A brief look at Ace Hardware Corp.:
DESCRIPTION: Retailer-owned hardware cooperative with 4,600 stores in all 50 states and 70 countries.
HEADQUARTERS: Oak Brook, Ill.
2006 REVENUES: About $3.4 billion (preliminary).
CEO: Ray Griffith, 53, president and chief executive since 2005.
HISTORY: Founded in 1924 by Chicago-area hardware store owners Richard Hesse, E. Gunnard Lindquist, Frank Burke and Oscar Fisher. Opened first warehouse in Chicago in 1929 and changed name from Ace Stores Inc. to Ace Hardware Corp. in 1931. Converted to retailer-owned cooperative from 1973-76. Hired sportscaster John Madden as spokesman in 1987. First surpassed $3 billion in annual hardline sales and $100 million in net profits in 2003.
BUILDUP: Opened 188 new stores in 2006, plans 180 in 2007. New stores are larger than in past, averaging 14,000 square feet, more brightly lit and with wider aisles and changed product assortment aimed increasingly at female shoppers and not just do-it-yourselfers.
INTERNATIONAL: Sales outside the U.S. accounted for $140 million in 2006. Two-thirds of its business internationally is done under the Ace brand; another prominent brand is Mitre 10 in New Zealand/Australia.
Source: Ace Hardware