Ten years ago, while eating Sunday dinner at the Louisville Dairy Queen, Jay Bullock and his son Preston had a vision to open a full-service home improvement store in Louisville.
“Today, after 34 years in the hardware business, I know my father, Jay, is looking down on us and is proud of what we dreamed of,” said Preston Bullock, CEO of Summit Ace Hardware, as he cut the ribbon to mark the grand opening of the seventh store. Bullock was joined by his children, store employees and members of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce.
Small businesses like Summit Ace Hardware are the lifeblood of this country’s economy and Bullock wants to continue providing excellent customer service that was the hallmark of what his father wanted to do.
“People could easily drive 30 to 45 miles to Home Depot, but you probably won’t have the opportunity to build a personal relationship with the customer like we do. Our number one goal is to provide great customer service, but we’re also very proud of the amount of merchandise and big brands we have at this new location.”
Recteq had heated up grills and prepared chicken wings for the crowd and Stihl also had an exhibition of its power tools.
“We are really lucky to have a company like Recteq out of Augusta. We are also one of the shops our size and in our area that has such a large selection of Stihl power tools. We also have a large selection of Milwaukee power tools. In addition to all the major brands, we have everything you need from home repair to a large construction project,” Bullock said.
The Louisville location was actually used as a liquidation warehouse for goods from the Wrens store four years ago. Summit already had a lot of goods on its floor, but Bullock told the crowd that six truckloads of goods still needed to be unpacked and placed on the floor.
“We have over 20,000 different SKUs in this store alone,” Bullock said.
Jodi Holdeman, who began her career as a shelf stocker at the Wrens store, will become the Louisville store manager and Mitch Woods will be the point of contact for the B2B division, which includes Ace Rewards and Business Charge Accounts.
“I’m the second generation in the hardware business and now my children are starting to work in the companies. We are really excited to be here in Louisville and expanding 3,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet. Summit Ace Hardware is here to provide excellent customer service and also a great product selection for this area,” said Bullock.
