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Jason Shaw worries most about the “little old ladies.”

As general manager at Dorn True Value Hardware on North Broom Street — the only hardware store in the downtown area — Shaw knows his store is important to a lot of people.

There are the maintenance workers who fix appliances and plumbing at the many apartment buildings downtown. There are the bar and restaurant owners who turn to him when something breaks down. There are the UW-Madison art students who need supplies for a project. And there are all the other students, hoping to get their rental deposit back, who need to know how to fix a hole in the wall or rent one of the store’s carpet cleaners.

Unfortunately, the building has now changed hands and the hardware store lost its lease in the process. Shaw worries most about who will look out for the seniors who live in nearby apartments after Dorn Hardware closes on Feb. 16. “There’s an elderly population downtown that’s really going to be affected by this,” says Shaw, who has worked at the store since 1995, except for a few years. “For me, this is the saddest part.

“You don’t know how many little old ladies’ walking shopping carts I’ve fixed, watch batteries I’ve replaced,” Shaw says. “Even reprogramming their remotes because they can’t do it anymore.”

Dorn Hardware has been in the building since it was constructed about 35 years ago, Shaw says. It lost its lease after the grocery store next door, Capitol Centre Market, bought the building. The market plans to expand into the roughly 2,400 square feet where the hardware store now is.

Mitch Everland, who bought Capitol Centre Market in 2007, says he’s long wanted to expand the grocery. For years, it was the only downtown grocery, but it has faced competition in recent years with new stores, including Fresh Market on University Avenue and Festival Foods on East Washington Avenue. A high-end grocer is also planned for part of the Judge Doyle Square project.

“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to expand the grocery there for a couple of years,” Everland says. “The hardware space wasn’t my first option, but it’s where we’re at.”

Everland plans to start renovations on the space by April and be finished in five to six months.

“A lot of the people who choose to shop with us walk to the store,” he adds. “We just want to be more of a one-stop shop. We don’t have a very good presence in deli and bakery right now.”

Once Dorn closes, the nearest hardware stores to downtown Madison will be Quality True Value Hardware, 1201 S. Park St., and Ace Hardware Center, 1398 Williamson St.

Shaw says that the hardware store’s owner, Tom Dorn, would have liked to find another downtown location, but couldn’t find any available property.

“It’s always made money,” Shaw says, noting that the student population has been a buffer. “Every August, we have the student rush, which is like our Christmas time. For example, the month of August, I made 997 keys. An average month is like 200 or 300.”

But Shaw says he was also an important resource for downtown’s many businesses.

“There are maintenance guys who have to keep up all these older buildings. We have restaurants and bars all over downtown. I’m friends with probably 90 percent of the bar owners downtown,” he says. “Something breaks, they come down here quick.”

After Feb. 16, they’ll have to drive a little bit farther.