Ace Hardware

The Ace Hardware Corporation is a retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. As of 2015, it has over 4,600 locations, and does over $13 billion in retail hardware sales annually.

History

Ace Hardware was founded in 1924 by Richard Hesse, E. Gunnard Lindquist, Frank Burke, Oscar Fisher, and William Stauber in Chicago, Illinois. Ace Hardware, incorporated in 1927 as Ace Stores Inc., was founded to provide a centralized purchasing organization to supply the founders' and members' stores. The company was named after the ace fighter pilots of World War I, who were able to overcome all odds. Its retail network expanded to hundreds of dealers by 1949, when annual sales reached about $10 million.

After Hesse retired in 1973, Ace was sold to its retailers, becoming a cooperative, and the headquarters moved to suburban Oak Brook. Independent owners became dealer-owners and shareholders in the company. Because it is a co-op and not a franchise, each Ace Hardware store looks different. However, Ace has placed a focus on Ace stores exhibiting some similar characteristics, such as signaled and core product lines. The Vision 21 program, as this is called, is aimed at making all stores recognizable as an Ace Hardware location.