One of downtown Powell’s biggest businesses is preparing to move to some bigger quarters. By early next year, the Powell Ace Hardware store plans to relocate to the building that formerly housed The Market grocery store.

Amid an era of increased online shopping, the Powell hardware store has “held on just fine, and it’s done well,” owner Bill Bregar said Tuesday. “And to continue to improve it, we just need to have more space.”

Bregar said the store is “certainly cramped” at its current location on Bent Street and has been looking to expand for some time.

The new location on First and Evarts streets — which previously housed Food Basket IGA, then Mr. D’s, then The Market at Powell — offers more than twice as much square footage. With the additional room, Bregar said he intends to bring in new product lines, though the details are still to be determined.

“It’ll come down to our planning and mapping and then seeing what [the] town could use and what else we could put in there,” he said.

Bregar also expects to add a few more staffers.

Although The Market closed its grocery store in June, its adjoining liquor store remains open. Bregar said his intent is to take over and run the Powell Liquor Market “just as the same as it is now” with the existing staff. The Powell City Council will consider transferring the liquor license to Powell Ace Hardware LLC at its Nov. 4 meeting.

Bregar said the liquor store will operate as a separate business, with different entrances and hours from the hardware store.

Ace’s move off Bent Street opens up a significant chunk of downtown storefront. It also represents the end of the era, as the space has housed a hardware store for decades.

Glen and Nancy Holm started the Powell True Value Hardware in the early 1980s and later expanded their footprint following the closure of the adjoining Kragler’s variety store.

The Holms operated the True Value for three decades before selling the business to Bregar in 2012. The Lander entrepreneur owns a dozen other stores in Wyoming and South Dakota.

In the coming months, Bregar said he’ll be searching for anyone who might have a use for the 13,000 square feet of space downtown, “because we’d sure like to see that stay full.”

He called it a good location in a high-traffic area.

“Powell’s always been very vibrant for that downtown location,” Bregar said, “and we certainly will do what we can to see that continue.”

His purchase of The Market property is set to formally close in mid-November, he said.