Ace Hardware in Arnold works to help customers
Houska’s Ace Hardware, 1520 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold struggled to keep up with the demand from mid-March through April, when the store saw its customer base jump by more than 50 percent during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kim Houska, whose family has owned the business since the early 1970s, said the increase in customers and the loss of three of the store’s 12 employees made it difficult for the store to function as efficiently as its owners would like.
“We went from 200 (customers) on a Saturday to 500 on a Saturday,” said Houska, whose father, Tony Mannisi, owned and operated Bargain Barn and Arnold Building Center at the Ace Hardware’s current location.
“It was like the day after Thanksgiving every day. We were caught off guard,” she said. “It was overwhelming for us to figure out how to get these people waited on and in and out like we used to do.”
Houska, who took over the business in 1998, said she started offering curbside service, and she was able to bring her staff back up to 15, which has helped.
Ace Hardware never closed during the pandemic, but its employees wear facemasks, take their temperatures every day and clean surface areas, carts and doors more frequently, she said.
Customers are encouraged to wear masks, though it is not required, and are asked to stay 6 feet apart from each other, Houska added.
She said things are starting to feel more normal.
“We are a hometown hardware store, and I would say every third customer who comes into the store we know,” Houska said. “We want to thank our customers for their continued support.”
