Costello’s Ace Home Center closing 13th Avenue store

DYKER HEIGHTS — A popular hardware store where local residents go to buy hammers, nails, nuts and bolts is closing its doors for good.

Costello’s Ace Home Center of Brooklyn at 7609 13^th Ave. will be shutting its doors forever at the end of February.

“Yes, we’re closing,” a woman who answered the phone at the store on Monday told the Home Reporter.

The store’s owner and manager were busy helping customers and were not available to be interviewed.

A large sign in the store’s front window announces “Store Closing Sale.”

Costello’s Ace Home Center of Brooklyn is one of several stores in a chain of shops founded by Vincent Costello. Costello opened a single hardware store in 1976 and over the years expanded his company to 30 locations in Brooklyn, Long Island, New Jersey and Maryland, according to a history of the store on the company’s website, www.costellosace.com.

“Costello’s Ace Hardware is committed to serving its stores’ neighborhoods with world class service, the most sought-after brands and the most knowledgeable store associates in the industry,” a statement on the website reads.

Costello’s Dyker Heights store is located at the site that was occupied by another hardware store, Polstein’s Home Center, for decades. Polstein’s, where local residents purchased everything from carpenter’s tools to Christmas lights, closed in 2018 and was succeeded by Costello’s.

The store sells cleaning supplies, hardware, lawn and garden equipment, electrical supplies, housewares, hand tools, power tools, paint and plumbing supplies. It also contains a gift shop.

Costello’s is huge, occupying four storefronts along the busy 13^th Avenue commercial thoroughfare, and its impending closure is going to hit the neighborhood hard, according to Fran Vella-Marrone, president of the Dyker Heights Civic Association.

“There has been a hardware store there for as long as I can remember. You hate to see any business on the avenue closing. We won’t have the convenience of a hardware store close by on the avenue. It’s a big loss,” Vella-Marrone told the Home Reporter.

Local stores offer better customer service, Vella-Marrone contended. “When you go into a big box store, no one helps you. A small, local store gives you personal attention. They have people working there who can answer your questions and give you advice,” she said.