‘It’s sad to see it go’: Saskatoon neighbourhood says goodbye to legacy hardware store

Friday will be the final day for Zak’s Home Hardware in the Sutherland neighbourhood. Laura Woodward reports.

A longtime Saskatoon hardware store is closing its doors.

Friday will be the final day for Zak’s Home Hardware in the Sutherland neighbourhood.

Thelma Shaver has been shopping at the store since she was a child.

“It’s really sad. It’s sad to see it go,” Shaver, who has lived in Sutherland her whole life, told CTV News.

The location has been a hardware store for more than 70 years.

In 1953, Rick Reid’s father and grandfather bought the store — then known as Fast Hardware — and renamed it Reid’s Hardware.

For the Reid family, it was more than a business. Three generations grew up in the store.

Reid remembers his nieces and nephews riding bikes through the aisles before eventually working there.

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“They would take toys and games out of the boxes very carefully and play with them. Then we’d put them back in the box and sell them at Christmas,” Reid said, laughing.

“I guess I can tell that story now.”

In 2023, the Zacharias family bought the business and rebranded it as Zak’s Home Hardware. The family also has stores in Warman and Hague, Sask.

Last year, a second Zak’s Home Hardware opened in Saskatoon.

Owner Wyatt Zacharias said the focus is now on that store — which is more than three times the size of the one in Sutherland.

“Growing into the 51st Street location, it only made sense to consolidate our business,” Zacharias said.

He thanked the Sutherland customers and neighbours.

“It’s a strange store because you’re in the city, but it feels like you’re running a hardware store in a small town,” Zacharias said, noting the relationships built over the years.