Shep’s Ace Hardware is coming to Marietta.
Owner Zach Stafford said the area was perfect for his third location of the hardware store in metro Atlanta.
“Everything we look for in a location, it has,” he told What Now Atlanta.
The new location is expected to open in May. Future growth is on the table, with hopes to open at least one location a year, he said.
Stafford opened an urban-format Ace Hardware in Midtown (860 Juniper St NE) in 2015, followed by one in Grant Park (519 Memorial Dr SE) in 2017.
Stafford comes from a family of retail operators. His great-grandfather opened a grocery store in Dalton in 1919 that, with the help of Stafford’s grandfather and father, became the largest independently owned grocery store in the city, Atlanta Business Chronicle reported in 2015.
Founded in 1924, Ace Hardware has more than 5,000 stores, the majority of which are independently owned and operated by local entrepreneurs. The brand has a range of store formats, from smaller, city outposts to larger-scale ones.
Ace Hardware Corporation is based in Illinois.
12 Responses
About three blocks away and I’ll happily walk there over going to The Home Depot. Great to see some diversity in retail offerings coming into Midtown.
A hardware store in a highrise! Glad to see some new thinking? What will be next, a Whole Foods at Colony Square? I wish!
I doubt we’ll get a Whole Foods since there’s one not too far away, but I’ve heard rumors of a Fresh Market/Sprouts type store going into the new building on 6th and Peachtree. Of course, that’s probably at least 2 years away.
One of the reasons I love all the new apartment towers is the added diversity of retail they’ll bring. This southern end of Midtown doesn’t have to office tower density support that the 14th street area does.
ace hardware is not a mom-and-pop store
Many, many Ace Hardware stores are franchised by mom-and-pops.
This is a great idea! As Atlanta develops into a real live work city these types of businesses become more needed. Ace is a mom and pop, they are all individually owned and operated. Everyone is different.Way to go Ace Hardware meeting the needs of the urban enviroment.
The 6th and Peachtree Condo’s will house the Starbucks. Starbucks is going into Viewpoint only temporarily. Of course they could change their minds, but that’s the plan. I think Starbucks wants the corner visibility and parking behind it.
From what I’ve heard and read the Starbucks will move to Viewpoint as a temporary space. The Starbucks corner will be developed into an 8-story condo with 2 and 3 bedrooms. The Starbucks will then occupy the bottom floor of that condo and the interior will feature brick from the recently destroyed building that was just West of Starbucks on 7th. The Sprouts/Fresh Market rumor is strong and will likely happen this year with the remodeling completed by Novarre just recently.
Re: Ace being too close to HD. For even the tree dwellers in midtown, the HD is only a walk-able option if you want to risk breaking your ankle on that hill between parking lots. And those in a car have to drive 2-3 miles, and then what feels like a mile through a parking lot with 20 stop signs, to get to HD. Ace “Express” will do just fine, like bodegas do in relation to grocery stores.
Re: Starbucks, they are remodeling the old Arby’s at 4th and Spring to have a drive through and parking presence in Midtown. The new, yet to be built Starbucks on Peachtree near 6th/7th will have less pressure for parking.
Ace will do fine–Yesterday is the third time I have been recently referred by a HD employee because they could not help me. Just to replace a part to my lamp but HD now only carries the standard parts–he knew exactly what I needed but said I should go to Ace. Ace people not only know what you need (and/or how to fix it) but they have what you need too. I am a huge fan of Ace hardwares.
Do you have a telephone number for them?
(404) 228-2291 😉