LYNN — For decades, Beden Hardware and the Ciccone family were fixtures on Munroe Street. As the street changed and Lynn evolved, Beden remained a constant — outlasting other hardware stores on Munroe and weathering the COVID-19 pandemic.

But now, Beden has been left behind in 2023.

The iconic hardware store officially shut its doors in September, and owner John Ciccone spent the ensuing months hollowing out the store to the point where few traces of a hardware store remained. Ciccone said he hoped to finish emptying the space by the end of 2023.

Ciccone’s father, also named John, first bought Beden Hardware in 1982, acquiring the business from its namesake, Charlie Beden. Beden first opened the store some 30 years before John Ciccone purchased the business and spent the ensuing decade working part-time alongside the new owners until he was 85.

The younger John Ciccone, now 68, is shutting the business down not because of a lack of success but due to a desire to take a step back. For years, John Ciccone ran the business with his brother, Eric, known to friends as “Rick.” After Eric Ciccone died in 2022 at the age of 56 due to complications from COVID-19, running the store “wasn’t too pleasant without him,” John Ciccone said.

“It’s time,” he said in an interview inside the nearly hollowed-out store. “We just had a family business going for all those years. It was a great experience.”

“But it’s time to retire,” John Ciccone added with a chuckle.

Yet, Ciccone isn’t walking away entirely.

He will continue working with many of the commercial clients who did business with Beden, though he declined to specify who exactly those customers were. Ciccone said the business’ focus shifted away from traditional retail over the years.

“I like keeping busy,” he said.

Ciccone said selling the business was never really an option because of the personal relationships he built with those commercial clients over the years. He said a certain familiarity develops, and it would be challenging for new owners to replicate it.

And, he added, “hardware is a hard business to sell.”

Talking to Ciccone, it’s difficult to get the sense that closing the store is anything but a bittersweet moment, particularly because of the loss of his brother. Running the business without Eric by his side, he said, “made it even harder.”

Eric Ciccone was “involved in a lot of things,” including the Lynn Business Partnership and the city’s Chamber of Commerce, John Ciccone said.

“He liked that stuff,” he said.

Eric Ciccone was also responsible for some of the store’s flair, including the brightly colored ventilation running along the ceiling, covered in yellow and black tape.

“He was like that, he liked doing things like that,” John Ciccone said. “He liked the details.”

As he reflected on the more than four decades he spent on Munroe — the last 20 years driving in from Peabody each day — Ciccone said Beden is essentially the last business standing from those early days.

“We survived it all,” he said.

As for the fate of the store’s iconic sign, John Ciccone said his daughter encouraged him to take it with him once the business officially shuts its doors.

But, Ciccone said he saw no reason to do so.