Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
For Gene Pedrotti, hardware is much more than nuts and bolts. For Gene, hardware is history, family and community. As the third-generation owner of Pedrotti Ace Hardware in Benicia, California, Gene is committed to continuing the legacy his great-grandfather and uncles started by being involved in and supporting the community and being a champion for the independent channel.
As Ace Hardware celebrates its 100th anniversary, Gene shares his thoughts on working in the independent home improvement industry.
By Gene Pedrotti
Many of us drawn to the hardware trade love working with our hands. My first woodworking attempt was building a 4-foot square, wood-planked cube with one window and door. It was a 10-year-old boy’s fort and fortress!
A simple trip to my father and uncle’s hardware store opened the door to many more tactile opportunities. Located in the small town of Crockett, California—population 3,500—the store was tiny, we’re talking 800 square feet with two adjacent basements and two small garages for storage. But with 18-foot walls, it was loaded to the gills! Taking it over from my grandfather, my father and Uncle Al worked 60-hour weeks and each was awarded the Estwing Golden Hammer for fifty years of service to the industry.
Long hours, small store, small town—one could see the writing on the wall, and it spelled extinction. By the 70s, most merchants and shops in Crockett were closing and my parents, having raised five boys on a mostly single income, insisted we all go to college and pursue a professional career.
However, I had other ideas—visions really—of what could be. Before leaving for college, I shared my interest of a hardware future with my uncle and although in his mid-60s, he offered to postpone retirement two years so that I could get a degree in business and return. It was an enormous sacrifice; he was consenting to work long weeks for two more years. This act of kindness was one of many I’ve experienced in my life; it provided the foundation of the greatness that was to come.
Graduating and assuming my uncle’s role, the first order of business was to incorporate, the second was to start a local Chamber of Commerce and the third was finding a suitable supplier.
Our current wholesaler was a small hardware co-operative just south of San Francisco; it had always struggled. We considered Baker Hamilton, a stalwart distributor founded in the Gold Rush. It had a large warehouse in San Francisco but it was old, inefficient and expensive. We reviewed other distributors, too, finally settling on one located only ten miles away in Benicia. In the mid 60s, this emerging hardware heavyweight had built its fourth national warehouse and their proximity, low cost of goods and investment in modern technologies convinced me to join a new co-op. On September 12, 1981, we joined Ace Hardware.
Ace became a partner in all our efforts. When it was time to free ourselves from the tiny sales floor, we seized a chance to relocate to an intersection that held the town’s only stoplight. Ace was there offering free, albeit slightly used, fixtures salvaged from closing its company store. Later came two more relocations, free store design, loans at prime rate, competitive insurance and the list goes on and on. Ace has always been there with necessary support and subsidies crucial to our survival. Ace saved our bacon for which I am forever indebted.
Founded in 1922, Pedrotti Hardware was a two-man operation for most of the 20th century. Ace Hardware changed that trajectory. In 1992 we moved operations to Benicia, building an Ace Store-of-the Future. Four years later we were awarded the Ace Hardware President’s Cup as the Best Ace Retailer in the U.S. Over the years, with countless re-merchandising, new procedures and processes, implementing new ideas and concepts, all promoted by Ace, we continue to improve and are a better store today. In 2022, we celebrated our centennial.
Ace helped us survive extinction to achieve distinction serving our community today. This was accomplished by an incredible team at Ace. The pickers, the drivers, the buyers, the phone receptionists (before AI), all Ace folks, over many decades, all have shown incredible understanding, compassion and support for what it takes to run small business in America.
The compassion and commitment which permeate the Ace organization also include Ace retailers. Showcasing retailer’s work in communities across America, Ace created the Heartware series. Focused on the work of Ace retailers, it is a testament what our entire industry does supporting our local communities and these are truly examples of American excellence.
This year marks the 100th Anniversary of Ace Hardware. From a modest little five-member coop, Ace has grown to an industry-leading membership of over five thousand. Over the years, Ace and its team of dedicated staff have nurtured and nudged, coaxed and coddled, pitched and prodded, all to exact the best from it’s dealer members. And in response, we retailers continue to help repair and replace, preserve and protect and show the world how great it is to be a small business in America!
An incredible moment in American commerce history, it is a thrill to celebrate Ace Hardware’s 100th Anniversary. To my friend John Venhuizen, president of Ace Hardware, and on behalf of all Ace Retailers, congratulations Ace!
