Cwikla’s Ace Hardware opens in Detroit Lakes; Santa and Mrs. Claus expected to appear at the store with their live reindeer on Nov. 24

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – Cwilka Ace Hardware is now open in Detroit Lakes in the old JC Penney building on Washington Avenue.

The hardware store opened to customers in October and plans on being the local, community hardware store people can trust in the lakes area.

Jeff Cwilka, owner/operator of Cwilka’s Ace Hardware, said he’s been interested in buying the Detroit Lakes Ace Hardware for the past five years, but wanted to wait for the Beug family to tell him they were ready to retire, and that moment came earlier this year.

Jeff Cwikla, owner/operator of Ace Hardware in Detroit Lakes, crafts a copy of a key at the store on Nov. 13, 2023. (Michael Achterling / KDLM)

“I had started talking with those guys five years ago and they said they’d be ready to do something in five years and that’s what we did,” said Cwilka. “We waited for those guys’ retirement time and those guys wanted to retire and I bought them out. I bought their store and I obviously chose to liquidate the old store and start new over here. So, everything is new here in this place.”

After construction and remodel of their new location, the Ace Hardware Set Team setup the whole store from scratch in about six weeks.

“We started construction right when Penneys left at the first part of June,” he said. “All through the summer we did all of the construction and then on Sept. 5 when we took over the old store, our Set Team set the whole store and they were here for six weeks.”

And since they’ve been open, Cwilka said the customers have been extremely grateful and supportive of their new building and ownership.

“People have been extremely receptive and that’s been the cool part of it,” said Cwilka. “We’ve been getting thank yous out of so many people for just being here.”

Daniel Temple, store manager at Cwilka’s Ace Hardware, said they are always looking for team members to join their staff and management, specialist and full and part-time associate positions are available at competitive wages.

“Definitely still looking for an assistant manager and we’re hoping to get someone that knows the community and know the people in the community,” said Temple. “Me being new to it, I don’t know the people here, but we’re lucky to have Mark Beug, one of the former owners, on still who knows people. And that just helps. It helps make people feel comfortable and just knowing the right ways of business and who you are dealing with … we still need sales associates and we still need a paint specialist. That would be great to have someone who has a passion for paint. And then cashiers, we can always use them, part-time, full-time. That being said, we are trying to lean toward people who want more hours and weekend hours because we are looking to extend our hours and that’s what we need to be able to get to that point.”

The new Ace Hardware also booked an important Christmas guest just in time for the holiday season.

Mister and Mrs. Claus will be visiting the new store on Friday, Nov. 24 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Black Friday and they will be bringing some live reindeer with them when they stop in Detroit Lakes.

“Mister and Mrs. Claus and the live reindeer, I think those are going to make a splash here,” said Temple. “It might not be our grand opening, but I’m guessing it’s going to make a splash.”