Sully’s Ace Hardware Purchased By R&R Ownership
Sully’s Ace Hardware was recently purchased by a family and St. Clair business very familiar to Sullivan residents.
The Parks family recently announced the acquisition of Sully’s Ace Hardware by R&R Center and owners Tom Parks, Patti Parks, Jordan Parks and Paige Byrd.
Paige stated to the Sullivan Independent News, “The opportunity was presented to us several months ago directly by the previous owners. As a family, we have talked about expanding to a second store for years, but we knew it would have to be the right offer at the right time., Our familiarity with the Sullivan community and short distance from R&R made it an easy decision for us. We could easily see the opportunity in Sullivan to create a great local hardware store.”
Are there any changes in product lines from previous owners? Anything being added to operation or deleted from operation?
“We have already been making changes for a few months, but more changes are coming,: said Paige Bird. “ The biggest changes customers can expect to see is a remodel of the Stihl section and BBQ area, large expansions seasonally of lawn & garden, pool chemicals, and the camping and fishing departments, and more relevant merchandise on the shelves storewide.
Plan are already in the works to completely reset several departments including paint, cleaning supplies, automotive and hardware, with smaller sections being refreshed in areas like sandpaper and trashbags. All of that will happen this winter. We are also bringing in brand new products for several categories like patio and landscape lighting. To make room for all of this new product, there will be a reduction in Cub Cadet mowers and rental equipment and we will be cleaning up several sections of merchandise that are simply no longer relevant.
I know a lot of customers coming in have been asking about how our selection may be similar or different from R&R. We do not plan to have a selection of gifts, crafts, toys, and decor like we do in St. Clair, but we do plan to use our purchasing knowledge to bring in new, exciting things to Sullivan, or maybe things you can't find other places. We will make those decisions at Sullivan once we finish resetting the major departments.”
How many employees currently work at Sully's Ace Hardware and any plans for expansion in future?
The acquisition took place in August and since that time Bird stated, “ we had 11 employees, some full time and some part time. Thankfully, the entire staff stayed on after the transition and we have since added an additional 5 staff members, including Assistant Store Manager Patrick Bird, Paige's husband.
Bird was asked to provide the history and background on R&R Ace Hardware and its commitment to the area and how your purchase in Sullivan expands that commitment to area residents.
“R&R is celebrating 90 years in business this October. We first opened on Main Street in St. Clair in 1932 and the store was owned and operated by W.R. and Rita Parks, (R&R), Paige and Jordan's great-grandparents. Each generation has expanded the store's physical square footage and merchanside categories,” said Bird. “ From the first small storefront, to a larger one just a few blocks down on Main Street, to opening the location in which we currently reside on North Commercial, first as upstairs only and then expanding into the basement- we have never stopped growing. And as we grew, so did our customers, so we have been changing the products we sold as our customers asked for more. Given the history of expansion with each generation, Jordan and I felt like the opportunity to purchase the Sullivan store was one that we could not pass up.
Our committment has always been to our community. What do our neighbors want and need? What is missing that they can't get anywhere else? What can we offer while providing excellent service and a fair price? We intend to continue that in Sullivan by resetting the store in a way that is more relevant, more shoppable, and provides the area with more of what they want and need. We are on the floor every day, helping our customers first-hand and finding out what they are shopping for, how they like to shop, and what we are missing that we should have. We are excited to get more involved in the Sullivan community throughout the next year and hope we have the opportunity to work with the Chamber and other organizations to meet more residents and find out what areas we can provide assistance in.”
How is the operation been so far? Your opening date/purchase? Do you like Sullivan community potential going forward?
“We took over officially on August 4th and there was no down time; we hit the ground running and stayed open while we have been figuring out a lot of the back office work and changing processes,” said Bird. “ The staff has been wonderful- everyone stayed on through the transition and we are incredibly grateful for that. There is so much potential in Sullivan that we didn't even know about until we got into the store after the purchase. We've had customers come in that tell us they haven't shopped here for years, but they wanted to check it out again because they heard it was the same people that have R&R in St. Clair. That has been a huge positive note in working through getting the store up to our standards.
We know there was a long legacy of a great local hardware store here when this was Wally's. We want to honor that history, but also show our customers that we are here to stay and we are already digging in and doing what needs to get done to make this a great local hardware store again.”
Bird stated that a grand re-opening is bring planned for the business in the Spring once the store has been completely reset.
There has been no change to hours of operation as the store is open Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The phone number to the business remains the same 573-468-8312.
The new management team includes: Jordan Parks - Store Manager; Patrick Bird - Assistant Store Manager