Ace hits the 100 mark
Ace Hardware recently celebrated the opening of its 105th new store in 2022. The company expects to open at least an additional 60 more new stores by the end of the year.
“With over 100 new stores already opened for the year, we remain enthusiastically bullish about the continued prospect for new store growth,” said John Venhuizen, president and CEO of Ace Hardware.
To keep pace with the growth, Ace said, it continues to invest in expanding its distribution network to house more inventory closer to the growing number of Ace stores and customers.
The company said it plans to add 4.4 million square feet of capacity to its distribution network by opening three new warehouses in the next five years. That’s in addition to the more than 2.5 million square feet it’s added in the past four years.
“I applaud our local Ace owners for the pace with which they’ve integrated our digital efforts with our physical assets. Seventy percent of Acehardware.com orders are picked up in store and 20% are delivered to customers by our own red vested heroes, thus further advancing the relevance and necessity of our neighborhood stores,” said Venhuizen.
Ace has opened more than 840 stores in the past five years, the retail cooperative said, while disbursing dividends of $314 million in 2021 — a 42.7% return for Ace shareholders.
Ace’s cooperative business model offers local entrepreneurs not only the ability to become owners of their local store operation, but also one of a limited number of shareholders of Ace Hardware Corporation.
Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, Ace operates more than 5,600 locally owned hardware stores in all 50 states and 70 countries, with global sales topping $20 billion.