Handy Ace Hardware - 75 Years of Community Service

“Our family has been in the hardware business so long, I can remember my dad telling me he sold all of the explosives for creating the Buford Dam," says Howard Smith, owner of Handy Ace Hardware in Tucker.           

According to his dad, Joe Smith, their original Decatur store was actually the last to sell a horse drawn carriage in the 1950s. “There was kind of a strange couple who preferred to ride around town with a two horse wagon.  He would sit in the front and his wife would sit with her legs dangling off in the back.  They got in a serious car accident and decided it was safer to have a horse and buggy.  We placed a special order for them; it was definitely the last one to be seen around here.”

Being in the area for 75 years, their stores have made such a significant contribution that they occupy several pages of the DeKalb County Historical Society business edition.  Howard’s grandfather actually started their first hardware in Decatur in 1935.  They sold that store and opened General Hardware in Bookhaven in 1976, which they still own and Joe manages. The company also has another Ace Hardware in Dacula, Ga.  They’ve been in Tucker for 37 years and during that time have had three different locations close to Main St. They recently moved to Cowan St. just behind their last location in the Tucker Plaza business complex across from Publix.

“Both father and son emphasize the fact that they go out of our way to provide customer service to home owners, industry and government agencies. They supply anchors for heavy machinery; fasteners for compressors; nuts and bolts for Marta and a huge variety of parts one would never imagine being sold in a small town community hardware.

“Our slogan has always been, “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it,” says Howard.  Now, with so many industry changes requiring such varied supplies, our new slogan is, “If we don’t have it, we can get it.  Our employees are required to keep an ‘asked for’ list so we can stock what customers want.  Most businesses call it customer service, but we take it a step further and call it “customer intimacy.”          

When you shop at Handy Ace, there are always plenty of knowledgeable sales people in each department, many of whom have been with the company for almost 25 years.  Carol Brown is manager of kitchen department. “Working here is fun because we’re treated like family. We can give our ideas to the owners and they listen to us. Our customers call us by name and being able to socialize with them makes for a happier, more interesting day.”

Says Howard, “because we treat our employees and customers like family, our clients remember us. Many of them have beach and mountain houses; they prefer to call us and have us send what they need.  We now ship all around the U.S. and due to the Internet, we have customers all over the world.”

Adding more convenience, the store maintains a repair shop where you can get glass cut, lamps and screens repaired and other kinds of household jobs that need to be handled. Last year, the Tucker store starting selling pine straw and this year for the first time, will be selling fresh flowers.