Newly Remodeled Robbinsdale Hardware Store Celebrates this Weekend
This weekend an old business becomes new again with a grand opening. The downtown Robbinsdale hardware store has remodeled and expanded this year under new ownership.
There’s new signs outside the Robbinsdale hardware store announcing its new name and owners: Welna Ace Hardware.
For the Welna family, the hardware store business is a family affair that’s into its fourth generation now.
“A hardware store is an important part of a community,” says new owner Mark Welna.
Mark and his wife, Cathy, bought the Robbinsdale hardware store last January, but the Welna family has owned another hardware store in south Minneapolis since 1954.
“Everybody that comes through this door is doing us a favor,” says Welna. “There’s Amazon, there’s Home Depot, there’s Menards, there’s other hardware stores, and so if they walk through our door, we better treat them like they’re family.”
The Welna’s daughter, Molly, is helping to run the Robbinsdale store. Meanwhile, the Welna’s son, Sam, is helping run the south Minneapolis store.
It’s truly a family business. Even Mark Welna’s 89-year-old mother, Pat, visits the store three times a week.
Robbinsdale Hardware Store Expands
Under the new ownership, the hardware store along West Broadway has expanded into the old Hirschfield’s paint store space next door.
The expansion provides new opportunities to increase the store’s inventory from its plumbing department to its paint department, and grills to lawn mowers.
“We’ve expanded the paint line, we brought in Benjamin Moore, we brought in more tools, we’ve really just expanded everything,” says Mark Welna.
For many, the Robbinsdale hardware store is a “go-to” spot.
“I come in here whenever I have a need for anything,” says John Sims, a longtime customer. “
Daughter Molly Welna is grateful for that community support. She knows someday the Robbinsdale store might be hers to run if her dad ever decides to retire.
“You’ve have to remember my grandpa and grandma both worked until they were 89, my mom and dad both worked until they were 89, so I’ve got 31 years to go,” says Mark Welna with a smile.
Welna Ace Hardware has grand opening specials running Friday, August 10 through Sunday, August 12. The business is located at 4140 West Broadway in Robbinsdale.
