STAR-BULLETIN / OCTOBER 2002
J.C. Penney Co. closed Hawaii stores, but Ace Hardware stores will handle the company's catalog business, including taking orders.
Shoppers at a dozen Ace Hardware stores in Hawaii can pick up a new pair of pants or a skirt while they're getting their paint or drain cleaner, under a deal between J.C. Penney Inc. and Ace Hardware Corp. that went into effect Monday. The Ace stores are now JCPenney catalog service centers. Ace Hardware links
with Penney catalogBy Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.comThey have the Penney catalogs on hand, including the new "JCPenney Spring and Summer Big Book." People can order from those and have the goods delivered to the local Ace store. They can also make payments on their JCPenney credit cards, buy JCPenney gift certificates and take advantage of other Penney's services.
When J.C. Penney Inc. closed its remaining Hawaii stores Jan. 10, ending a 36-year presence in the islands, the company said it hoped to keep a catalog business alive and was looking at a variety of local retailers to see if it could come to a working arrangement.
Yesterday, Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney and Oak Brook, Ill.-headquartered Ace Hardware announced they had made an arrangement for Hawaii and it is now in effect.
Already Hawaii customers can go to a participating Ace store and look at, or take home, the popular catalog and place orders.
"We're basically neighborhood hardware convenience stores," said Alan Zane, owner of Kaimuki Ace Hardware. "We're always looking for ways we can provide a service to our customers" and this one was an opportunity to fill a need, he said.
"What's the tie between hardware and Penney's clothing? We don't sell clothes. It's really just another service to our customers," he said.
The fit is more natural than some might think, said Larry Lanning, marketing director of Hardware Hawaii Ace. "We sell windows. We sell curtain rods. There's 150 pages of window treatments alone in the Penney's catalog," he said, furnishings the hardware store doesn't sell.
"It brings new customers to our store. The JCPenney customer mix is slightly different from our hardware customer mix," Lanning said.
The Ace Hardware Web site www.acehardware.com lists 28 stores in Hawaii, so nearly half of them are now JCPenney catalog centers.
The Oahu stores functioning that way are the Pioneer Ace shops in Waipahu and Wahiawa, Hardware Hawaii Ace in Kailua and Mapunapuna, and Kaimuki Ace Hardware.
On Maui, the catalogs are at Ace stores in Pukalani, Lahaina and Kihei. The Big Island has catalogs at Kona Ace and Hilo Ace. The others are Kauai Ace Hardware in Lihue and Atlas Building Supplies on Molokai, which is an Ace affiliate.
J.C. Penney Inc.
Ace Hardware Corp
