Thatcher’s Ace Hardware Readies For Move To Remodeled Building

By Chris Collins

ccollins@bakercityherald.com

When Scott and Diana Thatcher pooled all their resources to move to Baker City 16 1/2years ago they were given little encouragement that their purchase of the Coast to Coast hardware store would succeed.

“People told me ‘you won’t make it six months – you’re buying a dying hardware store,’ ” Scott Thatcher, 53, recalls. “I said ‘Yeah, I am, but that’s all I can afford.’ “

After years of steady expansion and transitioning from a Coast to Coast to an Ace Hardware store, the Thatchers are moving six blocks across town this spring and expanding again.

The family came to Baker City with the desire to leave the rain in Western Oregon and to join Scott’s folks, Don and Loretta Thatcher, who moved to Halfway to ranch in 1980.

The elder Thatchers have since moved to Baker City and even spent a few years working in the hardware store before retiring.

When Scott and Diana decided to make the move, their children, Danielle, who’s 26, was just 10, and 23-year-old Zach was 6.

Scott left his job as a diesel mechanic and Diana traded a retail job in jewelry for one selling hardware, sporting goods and lawn and garden implements.

See more in Wednesday’s issue of the Baker City Herald.