Vancouver’s newest Parkrose Hardware store will have its official grand opening this weekend to coincide with the company’s 51st anniversary celebration. Events are set at both Vancouver stores and the company’s flagship east Portland store.
The new Parkrose Hardware, in Vancouver’s North Garrison Heights neighborhood, is an anchor at The Mill, a small shopping center formerly known as Garrison Square. The 16,000 square-foot store, which replaces an Ace Hardware that had operated in the same space, fits the company’s prototype for a small-store concept, said store manager John Coppola. By comparison, the company’s Portland store has 36,000 square feet and its east Vancouver store, which opened 13 years ago, has 30,000 square feet. Home Depot stores are typically just over 100,000 square feet.
Even in the smaller space, the store offers a major selection of fasteners, with more than 9,500 types of nuts, bolts and screws available, Coppola said.
“It’s a niche nobody else carries,” he said.
If you go: Parkrose Hardware grand opening
What: Celebration of Parkrose Hardware’s 51st anniversary and its opening of a second Vancouver store.Where: The new Parkrose Hardware, 8000 E. Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, and existing stores: 16509 S.E. 1st St., Vancouver, and 10625 N.E. Sandy Blvd., Portland.
When: Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m
Details: Raffle prizes, a grand prize giveaway of a Big Green Egg cooker, children’s activities including a “bounce house.”
More information: www.ParkroseHardware.com
The company also offers tool rentals, and says its diverse product offerings and focus on customer service offer advantages over shopping at big-box retailers.
Parkrose Hardware was founded by Bob and Gloria Ableidinger, and it remained under local ownership until 2014, when it was acquired by Tennessee-based Central Network Retail Group. Central Network owns some 80 hardware and lumber stores, and Parkrose operates the company’s only stores west of the Mississippi River, said Michael Nelson, Parkrose Hardware’s district manager.
The company is interested in further expansion in the Portland-Vancouver market. “We are actively seeking new locations right now,” Nelson said. “It’s all about real estate.”
Renovation of other retail spaces continues at The Mill, which also has a Planet Fitness as an anchor. The Vancouver-based development firm Killian Pacific purchased the 1960s-era shopping center in 2011 for $3.5 million.
