Bohn's Ace Hardware in Woodstock set to close after 90 years

After 90 years of serving the Woodstock community, Bohn’s Ace Hardware is closing.

It is unclear what will become of the store, 150 S. Eastwood Drive.

“We made it known to Ace Hardware corporate that we were looking to sell and were approached by several Ace stores who said our building was just too large for the size store that Ace wants to promote now,” the store’s owners said in a social media post. “These stores found a local buyer for the building who was able to do the improvements and willing to subdivide the building into three or four retail units.”

One of the retail units could become another Ace Hardware store as soon as the spring, the post said.

“At my age with no successor and the looming Route 47 widening and roundabout improvements taking several years to complete, I thought it best to be sold when the getting was good,” the post reads.

Owners were not available Wednesday to comment further on the closure.

The site is listed for lease on Loopnet.com by Hetan Patel, who owns other retail property in Huntley and Woodstock, according to county property tax records.

“He has a couple ideas, but nothing is ready for announcing,” Woodstock economic development director Garrett Anderson said. “His first priority was to potentially identify another operator for the Ace. ... But we have to let things run their course first.”

A flyer circulated to nearby customers said a special retirement sale will take place from Thursday to Wednesday, but an exact closing date is unknown.

“Everything must be sold, and the doors will be closed forever in a few short weeks,” the flyer read.

Ace Hardware was founded in 1924 in Chicago and has more than 5,000 stores around the world. The majority of stores are independently owned and operated by local business owners, according to Ace’s website.

McHenry County-area Ace Hardware locations include Ziegler’s Ace Hardware in Crystal Lake, Huntley, Lake in the Hills and Cary; Leader Ace Hardware in Fox River Grove; Ace Hardware in McHenry and Harvard; and Richmond Ace Hardware and Rental in Richmond, according to the website.