Hirshfield's buys Aero Drapery & Blind, and all stores will stay open

Two venerable home-furnishings retailers in the Twin Cities have joined together.

Hirshfield's purchased Aero Drapery & Blind in a deal that closed at the end of January.

Mike Weber, president of Hirshfield's, considers this more of an alignment of "friendly competitors."

"There will be no name change and all showrooms will be maintained along with the staff and the designers," Weber said. "We want to continue to be friendly competitors."

The companies overlap in offering window fashions and interior-design services.

Aero Drapery & Blind was founded in the 1940s. It sells window treatments and interior-design services and operates as a Hunter Douglas premier dealer. Its three showrooms are in Burnsville, Little Canada and Maple Grove.

Aero owner Will Bathke, who has been in the business for more than 30 years, is retiring. He was unavailable for comment Friday.

"Aero may be offering more products now," said Jeff Lien, Hirshfield's marketing manager. "But we want to preserve everything that's good about Aero and Hirshfield's. There's no sense rocking the boat."

Hirshfield's, a paint, wallcoverings, fabric and window-treatment company, opened in 1894. Its paint manufacturing plant in Minneapolis produces 5,000 gallons daily for commercial and residential customers in the Midwest. It has 31 retail locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas.

It won't be the first time that Hirshfield's has owned and operated two separate banners. It used to own Budget Paint and Wallpaper, which closed in the early 2000s.