COVID-19 Effects on Local Hardware Stores
Makaila Dischler
We’ve seen the corona virus affect our lives in many different ways-- social isolation, deserted stores/shopping areas, and economic declines. I’ve had the scary but nonetheless interesting honor of seeing this closeup in a local hardware store that I work at. Our sales have surged as many have seen other businesses close, which is odd. Hardware stores were pronounced essential businesses as we were put on a state-wide mandated lockdown. This meant everyone was stuck as home and couldn’t proceed with their daily activities. What did that mean? Home improvement projects: yard work, redoing rooms in the house, or building things we saw on pinterest/tik tok. Our ATB (average transaction balance) grew up to 60% in just a few days of the lockdown in place and our online transactions went up a 1000%. For reference, I didn’t even know we had the capabilities of doing online orders until COVID-19 and I’ve been working there for almost a year and a half.
Although many small businesses have suffered through the pandemic, as customers no longer could shop as they once did. Such as the personal interest for window shopping, and the ability to move throughout stores. Ace Hardware had a positive impact in revenues due to the free time many people were experiencing, and the increase of at home time. Many families noticed leaky faucets, or new projects to start up as they sat safely at home. As shown in “First Quarter 2020, by Ace Hardware” the revenue from quarter one in 2019 has increased by 3.8%. Along with the net income increasing by a large percentage, 60.2%. Around the first quarter of 2019, the gross profit of ace hardwares was around $36.8 million and within 3-4 months of 2020 the profit was $52.8 million which meant an increase of $16 million dollars in a short period of time. Another number worth mentioning is just for seasonal spring items (occuring during the time of the pandemic) profit increased around $69 million.
Despite many stores having to use a maximum capacity, the Elliott’s Ace Hardware in Pewaukee did not-- even though the majority of our open days were occupied beyond capacity limitations, but couldn’t do anything about that because of corporate. Instead, our stores shortened our hours from 7:30 am- 8:00 pm to 9:00 am- 6pm on weekdays and 9:00 am- 4:00 pm on weekends. To our surprise, even with shortened hours, there was a surge in profit and it was beyond busier than what it would be normally.
Works cited:
https://newsroom.acehardware.com/ace-hardware-reports-record-first-quarter-2020-results/
I never really thought about hardware stores and how might they be affected during our pandemic right now but it was very interesting to me when reading your article how your sales increased. I also didn’t know you could ship things from Ace Hardware. I can see exactly the statistics matching the fact that the sales increased, as many people are trying to find things to do to keep themselves occupied during this time. I know myself and a lot of others are on TikTok and Pinterest, trying to find fun new things to put our time into. I never really thought of how a hardware store would be affected in this in turn. It does make a lot of sense though seeing as everyone has more time so they are spending it on what things they might have been putting off like home improvement ideas or just trying something new they saw cool. It was really interesting to read your blog post and I really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteThe Ace Hardware saw in their ATB is crazy! Growing 60% in store and 1000% online is amazing for a company to see. I think that it’s very interesting to see certain businesses such as hardware stores doing so well, while other businesses, such as “mom and pop shops”, are struggling to stay open and keep business coming in. I wonder how your store would have been affected if you had limited capacity rather than shortened store hours. Very nice piece, I really enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteI was quite surprised that people were buying more at hardware stores in a few days after lockdown. I would have though maybe a month or two would pass before people would want to do projects. I though it was interesting that the shortened hours at your store had no effect instead you made more. You can definitely tell people really wanted to do projects to keep them busy because quarter 1 increased 3.8% from the year before.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that hardware store have been growing a lot 60% in store and even more online but it makes sense to why people would go there after a lockdown in fear of it happening again they might be doing at home projects they didnt have time for before and now they do and to keep them busy while stuck at home.
ReplyDeleteDuring the pandemic we have heard so many stories of business going bankrupt and having to shut down due to the lack of customers, so it's very reassuring to hear that some business actually profited from the covid-19 time period. It also makes sense that places such as ACE Hardware increase profit if I begin to think about how many people I know, including my own family, that updated their homes and yards during this time. It also makes me think back to my blog post and the profit that Zoom has made of the pandemic. It's weird, but also reassuring to think that there was some happiness at this terrible time so for many.
ReplyDeleteI only went to Ace hardware myself once during quarantine, and even then in that one short visit I purchased about 5 cans of wasp spray. There wasn't tons of people within the store, but this was pretty early on. Honestly I'm overall very surprised your ATB increased by 60%. I never thought Ace would be such a hotspot during a pandemic until you brought up the point about renovating and such during that period of time. Still kind of crazy to think about cause people were renovating their homes during a period where so many people were also losing their jobs. Overall it's great to here your business is thriving! Great blog post.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty interesting how their profits and revenues went up so much, though it doesn't surprise me considering how many renovations and projects people were doing during quarantine. Even my neighbors were doing some renovations, and my family installed some shelves in one of our closets, along with doing some plumbing work (we replaced one of our faucets). I never really thought about it, but it is nice that the business is thriving during the pandemic!
ReplyDeleteIt's weird to see what a pandemic can do to a business. It doesn't only effect the business itself but also the employees, I work at Walmart and have a similar experience. There is so much different with going on, my work station changed a lot and I had to be a lot more busy. Just like Ace Walmart changed its opened hours which honestly was really nice. It's cool to see how different businesses are dealing with this pandemic.
ReplyDeletei think it's crazy how some places started doing better with the pandemic compared to how they were doing before. It shows how a pandemic or disaster can bring really specific places good profits, my guess is more people buying things for hobbies now that we have more free time, and thats why they saw more profit.
ReplyDeleteThose who still work have been able to save a lot over the lockdown. It's interesting that only essential stores were open for the lockdown as well as little to do in terms of entertainment has given people the time and monetary ability for the mega projects that Ace profits off of.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting and I wouldn't have though of hardware store to surge this much. Online sales are almost essential to businesses nowadays which is almost unfair to small businesses. Companies like amazon and Walmart have also surged during the pandemic. I wonder if ACE will ever extend their hours again, with online orders expanding and the capabilities of online shopping growing, many businesses might not even need to have in person stores anymore.
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