of operation, down to the shelving, at steep discounts. Stop by and wish Paul and Barbara a happy retirement!