KALAMAZOO, MI - What has been considered the oldest retail business in Kalamazoo is preparing to close.

Finding no buyers over the last two years, and with no family members interested in taking the reigns, the owners of Hoekstra's True Value Hardware plan to begin a liquidation sale on Thursday at the store, a landmark at 625 Portage St. for 149 years.

"I have real mixed feelings," said Thomas Izenbaard, who co-owns the business with Phil Ippel. "I hate to see it go without continuing on. I've worked here my whole life with my dad and it was just my whole life. ... And it's coming to an end."

Izenbaard, 65, was referring to his late father John, a fixture at Hoekstra's, known for his knowledge and his repair skills. The older man died in May of 2013 at age 91 after working at the store for more than 75 years.

Ippel, 69, said he also has mixed feelings "because you'd like to see it continue as a business. That would be your best case scenario. But I'm ready to be done."

The liquidation, which is being called a retirement sale, is set to begin on Thursday, Oct. 13, and continue into December. The store will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for the sale.

The liquidation is being handled by Mark Chalman, of Wichita, Kan.-based Wingate Sales Solutions, who Hoekstra's may have as many as 35,000 items to sell, from screws and widgets to lawn mowers and housewares.

Ippel said, "Tom and I want to retire and we've tried to sell the business for a couple of years and have not had any serious buyers."

The store property has been expanded on a couple of occasions over many years but now is housed in about 25,000 square feet of space on three levels, including an office, a workshop, a sales floor that is about 7,500 square feet, and about three times that much space for storage.

Hoekstra Hardware was started in 1867 by Dutch immigrants Jurian and Lucy Hoekstra. In 1946, they sold the business to Henry Hoogerheide, John Izenbaard and James Ippel.

Ownership later transitioned to their sons Dan Hoogerheide, Tom Izenbaard and Jim Ippel. Tom Izenbaard and Phil Ippel (Jim's son) bought out Dan Hoogerhiede's interest as he went into retirement, and Tom and Phil have been owners of the store for about 10 years. Not counting them, the business now employs two full-time employees and three part-timers.

During its busiest years, the 1970s, the hardware store employed about 14 people on a full-time basis to supply commercial builders and to serve the growing populations of the surrounding area as well as the nearby Edison and Milwood neighborhoods. The vast majority of its customer traffic was men.

"Fathers used to bring their sons in with them," Ippel said.

Izenbaard said that tradition continued for many years, with grandfathers, fathers and their sons coming to the store with home fix-up projects and the with the staff of Hoekstra's advising them on what they needed to get things done.

While the store still has male customers who first visited Hoekstra's years ago with their fathers and grandfathers, about 50 percent of its customer base is now women who are also handling home fix-up chores.

Ippel and Izenbaard said business has been tough over the last few years but steady. Their store, like other independent hardware stores, has struggled to attract the attention of the Millennial generation, they said.

"The younger generation replaces (things). They don't repair," Izenbaard said.

Replacement parts, tools and the ability to answer customers' questions about around-the-house projects is how Hoekstra's and other independent stores distinguish themselves from large home improvement stores, Izenbaard said.

Hoekstra's is a full-service hardware store that sells tools, housewares, plumbing and electrical supplies, lawn and garden products, lawnmowers, snowthrowers, and fireplace equipment. It also has a repair department for lawn mowers and small engines.

"I'm pretty sad to see it close," said employee Bill Connelly.

He said he understands why Ippel and Izenbaard are closing the business. But he said, "I was hoping someone would buy it. It's been a great store. People are real sad to see it go. We're sad to see it go too. But I can't blame the guys. They've been here a long time. They just want to retire."

Longtime employee Gary Ausema said the store is an institution. He talks of people who visit "and say, 'I remember coming in here with my grandfather,' and these are people in their 80s."

He said the business has had a solid reputation for the knowledge of the people who worked there and the goods it provided.

"If you can't find it at Hoekstra's, you can't find it anywhere else," Ausema said, with pride. "It definitely will leave a legacy."

Ippel said business slowed during the Great Recession years, 2008 to 2010, as construction work slowed and as homeowners and individuals delayed doing all but necessary repairs and building projects.

The men said last year's mild winter also slowed sales of such things as snowblowers, shovels, ice melt products and other cold weather items. But they said that is not the reason for the store's closing.

They had set this year as the year they would consider retirement, they said, and they have no family members interested in joining the operation.

Ippel has two daughters and sons-in-law - one couple lives in Grand Rapids and the other in Marshall. Neither have an interest in running the business. Similarly, Izenbaard has a son in San Diego and two daughters in Kalamazoo. But none of them are hardware people.

Ippel and Izenbaard had fathers who insisted that their sons work at the store.

Ippel and Izenbaard were each students at Kalamazoo Christian High School and lived on opposite sides of Cambridge Drive in the Milwood Neighborhood.

"We grew up across the street from one another in Milwood," Ippel said. "So the families knew each other going way back."

Each started working at the store at age 15.

"I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I didn't think I would be working here my whole life," Izenbaard said with a small laugh. He studied business for two years at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

"It was the last thing in the world I wanted to do," Ippel said, remembering himself as a teen.

He was a pre-med student at Calvin College. But he and Izenbaard made the hardware store their business after spending many after-school hours, summers and Saturdays there.

Although Izenbaard was injured in a fall in 2009, both men said they are in good health and don't plan to sit around after they retire.

"I'm going to take a few months off," Izenbaard said, "then go work somewhere or volunteer somewhere."

"I'm in very good health, " Ippel said. Speaking of him and his wife, he said, "We'd like to travel and volunteer. I don't plan to be sitting down."

His wife, Jane, is retired from Enterprise Foods. Izenbaard's wife, Katherine, continues to work for Kalamazoo County.