By Lori EhdeAfter sitting empty for six months, the former Glen’s Food Center Building has a new occupant, according to a purchase agreement finalized Tuesday.Mike Schwalbach, Windom, bought the 18,000-square-foot building on East Lincoln Street from Glen Gust and plans to convert it into an all-purpose Ace Hardware store.Schwalbach, who also owns Ace Hardware stores in Windom and Worthington, is planning to be open in time for the busiest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving.The store will have nine basic departments, including housewares, paint, lawn and garden, plumbing and heating, electrical, automotive and tools.Schwalbach said Ace will carve out its own little niche in the Rock County market, not directly competing local existing businesses."We’ll have several departments that are similar," he said, "but we probably have a little different focus, in terms of depth and width of selection."He hired Rock County native John Aanenson, who has lawn and garden management experience, to manage the store full-time.Aanenson recently moved back to the area from Florida and is currently training at Ace in Windom.He’ll be in charge of hiring six additional employees, in both full- and part-time capacities.Schwalbach said the former Glen’s Food Center building is well-suited for what he needs, and work will begin soon on the interior and exterior to transform it into an Ace Hardware.His experience in the hardware business dates back to 1978 when he worked at his father’s OK Hardware store in Windom. He purchased that business in 1985, and it became Ace Hardware in 1991. In 1995, he relocated the store in Windom, and in 2000 expanded it to 31,000 square feet. In March 2002, he opened an 8,000-square-foot Ace in Worthington.Schwalbach said he chose Luverne for the location of his new Ace store for several reasons, but the main reason was its similarity to his hometown."It’s a very similar community with size, mix of people and types of businesses there," he said. "I would say there aren’t two communities in southwest Minnesota that are more similar than these two."He encourages Ace shoppers to get involved early on with inventory planning. "We want them to have input if they have requests for any needs they may have," Schwalbach said. "If it’s something they’d like us to stock, we’d like to be able to have everything they need."Gust said he’s glad to have found a buyer for his former grocery location."He contacted me last spring that he wanted to come to Luverne," Gust said. "It will certainly be another draw for our community, and he’s an independent operator, which is great."Gust purchased the former Jubilee Foods building in January from Brent Bosch and Larry Goebel, who co-owned the business since opening it in the new location south of downtown in August 2000.Gust moved his Glen’s Food Center into the 30,000-square-foot space in March, and his East Lincoln building has been for sale since then.After True Value on South Highway 75 was burned by an arsonist in December 2002, True Value/Country Store opened in the old Jubilee Foods building just south of Main Street on Estey in July.
