Window signs advertising half-off merchandise now hang at Kuipers Ace Hardware in Golden Valley, marking the start of a store-closing sale for a business that has served the community for 71 years. The sale began this week at the Golden Valley Shopping Center, where the family-owned hardware store has long been a neighborhood staple.
According to Bring Me The News, Kuipers Ace Hardware is closing after seven decades in the Golden Valley Shopping Center, with many items marked down as the sale got underway. The outlet reports the store opened in the mid-1950s, making it likely the longest-standing tenant in the shopping center's history. Dale Hoffmann, who owns Kuipers Ace Hardware, began working there in the 1970s, per the same report.
A Family Business Spanning Generations
Hoffmann's ties to the store run deep. Earlier this year, he told KSTP that his business had been in Golden Valley for 71 years, a milestone reported by KSTP as Kuipers celebrated the anniversary. The station's report also notes that some employees, including a cashier and a mechanic, had worked at the store since its early days. Hoffmann has said customers like seeing the same familiar faces over and over again — a detail that captures what longtime shoppers describe as the store's enduring appeal.
That sentiment showed up among residents reacting to the closing news. One Golden Valley resident wrote on Instagram that it feels like “truly the end of an era,” while another posted that Kuipers “has been there as long as I can remember.” A third resident said in a Facebook post that his family had shopped at Kuipers for more than 50 years, underscoring just how many Golden Valley households built a routine around the store's aisles.
The Shopping Center's Changing Landscape
Kuipers sits inside the Golden Valley Shopping Center, a strip mall first built in 1953 along Highway 55. The center is also home to other longtime tenants, including Down in the Valley, which has operated there since 1986, as well as Ragstock and Liquor Barrel. A 2013 account from HomesMSP described Kuipers as Golden Valley's go-to hardware destination for decades, and likely more than half a century, well before the business reached its 71-year milestone.
The shopping center itself changed hands. CCX Media reported that Paster Properties purchased the center for $17.5 million, with plans to renovate and revitalize the aging property through exterior upgrades, new landscaping and parking lot improvements. Finance & Commerce reported around the same time that Paster was exploring ways to bring an anchor tenant, such as a grocer, to the site, and that the company planned to begin renovation work that year.
What Comes Next Remains Unclear
Neither the exact reason for Kuipers' closure nor its final day of operation has been established in available reporting. It's also unclear what, if anything, will fill the space once the hardware store shuts its doors, or whether the shopping center's renovation plans have moved forward since the 2025 purchase. For now, the half-off signs in the windows are the clearest sign that a 71-year chapter of Golden Valley's retail history is coming to a close.
