Customers speak out about the Orchard Supply and Hardware closures

With Orchard Supply and Hardware closing by the end of the year, customers are sounding off about the decision and what should happen next at the store sites.

At the Goleta location, the shoppers said they enjoyed the Fairview site because it was between the Home Depot on the far end of Goleta and the ACE Home Improvement Center in Santa Barbara.

Overall 99 stores are closing in three states, California, Oregon, and Florida, according to the store owner, Lowes.

Carpinteria resident Donna Downs said, “I will miss it. I am sorry to hear it is closing. It’s like what Home Improvement is, and what Home Depot is not. So it is kind of an in between.”

Tom Dinning said his mom is in the San Roque area and enjoyed the OSH location. Irma Dinning was stunned to hear of the closure and said she was not happy with the change, “It’s terrible…and what’s going to go in there, anything?”

It was a good question, being asked by many.

Mike Irwin was nearby going into the store and stopped to recall the location was once a Builders Emporium. Looking ahead he said, “Target is going into the Kmart so I can’t say Target. They are turning so many of these places into public markets, impact hubs where you can do your work and food and all that kind of stuff. There isn’t one out here so that might be a venue for this.”