How Ace Hardware, America’s neighborhood hardware store for 100 years, is beating its big-box rivals

Mahin Barker said soccer moms have kept keep her on her toes at her store in West Lake Hills on the outskirts of Austin, Texas. They come in nearly every day and they’re keen to shop.

Mahin Barker said soccer moms keep her on her toes at her store in West Lake Hills on the outskirts of Austin, Texas. They come in nearly every day and they’re keen to shop. “They have a lot of time and disposable income to spend so we have to keep our merchandise fresh because they’re here so often,” she said. The store she runs is an Ace Hardware. The 100-year-old, Oak Brook, Illinois-based hardware chain, which has permeated America’s smaller neighborhoods with more than 5,000 locations, appears to be pulling in shoppers even as its big-box hardware rivals Home Depot and Lowe’s are struggling to do the same. One indicator is how frequently people are heading to Ace Hardware versus its competitors. Monthly customer traffic to Ace Hardware locations is up so far this year versus a year ago, compared to mostly dropping shopper traffic every month to Home Depot and Lowe’s stores over the same period, according to Placer. ai, which uses location data from mobile devices to estimate visits to specific retailer locations.