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Family-Owned Old Town Hardware Store Forced To Close

CHICAGO (CBS) -- After almost 40 years in business, an Old Town hardware store is closing down. And the owners are trying to figure out what to do now.

The original Tipre Hardware store opened in 1978 at North and Wieland. WBBM's Steve Miller reports.

"That was the place I spent more time than any other place in the world."

37-year-old Nick Tipre owns the store, along with his mother.

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Nick Tipre, owner of Tipre Hardware in Old Town. (WBBM/Steve Miller)

They moved four blocks west not even two years ago because their old location was being torn down.

And now they have to be out of their current spot by the end of summer because of another property development.

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Tipre Hardware forced to close by the end of summer. (WBBM/Steve Miller)

"The hospital I was born in is gone. The house I grew up in is gone. The hardware is gone. My past is slowly being eaten up by some monster that I can't see," Tipre said. "So it's just one more thing."

Tipre said they don't want to move the store to another neighborhood.

"This is the prelude to whatever's coming, versus the end of whatever," he said.

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