Family Hardware Chain Relocates Store

MISSION VIEJO, CA-DeNault’s TrueValue Hardware, a seven-store chain based in San Clemente, Calif., signed a 10-year lease to move its store in Santa Margarita, Calif. to the Trabuco Hills Center in Mission Viejo.

Jeff Moore of CB Richard Ellis tells GlobeSt.com that the hardware store’s Santa Margarita location was approximately the same size as the 12,245 sf the company is moving into at the new store.

“They’re relocating to be closer to the neighborhoods where their customers live and farther away from the big-box competition,” says Moore, who brokered the hardware store’s new lease along with CB’s John T. Mehigan, Scott Horsley, and Jennifer Meade. DeNault’s leased the space from Irvine-based Pacific Castle, an investment firm that owns a number of shopping centers in Orange County. The hardware store is remodeling its new space, which formerly was a 3D Bed & Bath, and expects to move in later this month.

Terms of the lease were not disclosed. Asking rate for the space at Trabuco Hills Center is about $1.65 per sf per month, but the DeNault’s deal is believed to have been done at lower than the asking rate.

DeNault’s operates its other locations, also under the TrueValue name, in both Orange County and San Diego County. Besides the Trabuco Hills location, it has stores in the communities of San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Laguna Niguel, Oceanside, Carlsbad, and the Pavilions Center in Mission Viejo. The company was founded in 1956 by husband and wife Jim and Ruth DeNault and remains a family owned and operated business with DeNault sons Bob, Steve, Don, and Tom all involved. The DeNaults say they have been able to remain competitive in this era of huge warehouse hardware stores by emphasizing a high level of service and carrying an extensive range of basic merchandise such as hardware, housewares, lawn and garden supplies, paint, electrical and plumbing supplies.