Covid was not kind to many businesses. Restaurants and small retailers were devastated and closed by the thousands.
Even as foot traffic returned to relatively normal levels at malls and main streets alike, it was too little, too late for many businesses. One sector thrived during and after the pandemic, however: home improvement.
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Lowe’s (LOW) and Home Depot (HD) saw major growth surges during the pandemic, because Americans jumped into home improvement projects ranging from painting bedrooms to undertaking total bathroom remodels.
And bread baking wasn’t the only hobby that had legs during the lockdowns; many more of us picked up new hobbies like gardening and woodworking.
What all of those hobbies and improvement projects have in common is the need for tools and supplies.
So while many of us turned to the mega retailers for shovels or drills, cement or grout, the smaller players, like Menards, True Value and especially Ace Hardware, did well, too.
Ace Hardware caters to local tastes; beyond the products all hardware stores sell, some locally owned stores sell products for local interests, like surfboards.
Image source: Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images
Home Depot and Lowe’s don’t focus on rural areas
If Home Depot and Lowe’s are the equivalent of Walmart and Target in the retailer space, Ace Hardware is more like Trader Joe’s.
At Home Depot or Lowe’s, you’ll typically find 35,000- 40,000 products (called stock-keeping units or SKUs), while at Ace Hardware, there are likely to be around 23,000 SKUs.
“Ace’s strategy is about embedding our stores into the fabric of the communities and neighborhoods where we live,” Ace Hardware’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kim Lefko, told TheStreet exclusively. “The vast majority of our stores are locally owned and operated, which creates an unmatched level of trust and personalization,” Lefko said.
Related: Lowe’s makes billion dollar acquisition to take on Home Depot
Ace is the largest non-grocery cooperative retailer in the U.S., meaning the stores are independent but work together for both buying and marketing power.
While competitors like Home Depot and Lowe’s focus on one-size-fits-all models, Ace succeeds with hyper-local relevance. Ace store owners can tailor their assortment, services, and approach based on their customers’ unique needs, whether that’s a fishing department in Florida, boutique housewares in Texas, or surfboards in California.
“We pair that community-first model with the power of a national brand, world-class supply chain, and omnichannel reach,” said Lefko.
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The community-focused strategy has been working well for the company.
Earlier this year Ace launched a subscription service designed to deliver personalized yard-care solutions directly to customers’ homes. Dubbed “Ace YardRx,” the program helps homeowners prepare for the seasons ahead, based on where they live.
The program uses satellite imaging to estimate a homeowner’s yard size and then makes product recommendations based on what it can see. (In my case, the satellite image picked up brown spots and thin spots on my lawn and made product recommendations that should grow a thicker lawn and block weeds.)
Ace Hardware is opening new stores in 2025
Ace opened 45 new domestic stores in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 112 stores from the first quarter of 2024. At the end of the first quarter of 2025, the company’s total U.S. store count was 5,177.
That’s more locations than Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Menards combined.
According to the company’s most recent earnings report, Ace Hardware Corporation also reported record first quarter 2025 revenues of $2.2 billion, an increase of $89.4 million (4.2%) from the first quarter of 2024. Net income was $30.3 million for the first quarter of 2025, a decrease of $16.6 million from the first quarter of 2024.
Related: Iconic Home Depot hardware rival files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
“A 35 percent increase in our digital business, 0.6 percent same-store-sales growth from stores in the hardware format, and 45 new domestic stores highlighted our record first-quarter revenue,” said Ace Hardware President and CEO John Venhuizen in a company statement.
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