The rapidly changing landscape of Santa Monica has claimed another hardware store.
Following the exit of Busy Bee Hardware in late 2017, Fisher Hardware and Lumber is set to take a bow in 2020 due to pending increases in rental costs. August 15, 2020 will be the hardware store’s last day.
Rumors of the store’s closing circulated on social media and were confirmed by Fisher owner Erik Jorgensborg.
“The property is up for sale and our lease is up in a year,” Jorgensborg said to the Daily Press. “Do you think you can afford to run a hardware store in a place like this?”
Fisher has been a staple in the Santa Monica community for nearly 100 years, having been founded in 1923. Jorgensborg said the business is one of the oldest in the city and moved to its current location (Lincoln/Colorado) from the original location at 14th and Colorado.
Jorgensborg has been with the company since 1975, nearly 45 years of serving locals. The store has 10 employees and some have decades of experience. Jorgensborg said the Fisher employees are good people with good skills that should be able to find work in neighboring communities.
“I know people around this surrounding community that need people, they’ll be fine.”
Jorgensborg himself isn’t sour about seeing Fisher come to an end.
“It’s tough that I didn’t make a 100 years but it’s time for me to go, time for me to retire,” he said.
Jorgensborg said he knew around 15 years ago that Fisher’s days would soon be numbered but didn’t anticipate the end happening so suddenly.
“It’s unfortunate that the face of Santa Monica is changing such that local retailers can’t rent space here,” he said. “Everything here in Santa Monica has morphed. All this retail space is housing now. It’s hard to compete.”
angel@smdp.com
