Ace Takes the 'Express' Lane

Ace Hardware is offering hardware retailers a new way to add the co-op’s name and proprietary products to their stores.In early 2012, the co-op unveiled a smaller “Express” merchandising format encompassing 5,000 square feet designed to augment existing Ace stores or serve as a store-within-a-store or annex location for other retailers.The new format targets urban and rural stores that require a streamlined product mix and offers just over 10,300 SKUs, along with customized fixtures, planograms, merchandise information and up to $150,000 in incentives for participating retailers.The Express format adds a fourth option for Ace retailers, joining the existing “Convenience,” “Core” and “Super” formats that scale up the offerings in both amount and variety based on a particular store’s footprint.“At this time, there are nearly 400 successful Ace Hardware retail locations operating within less than 5,000 square feet, and the consistent high performance of these stores proved we had an incredible opportunity to create a specialized, smaller-format model,” Mike Berschauer, Ace’s director of retail development, said in a media release. “Our goal is both to drive incremental store growth for Ace and to mirror the ‘best in class’ offerings available at our larger stores.” “Before opening an Express format Ace Hardware, I had to refer my paint customers to a hardware store at least 20 minutes away,” Paul Leahey, owner of Schuele Ace Hardware and Schuele Paint Co. in Buffalo, NY, one of the first to adopt the new format. “These customers wanted to do all of their home improvement shopping in the neighborhood, and I realized that I had the opportunity to make things much more convenient for them. We’re now essentially a one-stop shop.”More of a straightforward merchandising program, the Express format does not entail any overt branding. “We feel like Express continues to deliver what a community needs, just in a smaller format. There’s no reason to brand it,” Berschauer told the Institute.There are currently Express stores in in Kansas, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas in addition to New York.

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