Springfield Westlake store part of $88M Ace buyout

Thirty Missouri Westlake Ace Hardware stores, including one in Springfield, are among the 85 locations purchased by Oakbrook, Ill.-based Ace Hardware Corp. on Dec. 17 for $88 million.

Ace Hardware purchased the Lenexa, Kan.-based Westlake chain from Minneapolis private equity investment firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison, said Westlake CEO George Smith.
 
Smith said the move would have a minimal impact on operations at the 2350 S. Campbell Ave. store. The Westlake name and staff would remain in place, and he said the company would be managed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Ace.

“We are branded Westlake Ace Hardware, and that will continue. We will continue to purchase merchandise from Ace distribution centers as we have in the past, and support Ace national advertising programs and events. From a consumer perspective, it will be a very transparent transaction,” Smith said. “They will still see Westlake over the doors and Ace products in the stores.”

According to Smith, Ace Hardware is a dealer-owned cooperative comprising 4,400 locations worldwide that allows individual owners to operate stores independently while accessing greater buying power. Westlake Ace, which was founded in 1905, has been a member of the Ace Hardware cooperative since 1959, he said. According to AceHardware.com, Ace completed a transition to a retailer-owned cooperative in 1976.

Westlake Ace comprises stores in seven states: Iowa, Kansas Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, with 30 stores in Missouri, according to WestlakeHardware.com.

Ace Hardware also has two independently owned stores in Springfield: Rathbone Ace Hardware at 508 E. Commercial St., and Cowan’s Ace Hardware at 3310 W. College St.

Smith said Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison owned Westlake for six years, and Roanoke, Va.-based investment banking firm Mozart Investments Inc. served as broker on the sale. He said the sale had been in the works since July.

“It is a natural course of events for private equity firms to buy companies, hold them for a period of time and then exit those companies,” Smith said. “We will be run as a retail arm. We will have a separate board of directors that will comprise Ace directors and Ace dealers, but we will be run independently.”

Westlake was Ace’s largest independent co-op, and with the purchase, Smith said Ace is protecting its retail presence.

“(Ace) was able to acquire a retail platform with an experienced management team that can grow stores, acquire stores and protect the markets they are in,” Smith said, adding the buyout could pave the way for future purchases. “Many stores are sole proprietors, where the owner has only one or two stores, and many of them don’t have an exit strategy for their business. This allows Ace to acquire those stores and keep them in the Ace fold.”

An Ace Hardware spokeswoman, Sasha Bigda, did not return calls for comment by deadline.