Columbia Falls Ace Hardware store designed to be customer friendly
The staff of the new Ace hardware Store on Highway 2, from left, Sheila Fowler, Cameron Booth, Dakota Bogart, Randy Anderson, Matt and Haley Dowdell, Andy Nelson and Karley Brunson.
By CHRIS PETERSON
Hungry Horse News
When the new Glacier Ace hardware store opened up a few months ago in Columbia Falls owner Matt Dowdell said a couple of the first customers they had asked for one thing: Bear spray.
The store had plenty of household and hardware items for sale.
But no bear spray.
It’s been that kind of learning experience since (and yes they have bear spray now) as the 15,000-foot square store on Highway 2 settles into the wants of the Columbia Falls community.
The store layout is made to be customer-friendly — when you first walk in, all of the aisles are well marked and can be seen all the way to the back.
The center of the store currently showcases all sorts of barbecue grills, from the basic Weber charcoal grill to Traeger Grills and smokers that can be monitored via wi-fi to the the $1,000 ceramic Big Green Egg.
Dowdell said the focus on grills has come from demand since the pandemic.
“Folks are fixing up backyards and adding barbecues,” he said.
Since opening two months ago the store has been well received, he said.
“The response has been terrific,” Dowdell said.
Ace Hardware is a Co-op he explained. The store’s design is refined from a store built in Laurel in the early 2000s.
The Dowdell family owns stores in Butte, Anaconda, Livingston and Evergreen.
While they’re all under the Ace umbrella, they’re all different, he explained, uniquely catering to the community.
As time goes on, they’ll continue to adapt to Columbia Falls and the tourist economy here.
To be sure, the store has plenty of household items one would find in a hardware store, from Benjamin Moore Paints, garden and electrical supplies, nuts and bolts and tools, just to name a few items.
“Our bread and butter is the do-it-yourselfer,” Dowdell said.
Customer service is also key. Customers are greeted immediately at the door and offered help finding items.
What attracted them to Columbia Falls? Dowdell said they do best in communities of this size.
They also like the area.
“We love the outdoors,” he said. “This is where we vacation as a family.”
Even in a tough labor market, they said they’ve had success in finding quality employees.
“It’s a little bit of luck,” said Haley Dowdell, Matt’s daughter and business partner. “But it’s family. (Employees) want to be here.”
They also spoke to building a new store just a few hundred feet down the road from Hanson’s hardware. They noted something similar happened to them in Livingston, when a larger competitor built next to them in that community.
They survived and the competitive dynamic finds customers going from store to store, looking for items — they expect a similar dynamic here.
The store is open Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.