National tool retailer opens its second Modesto store just in time for Father’s Day
National equipment retailer Harbor Freight Tools opened its second Modesto store over Father’s Day weekend.
The discount tool seller has had a location the city for more than 30 years, when it first opened its then Ninth Street location in 1992. Then a decade later in 2002, the company moved to a larger location on Carpenter Road in west Modesto, where it still operates.
The shop’s second location opened Saturday across town on Oakdale Road in east Modesto. The site is just north of Briggsmore Avenue, in the same retail complex as Big Lots and Rent-a-Center. The 15,000-square foot space at 1717 Oakdale Road was the former gym Fit Republic, which closed from bankruptcy amid the pandemic.
The new Harbor Freight is the chain’s fourth store in Stanislaus County. The company has quadrupled its Valley footprint since the pandemic started, opening a location in Turlock on Tegner Road in 2020 and another in Ceres on Hatch Road in 2021.
Harbor Freight Tool Director of Corporate Communications and Content Craig Hoffman said demand from customers convinced the company to open a second site, which is the same size as its other sites, another sign of its growth in the region.
“Given our traffic and sales at our first Modesto location, we feel confident” about another Modesto store, Hoffman said in an email interview. “(G)iven the customer demand we have seen, and the substantial research we do before opening a new location, we believe that offering customers an additional location to take advantage of our quality tools at low prices — especially in a challenging economic environment — will be successful.”
The Oakdale Road site is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The store has hired about 25 employees, and Hoffman said the company continues to hire staff. To apply, visit www.harborfreightjobs.com/retail. Positions in the region start around $17 an hour.
Harbor Freight has some 1,400 stores across the country, including 135 in California with the Modesto opening.
This story was originally published June 16, 2023 at 10:56 AM.
