When Anthony “Mr. Tony” Colandrea opened Colandrea Ace Hardware in Elmwood Park in Feb. 1955, the then-47-year-old probably couldn’t have ever dreamed that 60 years later, his business would still be going strong.
Colandrea, who worked until retiring at the age of 90, operated the store with his sister and his young sons, Gregory and Larry, who each started working at around the age of 10.
Gregory retired in December, but Larry, 61, and his son, Chris, 32, now mainly run the shop, along with help from a few other family members. That means three generations of Colandreas have kept their Ace Hardware going for the last six decades.
The Colandreas are proudly celebrating their 60th anniversary in business, and they’ve stayed on the same block the whole time. Mr. Tony originally opened his Ace at 2625 N. Harlem Ave. but in 1978, increasing the store’s size four-fold, he packed his bags and moved to 2728 N. Harlem Ave., which is where Colandrea Ace operates today.
“Being a graduate of Northwestern in accounting, he was very learned and aware of what was happening in the world,” said Larry Colandrea, who returned to work at the store full-time in 1976, after completing his master’s degree. “The fact that he was of a generation gone by, the Depression, the war, and all of that made his views very traditional.”
Mr. Tony was a very religious man, and every Sunday, he and Larry would get up early and go to Mass together before heading to the store, which is pretty much where Larry spent many childhood days.
“When I started working it was fun, new, different,” recalled Colandrea. “But as the time went by, we were expected to do our share … wait on customers, put stock away, unload the truck twice a week. There was always some play involved when I was young … just make sure you didn’t get caught.”
Though decades have gone by, Colandrea still considers the place an “old-time hardware store,” selling paint, hardware, plumbing, electrical, lawn and garden, and other sundries.
That, is besides a few of the other things they do.
“For a long time, we carried all the fixings for our Italian customers to make wine,” he said. “We fix, make and repair screens, windows and thermal unit windows. We repair just about anything our customers can bring through the door.
“We provide personal service to each of our customers and have done this for many decades,” he added. “Long before ‘personal service’ became an industry watchword.”
Someday Colandrea will pass the torch to his son, but for now, he said he just wants to sell more hardware, get the bills paid, and not work seven days a week — six would do just fine.
“The years in business and on this block are coming to some kind of new perspective,” he said. “You’re so busy living day-to-day, sometimes you don’t notice what you’ve done.
“I’m proud of the way people talk about us, say how we help them and tell them how to do their repairs,” said Colandrea, who has represented Ace Hardware Corp. nearly a dozen times in telethons and fundraisers through the Children’s Miracle Network for Children’s Memorial Hospital. “That doesn’t mean we can settle back for one minute. We have to improve and innovate every day while taking care of each customer one-on-one. There are lots of great American companies who did great and now are gone.”
Felicia Dechter is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press. Got a real estate story idea? Email her at write12@comcast.net.
