Sprouts & Shutters: Video, Photos Of OSH Renovation In Progress

The Orchard Supply Hardware on Floresta Boulevard near Washington Avenue is closed for renovation and its grand reopening is scheduled for April 6th.

Company spokesman Rick Saunders said the store will probably open in advance of that gala event. When it does customers will notice changes designed to make products and services easier to find, he said.

These will include:

• a "workbench" near the entryway to get keys and simple repairs like screen fixes;
• a walkway around the aisles to make it easy to circumnavigate the store to find desired items;
• a color coding system for the three main families of products: green for garden and nursery, red for tools and hardware, and gold for housewares;
• a new line of Benjamin Moore paints.

Along with the new look will go a new image, Saunders said. Henceforth the chain will encourage patrons to refer to it as "Orchard" rather than OSH -- to give it a moniker more like Home Depot or Lowe's.

You can learn more about Orchard's evolution from a San Jose buyer's cooperative in 1931 to an 89-store, publicly-traded company (ticker symbol OSH) today in a presentation to investors.

This Patch video shows the renovation in progress. 

The attached photo gallery show some of the new features that will be found in about a dozen of the company's 89 stores, San Leandro included.

Locally, the store on Lewelling Boulevard in San Lorenzo will shut down in March and is holding closeout sales, as Patch has reported.

Where do you get hardware, paint and garden items?

Know of other businesses opening or closing? Tell Patch about it using this simple form for our Sprouts & Shutters column.