Ace Hardware, a chain of more than 5,600 stores, is crafting an expansion, opening about 160 brick-and-mortar retail sites this year and looking to bring three new warehouses online.
Ace, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, this week said it had already debuted 105 new stores in 2022 so far and expects to open at least an additional 60 by year-end. The retailer has added more than 840 new stores in the past five years.
To keep pace with the company's growth, Ace is continuing to invest in expanding its distribution network to house more inventory closer to its growing number of stores and customers. The company plans to add 4.4 million square feet of capacity to its network by opening three new warehouses in the next five years. That will be in addition to the more than 2.5 million square feet Ace said it's added in the past four years.
Ace didn't disclose the planned locations of the warehouses, and the company didn't immediately respond to an email from CoStar News on Friday seeking comment.
"With over 100 new stores already opened for the year, we remain enthusiastically bullish about the continued prospect for new store growth," Ace Hardware President and CEO John Venhuizen said in a statement.
Ace is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world, with locally owned hardware stores in all 50 states and 70 countries, and global sales topping $20 billion.
Ace's local store owners have successfully integrated the company's digital initiatives with brick-and-mortar sites, with 70% of AceHardware.com orders picked up in-store and 20% delivered to customers by "our own red-vested heroes," Venhuizen said.
The retailer ranked fourth among the top 200 largest franchise systems based in the United States, according to Franchise Times.