First Look: Ace unveils new store format; to invest $1B in remodels, new stores
After recently reaching 5,000 U.S. stores, Ace Hardware has unveiled an experiential store concept to enhance the customer shopping experience while also driving store growth.
The hardware chain debuted the new store concept, dubbed “Elevate3 Ace,” with a 13,000-sq.-ft., full-scale model at its fall 2024 convention in Chicago. The format, which Ace will begin rolling out in January, features brand showrooms, an outdoor backyard space, enhanced customer service and new product assortments that focus on brands that are “fueling growth” for Ace, including grilling and power tools.
Over the next five years, Ace plans to invest over $1 billion in opening new stores and remodeling existing stores, with Elevate3 Ace being at the heart of the investment.
Dale Fennel, VP of merchandising at Ace Hardware, told Chain Store Age that the new store concept offers customers a more experiential, in-depth shopping experience.
“That’s what we aimed to build here with Elevate3 Ace,” he said. “We tried to create a unique shopping experience that can’t easily be replicated online or in-store anywhere. We have a small number of our best, most-exclusive brands that really have been fueling most of our growth, and so we set out to elevate those brands.”
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(Image courtesy of Ace Hardware) -
(Image courtesy of Ace Hardware) -
(Image courtesy of Ace Hardware) -
(Image courtesy of Ace Hardware)
Ace has three primary store formats — 6,000 sq. ft., 9,500 sq. ft. and 13,000-sq.-ft. — and the new design will be able to match all three sizes, Fennel explained. Once the rollout begins, it will be featured in renovated Ace stores as well as new locations. The retailer aims to bring the new concept to 1,900 locations during the next five years.
“This is a fundamental change in the Ace store model,” Fennel said.
He added that the highlighting of different grilling, outdoor and power brands comes from strong brand loyalty among Ace shoppers, citing brands such as Weber, Traeger, Milwaukee and DeWalt as customer favorites.
“We wanted customers to feel like they were shopping in a branded store,” said Fennel. “From the assortment to the store environment, we wanted to bring everything together and make the shopping experience easy for them so they don’t have to shop across multiple categories. But still at the heart of the hardware store are those home preservation categories. They still represent the lion’s share of the gross profit in a store and are central to Ace, but when you first walk into the store, you're going to be immersed in these brands.”
[READ MORE: Ace Hardware reaches 5,000 U.S. locations; will open 200 new stores in 2024]
Here are more details from Ace on the key features of the Elevate concept.
•Premium Brand Showrooms: The new format will highlight Ace’s most popular brands including Weber, Traeger, Big Green Egg, Craftsman, DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ego and Stihl in a “brand-immersive shopping” environment.
•Enhanced Customer Service: The store enhances Ace’s customer service by ensuring that the new and evolving trends in consumer shopping patterns are highlighted throughout.
•Inspiring and Stimulating Store Design: The store will include an outdoor space with a live goods display and grilling space for demos and events that will provide an "aspirational" backyard experience.
•New Assortments and Features: Ace said its stores will benefit from new product assortments and features designed to drive sales and enhance the overall consumer shopping experience.
Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., Ace operates over 5,900 locally-owned and operated hardware stores in approximately 60 countries.
