Do It Best hardware store moving into former Office Max space at Plaza Entrada
Dec. 6—An independently owned Do It Best member hardware store called 1610 Hardware will open in the closed Office Max anchor store at the Plaza Entrada shopping center.
A building permit for tenant improvements was issued Nov. 16 for the 23,500-square-foot space that Hart Design & Construction of Albuquerque is improving from the space Office Max vacated in the mid-2010s following the merger with Office Depot.
Office Max had occupied the anchor space since the shopping center at St. Francis Drive and Zia Road opened in 1998.
1610 Hardware owners Mark and Monica Walters of Denver expect to open the store possibly in February. 1610 is a nod to the year Santa Fe was founded.
"We want to get to know the community more," Mark Walters said. "What do they need, what do they want? We are both high on customer service."
The southeast side has no hardware stores; the nearest is located on St. Michael's Drive.
Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Do It Best confirmed the Walters' are opening a member hardware store in the space, which has been vacant for years except for temporary, seasonal tenants such as a Halloween store.
Walters said he has built stores for small and large hardware companies in Denver for 40 years as well as owning two hardware stores himself, including an Ace Hardware he sold last year after 13 years.
The Walters bought a home in Santa Fe a little more than two years ago about a five-minute drive from Plaza Entrada and scoped out the vacant Office Max space about a year ago.
"We will be spending a lot more time [in Santa Fe]," said Mark Walters, who added he has been visiting Santa Fe since the 1970s.
Do It Best is a member-owned comprehensive hardware cooperative in which all the stores are independently owned and branded. The use of the Do It Best name is optional for member stores. Walters said he will use the Do It Best name alongside 1610 Hardware.
Do It Best has 20 member stores in New Mexico, including Hacienda Home Centers in Española; Metzer's Hardware in White Rock and Los Alamos; George's Wood Works in Taos; Rask Building Supply in Edgewood; as well as three stores in Las Vegas, two in Albuquerque and others in Tucumcari, Clovis, Carlsbad, Flora Vista, Silver City, Hatch, Las Cruces, Mesilla, Truth or Consequences, Socorro and Los Lunas. There are member stores in all 50 states.
Do It Best does not publicly release how many member stores there are other than "thousands of locations across the U.S. and in more than 50 other countries," spokesman Randy Rusk said.
