OCEAN BEACH (NEWS 8) – It is the end of an era in Ocean Beach as a beloved century-old hardware store prepares to close its doors for good, but before it closes, the store owner plans to have a centennial celebration.
Carl Weidetz took over Ocean Beach Paint & Hardware 50 years ago. “I feel like I have been here for 100 years. It hasn’t been the profit margin that has not kept us going, but it is more of a matter of the beach people. We wanted to hit that 100 years.”
The hardware will close in February.
“I love coming down here. I don’t know what I am going to do,” said one customer.
The original store opened on Beacon Street in 1919, and eventually moved up a few doors to 4871 Newport Avenue. Since its opening and as the store has been passed down from one family to another, it has always kept its same phone number.
Its current location has seen rent increases throughout the years and it would have been across from a proposed Target Express.
“No. Target is not pushing me out and no my landlord is not pushing me. It’s just 50 years. It’s time,” said Carl.
Carl said he wants to do some deferred maintenance at his one home and does not know who will move in to the store’s location. He plans to donate many of the tools to charities that build homes for those in need.