Kennett Square Ace Hardware

|Kennett Square Business|

Kicking down the path and finding what you need at Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware faces the New Garden Giant parking lot.

Photos by Chris Barber

The interior is sprawling with products for a wide variety of home needs.

By Chris Barber Contributing Writer

Stepping down the walk to Ace Hardware after food shopping at the New Garden Giant food store is like giving your day a sweet dessert.

This Ace Hardware store, which opened its doors last November and presented its formal debut in April, defies the limited definition of “hardware.”

Sure, shoppers will have no trouble finding gardening equipment and tools there, as evidenced by the large piles of topsoil and fertilizers in its adjacent parking lot. But thanks to the creativity of its manager/owner Steve Eisel, and his wife, Kit, the store’s range of merchandise provides the answers to many household needs and fulfills challenges that the changing seasons present.

Eisel, 64, grew up on a farm and had a career in corporate industry. He said he always wanted to try running a business and felt that through his various experiences in life he had the qualifications to make it work.

“I’ve been to plenty of hardware stores, and I’ve sat on tractors for 14 hours a day,” he said.

Continued on Page 12 Owner/manager Steve Eisel has high hopes for the New Garden Ace Hardware.

The company, Ace, is a cooperative rather than a franchise. It provides training, products and a brand, but it also gives its owners the chance to exercise their own creativity. For Eisel, that means he’s not in lockstep with the other Ace hardware stores worldwide. Rather, he follows Ace guidelines, sells their merchandise, has undergone its training program and has engaged in an internship at another Ace before opening his own store.

The building itself sits at the end of the strip of shops in the New Garden Shopping Center that includes the Giant store, Pat’s Pizza, Café Americana, a barber shop and a Chinese restaurant.

The inside of the hardware store is sprawling with neat rows of garden furniture, power tools, bird feed and feeders, building equipment, paints, hobby/craft needs, kitchen goods and plumbing paraphernalia.

Yet a better look around will introduce items and products that are often hard to find in many hardware stores.

Continued on Page 14 Ace has hundreds of household items, including a stack of brooms and shovels.

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The patio section invites people to create comfortable outdoor locations at their homes. Ace has a full line of seeds.

Off in one corner is a children’s toy section including little trucks and games, many with an outdoor theme.

The outdoor patio equipment section sits at the front corner of the store, inviting people in. The section includes chairs, tables and a host of grills. But here, Ace doesn’t stop with the grill for your cookout: It features rows of foodstuffs to apply to make your steaks delicious as they cook. Nearby, there are jars and products for pickling the vegetables you grew from Ace’s seed supply.

And lest you need to find a color match at your house, the paint department is large and wellstocked. Eisel said they have the

Continued on Page 16 Andrew Wood, left, and Debbie D’Angelo keep the shop working. Liz Michalski, not in picture, staffs the paint department.

Summer means the grass is growing, and Ace has lawnmowers.

Ace has a complete line of garden supplies plus seeds.

In addition to barbecue foodstuffs, Ace has accessories for pickling vegetables.

There is a big children’s toy collection near the entrance.

A wheelbarrow sitting out front lets the public know there’s more like it inside.

capability of producing any color from a chip, and that includes from any brand of paint.

From aisle to aisle, shoppers will also find an amazing assortment of hinges, nuts, bolts, hanging tools and tapes— all lined up and ready to do their tasks.

As the seasons change, this hardware store changes with them. As the holiday season approached last year, Eisel opened the store last November to answer customers’ needs of Christmas lights and accessories. Spring comes with shovels and dirt. Summer arrives and there are pool supplies. As the leaves turn in autumn the sales of the everpresent rakes proceed. And then, again, with a promise of cold weather, the snow shovels make an appearance.

Eisel is optimistic about the future of his Ace Hardware store, especially given its proximity to the Giant up the way.

“Lots of people go food shopping, and we’re nearby,” he said.

He added that he got positive responses from folks who came in at both the official and unofficial opening events – filling buckets with discounted items.

“They told me they’re happy we are here,” he said.

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