Eric Hassett, co-owner of the new store, said that coming back to San Jose was a priority for the family since 2004. He, along with his father, Larry, and younger brother, Richard, will work at the location once it’s opened.

His grandfather, Robert “Bob” Hassett, owned Hassett Brothers Hardware on Hamilton and Meridian in 1957. Three years later, a major renovation of the site forced the Hassetts to relocate to Redwood City.

“We have been looking at four other markets to move into, including San Jose, but things did not pan out,” Eric Hassett said.

Three years later, Hassett’s luck changed when he learned last summer that a building was going to be available.

“We came down and looked at it,” he said. “It worked well for the size and type of store we want to run.”

The Willow Glen location is roughly 8,900 square feet, almost identical to the Hassetts’ flagship store in Palo Alto.

The Willow Glen location will include departments for electrical hardware, lawn and garden, seasonal goods such as patio sets, useable house wares, and tool and automotive, Hassett said.

… and this time, WGx was actually right!

WGx started sweating about this report a few days ago when Pierluigi Oliverio himself asked if the report on this website was accurate. Yikes … did he know something we didn’t?

But now we can all relax … The sign is hand-made — complete with a stenciled ACE Hardware logo — but it’s on display in the window facing Curtner. ACE Hardware is actually coming soon to Curtner & Lincoln. … WGx