OSH opens new store in San Jose
SAN JOSE >> Outdoor Supply Hardware has expanded its Bay Area footprint by opening a new store in San Jose on the site of a now-defunct hardware retailer with a storied past.
“It’s very convenient to have the store here,” said Maritza Ponce, a San Jose resident who bought a plant at the just-opened Outdoor Supply Hardware store this week. “I just happened to pass by here and saw the store. It’s my first time here.”
Outdoor Supply Hardware’s latest Bay Area location is in San Jose at 1751 E. Capitol Expressway, a store that opened on Tuesday, according to OSH employees.
The new company deliberately mimics the name of the shuttered Orchard Supply Hardware chain that went out of business in 2018. The shutdown ended Orchard Supply Hardware’s long history in Bay Area retail that began when the original OSH was formed in San Jose as a non-profit co-op in 1931.
With the opening of the latest
Outdoor Supply Hardware, the new OSH chain operates seven Bay Area stores. These consist of two in San Jose along with single locations in Berkeley, Clayton, Moraga, Napa, and Redwood City. OSH also operates a store in Capitola. The OSH website states that a San Leandro store is “coming soon.”
In 2019, Tennessee-based Central Network Retail Group disclosed plans to reopen seven California stores, all in the same buildings as Orchard Supply stores that had closed their doors. For these stores, the new brand became Outdoor Supply Hardware.
“These stores have meant so much to these communities over the years and we are excited to be able to bring them back to life,” John Sieggreen, president of Central Network Retail Group, said at the time of the announcement.
The latest OSH store to open began operating in the same building where an Orchard Supply Hardware store had operated for many years. Signs that stated “happiness is homemade” were visible in multiple locations inside the new store.
The OSH website showed openings for jobs at all of the company’s Bay Area stores, including the one slated for San Leandro.
Customers said they were surprised to discover the new store, which opened with no fanfare.
“We had some business at Skip’s tire store and we saw that the hardware store was open,” said Sandra Lacampagne, a San Jose resident. “It’s great to see.”
David Mirassou of San Jose said he believes the more hardware stores in the vicinity, the better.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Mirassou said. “I love having this store here and that there are more options. We didn’t see a lot on sale but we’ll come back.”
Some customers said they had shopped at the former hardware store at the San Jose location on East Capitol Expressway. They said they have been forced to drive to more-distant stores such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Ace Hardware.
“I live really, close by,” said John Nguyen, of San Jose. “The hardware stores where I have been shopping are really far away.”