The new Westlake Ace Hardware at 1536 N. Champlain Dr. replaces the Orchard Supply Hardware store. Photo by David Castellon.

A new Ace Hardware store is open for business in northeast Fresno, while a date in July has been set to open Clovis’ new Costco store.

The final phase or construction is underway for the new Costco on the west side of Clovis Avenue south of Shaw Avenue, one of the busiest traffic areas in Clovis.

The new store will be about 30,000 square feet bigger than the current one, a few blocks west at 380 W. Ashlan Ave.

Plans are to close that store on July 17 and open the new store and gas station the next day, according to a manager, who added that the gas station at the Ashlan Avenue store may stay open awhile after the location closes.

Another new store, the Ace on East Champlain Drive, near East Shepherd Avenue, opened on May 31.

It replaced the Orchard Supply Hardware that shut down there early this year, along with all of the 97 other OSH stores in California, Florida and 0regon.

So far, the former OSH stores on Champlain and in Visalia have been converted into Ace stores under separate management.

Westlake Ace Hardware, an affiliate that now operates 127 Ace stores in 10 states, took over the lease on the Champlain Avenue, and there is speculation that Ace affiliates are eyeing other former OSH stores in the Valley and in other parts of California.