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This month, Ace Hardware and The Grommet announced a collaboration that brings innovations of local makers into Ace Hardware retail stores.
The Grommet, a product-launching platform for innovative consumer products, began its partnership with Ace for the holiday season, and it will continue in select Ace stores into 2017. The new relationship will leverage the strength and passion of locally owned Ace stores with the ingenuity of undiscovered inventors, known as makers.
For the launch, 20 unique products from The Grommet sourced from 15 local makers, will debut in over 160 Ace stores. These assortments will be updated each season. Products are unexpected, newly discovered and fit within at least one of 10 core values that are central to The Grommet’s discovery process, including: Made in the USA; sustainable living; made for a lifetime; tech and innovation; handcrafted; independent maker; social enterprises; philanthropy; underrepresented entrepreneurs; and crowd-funded.
“Since 2008, our mission at The Grommet has been to launch innovative consumer products and help the small businesses behind them to succeed,” says Jules Pieri, co-founder and CEO of The Grommet. “Given Ace Hardware’s dedication to local and small businesses—and that they are independent store owners themselves—we are very excited to partner with them to help make Ace Hardware’s stores a ‘destination for innovation.’ By bringing dozens of Grommets to stores across the country, we are helping these entrepreneurs to reach a massive new audience.”
In addition to delighting customers with unique products from The Grommet, Ace wants makers to know it could serve as a vehicle to bring their product concepts to retail shelves.
“For 92 years, Ace has stood for local small business; for the underdog who dukes it out against the Goliaths of corporate America,” says John Venhuizen, president and CEO of Ace Hardware Corp. “So the partnership with The Grommet not only aligns with the passions of our local owners, but fuels our desire to further Ace as the place for the dreamers, inventors, innovators and makers. We are proud to stand with The Grommet and their platform for local makers.”
For a complete list of Ace stores that have an in-store display featuring products from The Grommet, click here.
