Third Quarter Revenue at Ace Hardware Grows

The third quarter was a strong one for Ace Hardware as the company reported increases in sales and net income for the three months ended September 30.

Company officials said revenues hit a company record $2.3 billion, an increase of 2.5% from the third quarter the previous year. Net income in the quarter was $130 million, an increase of $29.4 million from the third quarter of 2022.

"It's quite the privilege to once again announce record revenue and record earnings for the quarter," said John Venhuizen, president & CEO of Ace Hardware. "Nearly 24% growth in our digital business is a testament to the efficacy of the Ace team and the degree to which our local retailers have integrated our digital and physical assets as 90% of the business is either picked up in store, or, delivered to the customer by our retail associates."

Increases were seen across a majority of departments with outdoor power equipment, power tools and lawn and garden showing the largest gains.  

The approximately 3,700 Ace retailers who share daily retail sales data reported a 0.7% decrease in U.S. retail same-store-sales during the third quarter of 2023, which was the result of a 0.5% decrease in average ticket and a 0.2% decrease in same-store transactions. Removing the deflationary impact of lumber stores, U.S. retail same-store-sales were up 0.6%in the third quarter of 2023.    

The company had an increase in wholesale merchandise revenues from new domestic stores of $55.5 million during the third quarter of 2023, while wholesale merchandise revenues decreased $7.9 million during the third quarter due to domestic stores whose memberships were canceled.  

Ace added 36 new domestic stores in the third quarter of 2023 and canceled 17 stores.  The company's total domestic store count was 4,943 at the end of the third quarter of 2023, which was an increase of 102 stores from the third quarter of 2022.  On a worldwide basis, Ace added 38 stores in the third quarter of 2023 and canceled 21, bringing the worldwide store count to 5,828 at the end of the third quarter of 2023.