Deland Ace Hardware

Reviews 5

TH

theworldof bs

For clarification, all Ace Hardware stores are a co-op (short for cooperative), meaning that all the stores are independently owned and choose to be a part of the Ace buyers group. Its vaguely similar to a franchise except that Ace corporate does not make rules for operating hours, what products you have to carry, and you dont pay royalties-you simply source product from the Ace warehouse at a cost lower than you could buy it as a single hardware store operator and then sell it to the public at a profit. Ace corporate makes some profit from wholesaling the product to the store owners, spends some of it for advertising and administrative expenses, and then distributes whats left back to the store owners. Some owners own one, two or three stores. Some owners own ten, fifteen or twenty stores. The same situation exists for True Value and most of the other nationally known hardware brands. They are retailer owned entities, not corporate stores. Its kind of like how all of the independent NFL team owners actually own the NFL, just because they say NFL on the jersey doesnt mean that the NFL owns them. And, each team is responsible for their own business; they are INDEPENDENT. In this case, one store owner is not going to take a product in that you bought at another store; if you arent happy with a product, take it up with the guy you bought it from. Now, if you buy from a store owner with multiple locations, they will probably do a return on an item that was bought at one of their other stores as they usually operate all of their stores off of one inventory management system-you just need to know which stores are owned by that same operator. For the record, most franchise operators will not do a return on an item that you bought from another franchisees store either because they arent going to be reimbursed by the mother corporation for something they didnt sell to begin with, so theyd be out of luck for that money. And, keep in mind that just because a store has a nationally known name brand on the sign doesnt mean that they are a deep-pockets corporate entity that can afford to give you your money back for an item you bought somewhere else and want to return after youve gotten your use out of it and then call it defective, or say that you didnt really need it after all. Most of coops and franchises are local, small businesses owned by someone who lives down the street from you. One last analogy in case the point hasnt sunken in yet: if you go to your local grocery store and buy Oscar Meyer hot dogs and open a hot dog stand on the beach advertising Oscar Meyer hot dogs, you are not going to give someone a refund for a hot dog that they bought from another hot dog stand further down the beach that happens to also be selling Oscar Meyer hot dogs. The two hot dog stands are both INDEPENDENT, they are just selling the SAME PRODUCT. If you want the portability of being able to buy and return items to and from various stores around the area, you might want to stick to a big box corporate owned store, with their Disney-sized parking lots and lack of customer service.

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QU

Quentin Smith

They arent ACE hardware. I couldnt return something from the Orange City Ace because the deland store is "privately" owned. Why in the hell would you be called ACE then? Change your name to Billy Bobs hardware so people dont confuse it with real ace hardware stores. I hope the store goes under. Ill shop at lowes from now on.

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CL

Clyde Hyatt

these guys dont even answer their phone during open hours, and if you call twice theyll answer and hang up so they dont have to hear it ring.

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Richard Caldwell

Never again. I went in looking for a single 1/2" stainless lock washer and was treated like I was a leper. "Helpful Hardware Place"? Hardly.

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JE

Jesse Lee

It went out of business.....so its closed.....

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