Hoekstra's Hardware store has been serving Kalamazoo customers for over a century and have now decided to close up shop.

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Built long before Lowe's, before Ace was the place, making history before Home Depot, Hoekstra's Hardware offers a memory of a time before Menard's.

It was the reconstruction era following the Civil War. Railroad tracks were being laid across the country as Nebraska became the 37th state in 1867. Andrew Johnson was in the White House and Lucy Hoekstra opened a hardware store on Portage Street in Kalamazoo. Nearly 150 years later, Hoekstra's Hardware is finally closing its doors.

Lifetime employees Tom Izenbard and Phil Ipple have owned and operated the iconic Kalamazoo hardware store for the last 50 or so years. Now, "their children have other careers and they couldn't find a buyer for the shop,"according to WWMT.com. "In retirement, they plan to spend a lot more time with family and some travel."

We wish them all the best.

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