Ace Hardware Goes Corporate?
Some people just can't leave well enough alone.
Looks like some higher ups in the Ace Hardware organization want to turn Ace Hardware into a corporation, as opposed to the owner owned and operated cooperative it is now.
Hard to say what advantage would come out of such a move, but there's certainly a possibility it could screw up something. If they decide to go through with this, I hope they don't screw it up. I like my Schafer's Ace Hardware, in Henderson Center, the way it is.
If it works, why try and fix it?
posted by Fred Mangels @ 7:54 AM
18 comments
18 Comments:
Wonder if they'll shut 'er down if Home Depot comes in,they probably don't want to deal with taking the eventual hit.I agree Fred,I like it the way it is.
I can't imagine Schafer's taking a real big hit from Home Depot. I don't think people go there for the prices. They go there because of its location: The neighborhood hardware store.
I suppose something like that could happen if it ended up under more of a more centralized ownership. Corporate bosses might want to close down the store for one reason or another, whereas the local owners might not be at all inclined to do so.
No sure about the legalities involved- if the current owners would lose that sort of control- but it makes one wonder.
Uh - Fred...the independent stores are mostly all corporations themselves.
Do you remember to bring your Ace Rewards card everytime you shop at Shafer's? Never fear, you can give them your phone number and still collect your Ace Rewards. But then you have to remember to bring your Rewards with you when you shop.
I heard that Shafer's Ace wanted to be next to Home Depot as they sell things that Home Depot does not carry. Try buying certain size nails or screws (along with numerous other items) at Home Depot. Just don't have the large assortment.
9:46 wrote, "the independent stores are mostly all corporations themselves.".
I assumed they were corporations of some kind, albeit owned by local owners.
10:58 wrote, "Try buying certain size nails or screws (along with numerous other items) at Home Depot.".
What about plumbing stuff? Doesn't seem that Schafer's has all that much plumbing stuff, but I don't know much about plumbing so can't really judge.
I know the plumbers I'm familiar with used to go to Wyckoff's, out in Myrtletown, because they had a lot of odd parts many stores don't carry. Wyckoff's went by the wayside a while back.
Perhaps another early casualty of Marina Center?
Carol wrote, "Do you remember to bring your Ace Rewards card every time you shop at Shafer's?".
I never remember it and they never ask for one, but I do have one. I forget what the advantage to those cards is.
If you forget to bring it, just tell them your phone number. Your rewards accumulate and often you get a $5 off your purchase. You have to use it quickly, because they have expiration dates. Between me and Greg, I currently have $25 in rewards cards to spend. Now that is savings!
Fred,
Wyckoff's is alive and well in Sunny Fortuna (The Friendly City). Next to Rays...
Didn't know that, Derc. Thing is, Fortuna doesn't have a Marina Center looming over its head to run that Wyckoff's out of business like they did the Eureka one.
I never realized that the Marina Center was leasing the Myrtletown space to Wyckoff's. The lease on the space was what caused Wyckoff's to shut down its Eureka store, not the impending Marina Center. That woud have been some FREAKY foresight.
-boy
That's what they WANT you to think, boy, but we all know just the idea of Marina Center coming to Eureka has already started closing businesses.
Do It Best is going into fortuna and is a corp. Forbusco is not freaking out the way the looneys in Eureka are.
Frankly...this is all absurd.
"Ace Hardware Goes Corporate?
Some people just can't leave well enough alone.
Looks like some higher ups in the Ace Hardware organization want to turn Ace Hardware into a corporation, as opposed to the owner owned and operated cooperative it is now.
Hard to say what advantage would come out of such a move..."
Maybe it would help Ace raise capital? That's the reason usually given for going public.
My gut feeling is that Ace doesn't need to get more capital. They're doing fine, as is.
Fred, in this lovely economic system, there is always somebody saying "we don't have enough capital." Some greed-head is always rewarded for screwing up a good thing. For example, you remember Pacific Lumber, whose motto was "sustained yield." Then Maxxam did a hostile takeover and presto-change-o, no more sustained yield. Suddenly the motto was "log the forests to the farthest horizon."
This phenomenon has been known since ancient times. It was described accurately in the Mother Goose story of "The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg." You see, Fred, a greed-head who was way ahead of his time gained control of the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg. In order to maximize profits and get all the profits as soon as possible, he killed the Goose. Little did he realize he had (with his very own hands) killed the productive capacity of the Goose.
And on it goes.
But with any luck at all, Shafer's Ace Hardware will survive future challenges to its current productive and friendly way of doing things.
(But that one surly cashier has got to go!)
Fred, why do you keep misspelling the name "Shafer's?"
I don't know. I drove by Shafer's shortly after I wrote this post and noticed there was no c in the name. Don't know why I thought there was one.
Post a Comment
<< Home