John Venhuizen, Ace Hardware president and CEO, recently took questions from Hardware Retailing about the co-op’s purchase of The Grommet, an e-commerce startup company. Ace announced the purchase Oct. 3. Hardware Retailing (HR): Why did Ace purchase a majority stake in The Grommet? John Venhuizen (JV): There …
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Ace Hardware Buys E-Commerce Company
Ace Hardware Corp. announced Tuesday that it has purchased the majority stake in e-commerce startup The Grommet. The Grommet operates an e-commerce website that markets and sells new and innovative products created by independent entrepreneurs, also known as makers, according to Ace. The Grommet has …
Read More »Ace Hardware Hosts Maker to Market Event for Product Inventors
Ace Hardware Corp. hosted its first Maker to Market™ Day, an event created to allow entrepreneurs and inventors to pitch product ideas that could end up for sale in co-op stores. Ace employees who make purchasing decisions for more than 5,000 …
Read More »Ace CEO: Hurricanes, Plans and an ‘Incredibly Good Enemy’
Ace Hardware’s president and CEO, John Venhuizen, recently sat down with Hardware Retailing for an interview. He discussed weather events that have impacted Ace retailers, strategies for competing with “an incredibly good enemy” in Amazon and the co-op’s opportunities and plans for growth. …
Read More »Ace Hardware CEO: ‘It’s Either Forward or It’s Lights Out’
The Ace Hardware 2017 Fall Convention began with both warnings and encouragement from the cooperative’s top executives. Ace leaders spoke to retailers at the buying show’s general session, which started off the Aug. 17-19 convention in Chicago. President and CEO …
Read More »Ace Hardware Reports Revenue Growth in Q2
Ace Hardware Corp. today reported an increase in revenue over the previous year for the second quarter of 2017. The co-op’s second-quarter 2017 revenues were $1.5 billion, an increase of $66 million, or 4.6 percent, over the second quarter of 2016, which is …
Read More »Ace Hosting Entrepreneurs at Maker to Market Event
Ace Hardware Corp. is inviting entrepreneurs to show off their best product innovations at its first Maker to Market event. Formerly known as Open Buying Day, Ace’s new Maker to Market event will offer attendees opportunities to pitch their products to a panel of …
Read More »Westlake Ace Hardware Makes Executive Changes
Ace Hardware Corp. has announced two top leadership changes for Ace Retail Holdings, the branch of the cooperative that operates the 100 corporately owned Westlake Ace Hardware stores. As of Aug. 1, Ace Retail Holdings’ chief operating officer Joe Jeffries was promoted to president and chief …
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