The Clarion Mall area is gaining another major retailer as Harbor Freight Tools has confirmed to the Clarion News it is locating its 51st Pennsylvania store in the former Peebles/Gordman’s building in Monroe Township.
Harbor Freight Tools — a privately held tool and equipment retailer, headquartered in Calabasas, California — operates a chain of retail stores, as well as a mail-order and e-commerce business.
The company employs more than 20,000 people in the U.S. and has more than 1,200 locations in 48 states.
“Currently, our customers in the community need to travel about 20 miles southwest to our Cranberry location or about 35 miles east to our DuBois location, so we think this will be much more convenient.”
Crews are working on remodeling the building. It was last used as a county COVID-19 vaccination center.
“We’ve been looking for a location in Clarion for a while now,” Hoffman said. “We always are prepared to wait until we find the right location — ample parking for our customers, easy access and the right size space.
“This location will be approximately 16,500 square feet, smaller than the so-called ‘big box’ stores in our category. Many of our customers are professional tradespeople, who often need to stop in, pick up what they need quickly and head out to their job site or workshop, and this makes it easier for them; it also makes it easy for all our customers to browse.”
“In addition to the construction jobs, we’re looking to bring 25 to 30 well-paying jobs to the community,” he said. “We pride ourselves on being one of the best places to work in retail, with highly competitive wages, great benefits and the opportunity to advance in one of retail’s fastest growing companies.”
Hoffman said jobs will be opening in the next few weeks. Anyone interested can apply at www.harborfreightjobs.com/retail and search “Clarion, PA.”