Newdle Bar and PizzaFire may have closed their doors in downtown Kent, but a new hardware store is expected to open in town.

Ace Hardware has plans to open early this summer. The new hardware store will open in University Plaza, where the Overstock Oasis used to be, and fill an empty 14,000-square-foot building. The store will be owned by a family from Louisville in Stark County, which already runs two Ace Hardware stores.

“We are excited about them coming in,” said Tom Wilke, the economic development director for the City of Kent. “It kind of fills a void in the city of Kent. Back when downtown was redeveloped, the Kent hardware store closed and no one has opened to retake their place.”

Newdle Bar closed before winter break and planned to reopen, but never did. There are two sushi restaurants in downtown Kent: Pacific East and Kenko.

Local pizza franchise PizzaFire also closed in November 2018 and planned to reopen in January, but it remains closed. The whole franchise closed due to a cash flow issue, but the Kent location was one of PizzaFire’s best-performing restaurants. 

“There is a group that is looking to reopen some of the better-performing ones under the same name, and we believe Kent will be one of those locations,” Wilke said.

Jorden Shevel is the business reporter. Contact him at [email protected].