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ACE Hardware...oh my! GUNS!!

11K views 20 replies 17 participants last post by  Lawrence Keeney 
#1 ·
Well...I just got back from vacation in northern Nevada. (Elko/Spring creek area). And I got a chance to go into an ACE hardware store while there...and I was in total amazement...they had a gun and ammo section!!! In ACE! NOW THATS A HARDWARE STORE!!!!!!!!!!!

They had a huge ammo selection, and quite a few handguns and a good selection of rifles and some shottys...I had never seen a REAL hardware store before. Anyone else seen true American stores like this before that carry guns and ammo on the shelf.??
 
#2 ·
AZG - one here very similar. We have Ace branches but also a lot of ''True Value'' hardware stores - usually like Ace - old stores that have been put under the ''umbrella'' of the chain name.

In Windber PA - close to Johnstown, is a True Value with a comprehensive ground floor for hardware of all sots, and a large upstairs area almost devoted to sporting goods and a gun counter quite well stocked - plenty of ammo too. I have had the odd item from them. Good to see eh!
 
#4 ·
You guys have to remember that ACE and I believe True Value are not a chain store. They're a buying cooperative much like the buying cooperatives that many rural power companies belong to.

Essentially the idea is that a lot of independent stores pool their money together and buy their hardware merchandise in bulk so they can compete with Lowe's, Home Depot, and Walmart. They also get to put the name "Ace" or whatever on their store, which the buying cooperative does advertisement for, benefitting all of its members.

This is different from a chain store like Lowe's. Every Lowe's store is owned by Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, Inc. They are not locally owned and operated. As a matter of fact, the air conditioning and heating in the store I used to work in was controlled by a corporate office in North Carolina.

They may slightly different layouts and each store may have its own little quirks, but they're basically all going to be the same. A place like an Ace Hardware store however is its own animal even though they're probably going to have a lot of the same stuff as any other Ace because they get it cheaper through their buying cooperative.

Case in point, the Ace hardware in my home town for a time sold all sorts of offbeat stuff like ice cream and FRAM oil filters. It's because it's a locally owned store that has a little more character and freedom to do what it wants.

You'll never see a Lowe's store selling firearms for the same reason you'll never see a Lowe's store selling automotive parts or mattresses. That's not what they sell at Lowe's. They sell hardware, paint, plumbing supplies, lumber, shingles, concrete, plants, etc.

I don't think the original Lowe's store carried any firearms either. I've seen pictures of its inventory and for one thing they wouldn't have had any room to stock them. You have to remember that Lowe's invented that format of store and others, like Home Depot, copied it. The concept of a chain of stores which sold hardware and lumber and all the trappings all under one roof originated with this company.

Home Depot incorporated in 1978 and basically copied the Lowe's format. Since then anything one does, the other mimics and it's become a chicken or the egg situation.

My point is don't get mad at the chain stores because they're not an old fashioned hardware store. They never were, and they never meant to be. These stores don't sell guns because they're anti gun, they don't sell them because they never meant to sell guns in the first place. It's like getting mad at Michelin Tires or Baskin Robbins Ice Cream for not selling guns.

As a matter of fact, I make this speech because I'm proud of my former employer for this reason right here:

http://www2.millionmommarch.org/timeout/?recipient=1

Anybody who pisses off the MMM Nazis is all right with me!
 
#6 ·
Im glad to see some of you have places like this around you....it awesome! I don't...even thought I live in a so far gun friendly state. AZ is pretty good for gun laws....and right to carry. But seeing guns in a hardware store renewed my faith in America! That not all places are like Cali.or some other places in the US.they still know what fer. I even saw several trucks with rifles in their rifle racks. And if you didnt have a CB antenna you were odd man out.LOL..( I had one, so I just needed to get the truck dirty to fit right in.)

It was alos nice to do some plinkin' with my Dad....they have a great private open firearms range that is key access to get through the gate and up the mountain. It was a nice place to visit. Would be a nice place to live..........
 
#7 ·
There's a grocery store near Harrisonburg, Va, on the way to Reddish Knob, that sells guns and ammo in the store. I forget the name of the store, but it's a small, country chain. Also, off of Rt55 in NW Va, there's a little gas station that sells guns, ammo, knives, etc. It helps though that they're on a main route to the local national forest hot spot for hunting. Many a time, I've purchased a forgotten license there. :)

Chris
 
#9 ·
You older guys out there MUST remember the Western Auto stores that were around back in the 60's. There were several of them in NW Fla alone. They carried .30-30's,pump shotgons,.22 Simi-autos and the like. Can't remember the brands that were on the weapons. Might have been J.C. Higgins(Higgens) That's where I got all my .22 ammo and even bought a couple of guns from the store in Pensacola.--------
 
#11 ·
RSSZ said:
You older guys out there MUST remember the Western Auto stores that were around back in the 60's.
Got my first bicycle from the Western Auto store in Glenwood Springs, Colorado right around 1965, and they had a big selection of bike tires and accessories. :biggrin:
 
#12 ·
There's an Ace here across from the courthouse. Sells handguns, rifles, shotguns, and ammo.

It's not a massive selection, but it's better than Wal-mart.

Then again, the gun stores here are real shops - several hundred guns, good, real coffee, you can sit at the counter, some sell cigars, and are populated by real people.
 
#13 ·
My local ACE not only sells guns but has a sign on the front door "ALL FIREARMS WELCOME" then a picture of a 1911; in small print at the bottom it says "If you do not have a firearm feel free to buy one before you leave".
 
#17 ·
mtnbkr said:
...Also, off of Rt55 in NW Va, there's a little gas station that sells guns, ammo, knives, etc. It helps though that they're on a main route to the local national forest hot spot for hunting. Many a time, I've purchased a forgotten license there. :)

Chris
When I lived outside Haymarket (pop. 205, at that time), we had Gossom's store. You could get everything from groceries, to guns and ammo, to hunting licenses, to feed and seed and hardware. It was small, but if we didn't grow it or make it ourselves, we could get it at Gossom's.
 
#19 ·
P95Carry said:
In Windber PA - close to Johnstown, is a True Value with a comprehensive ground floor for hardware of all sots, and a large upstairs area almost devoted to sporting goods and a gun counter quite well stocked - plenty of ammo too. I have had the odd item from them. Good to see eh!
They are good people.

There is a Johnson's Ace Hardware just south of Latrobe PA in Norvelt that has an awesome gun shop attached, Johnson's Gun Depot, with an incredible selection of guns for such a rural, out-of-the-way shop: http://www.johnsongundepot.com/ourstore.php

Check out their photo gallery link.

(I have no affiliation with this shop whatsoever, but I visited it once when the Kel Tec SU16 was first released, because it was the only place that had one locally at the time.)
 
#20 ·
a fair amont of smaller town hardwares carry guns and ammo up here in N. MI. Bigger towns and cities usually don't as there are sporting good and gun stores.
 
#21 ·
The very first Auto Mag I ever saw, was in the display case of a Western Auto Store in Whitesville West Virginia, probably 20 years ago.
 
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