Ace Hardware to close at Smoke Tree Village in February, hopes to reopen elsewhere in city

Palm Springs Ace Hardware, a beloved local business known as much for its attentive customer service and eclectic selection of gifts as its hardware supplies, will close its longtime Smoke Tree Village location next February, but its owners say they are working to reopen elsewhere in the city.

In a statement announcing the closure Wednesday, the store’s team said it was saddened to be leaving the shopping center, where it has operated since 2009, but remained committed to continuing the business. The store’s lease expires Feb. 28, 2027, and the space is expected to be occupied by another retailer.

“We are not giving up on our future!” the statement said. “We are actively working to secure a new location where we hope to return bigger and better than ever.”

No new location has been secured, and the owners said they could not yet provide a reopening timeline because negotiations are continuing.

The store also announced that it will begin liquidating its inventory in the coming days, with details about sales and special opportunities to follow.

The news confirms rumors that have circulated in the community about the store’s future and marks the impending departure of a business that has become a destination for residents and visitors alike.

The departure comes amid a broader revitalization of Smoke Tree Village, a shopping center that opened in 1965 and has long served as a retail hub for South Palm Springs. Among the changes underway is a planned In-N-Out Burger, bringing the popular California restaurant chain to the property.

Plans for the In-N-Out were first confirmed by The Post in January 2025 and approved by the Palm Springs Planning Commission that July. The project has since undergone an extended architectural review process, with committee members repeatedly criticizing the restaurant’s proposed design as incompatible with Palm Springs’ architectural character.

In October, the city’s Architectural Review Committee voted 3-2 to approve revised plans, on the condition that In-N-Out satisfy 18 design requirements imposed during an earlier review. The restaurant’s opening date has not been announced.

During that meeting, Tracy Conrad, chief operating officer of Smoke Tree Ranch, which owns the property, described the restaurant project as an opportunity to breathe new life into the property.

“This is a development project that will lift the entire shopping center,” Conrad told committee members.

The departure marks a significant change for Smoke Tree Village, a shopping center that opened in 1965 and has long served as a retail hub for south Palm Springs. Known for its low-slung buildings, shaded walkways and midcentury commercial architecture, the center has historically been anchored by a Ralphs supermarket, alongside smaller shops, services, restaurants and the hardware store.

Founded as Palm Springs Hardware in February 2000 at a former shopping mall that is now the site of a new College of the Desert campus, the business moved to Smoke Tree Village on East Palm Canyon Drive in 2009. It operated under the True Value name before switching to Ace Hardware in 2020.

Over the years, the store built a loyal following by offering an unusual combination of traditional hardware supplies, home goods, gifts and accessories, including merchandise celebrating Palm Springs and its distinctive desert lifestyle.

But it was the store’s commitment to customer service that helped set it apart. Customers entering the store were routinely greeted by employees eager to help locate an item, solve a problem or even recommend another local business if the store didn’t carry what they needed.

That approach helped make the store a standout within the national Ace Hardware network, attracting shoppers from well beyond the Coachella Valley, including international visitors.

At a February 2023 ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the store’s anniversary and its transition from True Value to Ace, employees and community leaders reflected on the business’s special place in Palm Springs.

“We are not just a hardware store, we are a destination, an experience for so many all over the world,” then-manager Erik Graham said at the time. “But what gives us the most pride is our community.”

The store employs roughly four dozen people.

In its statement to customers Wednesday, the Ace Hardware team thanked the community for more than 25 years of support and emphasized that it hopes the departure from Smoke Tree Village won’t mark the end of the business.

“We’re not saying goodbye to Palm Springs,” the statement concluded. “We’re working toward saying, ‘See you at our new location!'”

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