Ace Hardware has announced plans to add 4.4 million square feet of distribution capacity by opening three new warehouses in the next five years.
Ace recently opened its 105th new store in 2022 and is working to debut an additional 60 additional locations by year’s end, the company noted. Ace plans to continue investing in expanding its distribution network to house more inventory closer to the growing number of Ace stores and customers, the company stated. Ace has opened more than 840 stores in the past five years, it pointed out while disbursing dividends of $314 million in 2021, a 42.7% return for Ace shareholders.
The company’s cooperative business model offers entrepreneurs the ability to become owners of their local store operations and the opportunity to become one of a limited number of shareholders of Ace Hardware Corp. In total, Ace services more than 5,600 locally owned hardware stores in all 50 of the United States and 70 countries worldwide, with global sales topping $20 billion, the company maintained.
“With over 100 new stores already opened for the year, we remain enthusiastically bullish about the continued prospect for new store growth, “said Ace Hardware president and CEO John Venhuizen in announcing the distribution network plans. “I applaud our local Ace owners for the pace with which they’ve integrated our digital efforts with our physical assets. Seventy percent of acehardware.com orders are picked up in-store and 20% are delivered to customers by our own red vested heroes, thus further advancing the relevance and necessity of our neighborhood stores.”
