How’s Business? Texas Ace Finds Success With Specialty Niches Despite Sluggish Sales
Alec James
Hardin Ace Hardware
Longview, Texas
How were sales and customer counts? Slightly above last year—about 1% and that’s not saying much. In the summer, we had a pretty gnarly drought. It was brutal with the heat and people stayed inside.
What’s unique about your business? We’d like to think that our attention to customer satisfaction and service is unique. It comes down to our hires. We like to hire the right person who matches the store.
Best niches? We have a really impressive sauces and seasoning aisle. And our barbecue grills are bit of a destination. We’re also known for having a lot of core, hard-to-find fittings and plumbing—all the little stuff that big-box stores don’t have.
Any recent surprise best sellers? The miniature buckets surely have caught me by surprise. The sales numbers with those have been staggering.
What do you have planned for 2027? A couple years ago, we expanded the paint department. We’ll still be fine-tuning that and dialing that in. With paint, we want to make sure that we take care of pros and DIYers and their different needs.
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