The YSGC Shops Local

We're interviewing Dan from ACE Hardware and talking about what makes them different from other companies and why it's important to support and shop local. 

Shopping local isn’t just about buying products—it’s about investing in the heartbeat of our community. Every purchase supports our neighbors, keeps money circulating close to home, and helps create jobs right where we live. 

https://youtu.be/bQCObBXCRW4https://yardstopgardencenter.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, thanks for joining the Yardstop Garden Center podcast. I'm Emily and today our guest speaker is Dan. Hi Dan.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

How are you doing, Emily?

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Good. Great to have you on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Yeah, absolutely. In case you guys don't know, Dan is a commercial sales manager for Ace Hardware. Whether you're a commercial or residential business, they've got something for everybody. So let's jump in.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Alright, great.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Can you tell us a little bit more what you do as um a commercial manager for Ace and how you got started with them?

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Well, first of all, Carter's has 11 locations. Most of them are right here.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Okay. We have one in Tavares, uh, Mount Dora, and Bronson, which is downtown Eustace. Okay. And that's the one that services uh this location, the art stop. So my job is to I have eight sales personnel underneath me, and we're outside sales. So we we go out, create the awareness, create uh the knowledge that they can do their business can do business with us, and we we cater to that. Okay. So that's basically what I do, make sure that's going good. Uh all of our focuses are online and and you know, the sales and people are getting taken care of.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

That's awesome. I was doing uh a little research actually before the podcast, and I read that Ace has been in business since 1924.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Yeah, that's a that's a long time. How many years is that? Do the math. That's a long time.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

That's before I was here. And they have is it over 5,000 stores in like 60 countries?

SPEAKER_01 1:31

It's possible. Don't fact check me on that, but uh ace is a huge brand. So Carter's has 11 stores. So if you go into a uh another city, it's somebody else most likely that is running that ace hardware. Okay. So um here, our first store started in I think downtown Tavares. Okay. And that's been over like 50 years ago. Wow. So we it's it's uh third generation right now. Okay. So um it's just keeping it in the family, and we're keeping we're trying to make it better than it was, you know. That's the that's the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah. Well, you guys must be doing something right. I mean, you've you've been around for quite a while. So and there's everywhere I go in every corner, there's like an ace.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

That's right. We're we're already always positioned where it's convenient. So it's just uh from what I do a lot of times when I go to the chamber meetings or I go to a networking event, most people are like, what you offer that, yeah. And it's always I love to see their expression when they see you know they find out that we could deliver their products that they don't have to order from the big boxes or Amazon, that we can get what they need.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

And if we don't have it, we could still get it. So it's just it's just no one being transparent with our customer.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Okay. I know the yard stop partners with Ace for a lot of the landscape tools that we use. It's anything from gas operated to flags, marking paint. Yeah. What am I missing?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Some of your drainage that you have on some of your uh landscaping jobs that you're doing. We we supply that. Uh a lot of the connectors for it as well. Um, grease for your machinery. So we'll see your crew, they'll come in, and uh a lot of times we'd like to provide it here at your location so they won't have to come in. But that 911, they run out of something without fail. Great. They can hit any of our stores. Or they can give us a quick call, like Pablo will call us, and we just, you know, we can dispatch one of our uh team members to bring them what they need. Yeah, keep them on the job where it's it's cost effective and it's efficient.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

So I know Ace Hardware services a lot of businesses. Can you tell us more about the service process?

SPEAKER_01 3:41

So we'll we'll come in, we'll take a look, and we'll have like a pick order, like you guys get plumbing pieces from us, you get uh steel equipment, all different various uh items. So we'll check the inventory and then you know we'll make sure we'll make sure we don't just bring out stuff, we'll we'll make it get the approval that hey, you're down 10 10 pieces of uh half inch uh elbows. Can you please bring them out next time you come out? Right. So and we if we don't hear from you, we'll stop in, you know, as a as a courtesy.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Yeah, I have noticed that about ACE. They seem to be more like about going the second mile and and treating it personal and not just transactional. Yeah, and I think some stores, some big commercial stores lack that.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

That's right. So we we do set ourselves apart in that uh industry. When you come into an ace store, we're gonna greet you, we're gonna ask you, what can we help you find today? And we'll bring you to the aisle and maybe even grab it for you.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

And then if there's something that goes aligns with that item that you're getting, we will check you with that. Like, hey, you also need a paintbrush for the paint that you're getting. Right. So uh that way when you leave, you're you're leaving with everything you need to complete your job, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Right. What is the advantage to businesses using ACE for their landscape?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

We're competitively priced. We got some of the best prices on steel equipment, uh, Toro equipment, and we also service it. We also service Toro's. If you had like an off-brand generator, bring it by. We have mechanics at all of our stores. We keep them coming in, we provide our our you know great service and our knowledge. For local businesses, that's who we you know, we kind of tend in a five-mile radius per store. Um, and a lot of it overlaps here, you know. Mount Dora, Tavares, you don't know what city you're in at times. Um, we like to keep the money centralized. Like when you come in and buy from us, but you keep money local. Like when you're buying from Amazon, where's that money going? You know, it's facts.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Well, Dan, thanks so much for coming on the podcast, uh, especially short notice. Really appreciate you uh joining us. I'm glad I could be here, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Yeah, I could have been out of town. We have two stores like on the West Coast.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

I was there yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Okay, I would go there all the time.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Yeah, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Well, guys, thanks so much for tuning in to the Art Stop Podcast. If you'd like to reach out to Dan and ask more questions, you can reach him at Carter's AcePro Sales at gmail.com. We'll see you guys in the next episode.