SEBRING − Leonard Hardware will close Friday after 123 years in business, fulfilling plans the owner had to retire and sell the building to someone else.

Susan Risbeck Sanor announced last month that Justin and Alison Biery of Damascus Hardware bought the 10,000-square-foot store. Sanor's announcement said the couple do not plan to keep the Leonard name.

"But they will strive to keep Leonard's wonderful tradition of service alive," Sanor said in a Facebook post. "I'm looking forward to a new generation of hardware store ownership."

The new store will be called Sebring Hardware, Justin Biery said.

Leonard Hardware was a landmark

Leonard Hardware opened in 1899. It had been the village's oldest business still in operation.

For nearly 50 years, the store at 145 N. 15th St. was in the hands of the Risbeck-Sanor families. Sanor, a stalwart, was its current owner.

In July, she announced her plans to sell and retire. But she needed buyers.

"I decided life is too short to work until you die," she said in July. "I still plan to be very active in the community with different groups."

There will be an auction

Sanor also announced an auction on Nov. 9 for sheet metal shop machinery and tools, and whatever hardware inventory the Bierys do not want.

"Justin and Alison will be keeping some of Leonard Hardware's fixtures and inventory, but much will be provided by their own whole supplier," she wrote on Facebook.

Justin Biery said they plan to open the new store in mid-April after some renovations.

He also said Shawn Morrow, a longtime employee of Leonard Hardware, has job if he wants it. "He definitely has a place there, if he desires," Biery said. "It's up to him."

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @bduerREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Leonard Hardware, a Sebring landmark, to close Sept. 30