Ace Hardware
Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the largest non-grocery retail cooperative in the United States.
Founded on October 25, 1924, as "Ace Stores", the company changed its name to "Ace Hardware Corporation" in 1931. It grew dramatically following World War II, more than tripling its sales between the late 1940s and 1959. After the retirement of longtime president and founder Richard Hesse in 1973, Ace was sold to its retailers, becoming a retailer-owned cooperative. It first reached $1 billion in wholesale sales in 1985 and $5 billion in 2015., it has over 5,200 locations in 60 countries. Ace operates 17 distribution centers in the United States, and additional distribution facilities in China, Panama, and the United Arab Emirates.
History
In 1924, to increase buying power and profits, entrepreneurs Richard Hesse, E. Gunnard Lindquist, Frank Burke, and Oscar Fisher united their Chicago, Illinois, hardware stores into "Ace Stores". The company was named after the ace fighter pilots of World War I, who overcame all odds. Ace Stores was incorporated on March 2, 1928, and the company opened its first warehouse a year later. In 1931, the name was changed to Ace Hardware Corporation.By 1933, Ace had thirty-eight retailers in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. In 1946, Ace introduced its Super Ace Store concept. By the end of the 1940s, Ace had wholesale sales of more than $7 million from the one hundred thirty-three stores it supplied. In 1954, the stores agreed to change their names from Ace Stores to Ace Hardware. By its 35th anniversary in 1959, the company had more than tripled this figure, with wholesale sales of $24.5 million from 325 stores.
In 1961, Ace relocated its warehouse and corporate offices to Bedford Park, Illinois. By the end of the decade, the company built warehouses in Northern California and Georgia to support its expansion into the Western and Southeastern states.
Founder and longtime president Richard Hesse retired in 1973. Ace relocated its corporate offices to Oak Brook, Illinois, the following year and opened a distribution center in Addison. The company was thereafter sold to its retailers and restructured as a cooperative. Independent retailers became the exclusive shareholders in the company and the corporate entity remained as a wholesaler and distributor. The strategy proved successful, and Ace surpassed $1 billion in wholesale sales for the first time in 1985; it went on to pass $5 billion in 2015.
Under CEO Roger Peterson, Ace sales more than doubled from $801M in 1983 to more than $2B in 1993. Needing more space to support its operations in the Midwest, Ace opened a 1.1 million–square-foot distribution center in Princeton, Illinois, in February to serve more than four hundred fifty stores. In October 1994, Ace launched a strategic plan known as "The New Age of Ace" with the objective, by 2000, to achieve improved retail performance, more efficient operations, international growth, and a faster pace for new store openings. The company reported a fifteen-percent jump in sales from 1993 to 1994.
In 1996, Ace surpassed Cotter & Company to become the largest hardware co-op. Ace overhauled its computer systems in 1999 to accommodate the introduction of the thirteen-digit barcode. In 2001, it passed TruServe to become the largest American hardware wholesaler. By 2002, the company had 5,100 stores. Ace surpassed $3 billion in annual hardline sales and $100 million in net profits in 2003.
In September 2011, Ace Hardware began selling a new line of premium paints, called Clark+Kensington. In 2012, the company opened a redistribution center in Suffolk, Virginia. Ace was the first tenant at the CenterPoint Intermodal Center. It acquired its largest member, Westlake Ace Hardware, for $88 million in December 2012. In January 2013, Ace announced a long-term deal under which Valspar agreed to acquire Ace's paint-manufacturing assets, including two facilities near Chicago, and produce the company's paints. The following year, Ace's president and CEO John Venhuizen launched 20/20 Vision, a strategy to use network power to provide better customer service.
In 2014, the company opened a distribution center in Wilmer, Texas, and a retail support center in West Jefferson, Ohio. Both facilities were expanded in 2019. Ace launched its wholesale distribution network through the acquisition of the Portland, Maine–based Emery-Waterhouse in 2014 and the Spokane, Washington–based Jensen Distribution Services in 2015. Later that year, Ace expanded its wholesale operations coast to coast with the formation of Emery Jensen Distribution, LLC. This new distribution arm operates under Ace Wholesale Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Ace Hardware Corporation, and is dedicated to serving non–Ace Hardware independent retailers.
In 2016, J. D. Power ranked Ace Hardware "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Home Improvement Retail Stores" for the tenth consecutive year. In 2017, Ace announced a restructuring of its East Coast retail support network that closed facilities in Baltimore, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Distribution operations were absorbed by a new retail support center in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, and the expansion of one in Wilton, New York. The company also expanded its facility in Suffolk, Virginia.
In July 2017, a customer care center was opened at Page Field in Fort Myers, Florida. In October, Ace acquired e-commerce marketplace The Grommet. However, the website was shut down in June 2022 and later sold to startup GiddyUp.
In May 2019, Ace acquired full ownership of ACO Inc., the company that operates fifty Great Lakes Ace Hardware stores in Ohio and Michigan.
In August 2022, grocery chain Food City opened its own Ace Hardware location in Piney Flats, Tennessee. In March 2023, Ace opened a 1.1 million–square-foot logistics center in Visalia, California. In June, the company announced it would build a 1.5 million–square-foot retail support center in Kansas City, Missouri. The facility is expected to be completed by mid-2025. In September 2023, the company opened its new headquarters, a campus in Oak Brook that previously housed the McDonald's corporate offices.
Ace Retail Holdings acquired Bishop Ace Hardware, a thirteen-store franchisee in central Illinois, in May 2024. The stores will remain open until they can be transitioned into new ownership. Ace opened its five thousandth domestic location in July 2024. In August, Ace unveiled ELEVATE3 Ace, an experimental store concept that elevates popular brands, with plans to begin rolling out the new stores in January 2025.
On September 9, 2025, Ace Hardware and DoorDash jointly announced their partnership to offer delivery at Ace's 4,000+ independently owned locations throughout the United States. This program will be exclusive via DoorDash's membership program DashPass.
Home services
In recent years, Ace Hardware has invested heavily in residential repair services once it saw younger customers shift away from DIY.Ace announced the acquisition of the Handyman Matters franchise in September 2019. The group's 57 franchisees would rebrand under the Ace Handyman Services name starting in March 2020. By 2022, Ace had over 200 franchisees with services available in all 50 states. The program's handymen are known as "Craftsmen" and are full-time employees rather than contractors.
In December 2022, Ace acquired Texas-based Legacy Plumbing, its first licensed service offering. Legacy partnered with Westlake Ace to launch the Ace Hardware Plumbing Services location in Oklahoma City.
In June 2023, Ace acquired Unique Indoor Comfort's portfolio of 12 independent heating and air, plumbing, and electrical home services companies from Atlanta-based private equity firm Grove Mountain. In February 2024, Ace acquired Unique Indoor Comfort, an HVAC service company in the Boston area.
By June 2024, Ace Home Services had expanded to 400 locations across 48 states and 5,000 zip codes. In the same month, Ace acquired the North Carolina–based Minyard Plumbing.
Advertising
In 1989, Ace's longtime jingle "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man" was modified, replacing man with the more gender neutral folks. Celebrities Connie Stevens and Suzanne Somers starred in TV commercials for Ace Hardware. From 1987 to 2010, former NFL coach and NFL commentator John Madden also starred in Ace commercials.In 1999, the American Society of Magazine Editors stripped This Old House magazine of an award nomination after it was deemed an Ace Hardware-branded insert was an inappropriate form of advertising. In 2002, home improvement expert Lou Manfredini was hired to serve as Ace's "Helpful Hardware Man" and media spokesman.
In 2016, Ace introduced a new series of commercials featuring associates addressing customers' needs, and a contextually-appropriate version of the Ace jingle
International operations
In July 1963, Ace opened its first international store in Guam. In 1990, Ace created a separate division known as Ace International. An international board committee was established in 1994. Over the years, Ace expanded throughout Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East regions. By 2002, the company had stores in 70 countries and more than a hundred foreign suppliers.North America
In 2010, Tim-Br Mart Group acquired licensing rights to the Ace brand name in Canada. By February 2012, Ace had 400 locations outside of the United States. Four years later, Rona, Inc., signed an agreement with Ace Hardware for the master license to the Ace brand in Canada. Lowe's completed its acquisition of Rona in May 2016. Rona assigned the Winnipeg office as Ace Canada, formally TruServ Canada, to manage the Ace Brand., there are 62 Ace-branded stores in Canada. Beginning in 2017, Lowe's Distribution Center began to service Ace Canada retailers.In March 2020, Peavey Mart acquired Ace Canada, as well as the master license and began to service the 107 Canadian locations. In June 2024, Peavey Industries announced it would end its relationship with Ace International and the Ace Canada dealers with the license ending at the end of the year. Ace International subsequently announced in October that it will no longer support or supply Ace Canada dealers in 2025.
In December 2021, Ace opened its first location in Mexico using its new turnkey franchise model.