Ace Hardware

Partnership with SKKR

SKKR & Associates has maintained a trusted and long-standing partnership with Ace Hardware since 1962.

What began as a premier relationship representing Weber Grills has grown into a broad and influential alliance that spans numerous categories, including Outdoor Living, Outdoor Power, Lawn and Garden, Cleaning, Heating/Cooling/Air Purification, Housewares, Hardware, and more.

Over the decades, SKKR has played a key role in driving category growth for Ace by supporting a diverse portfolio of leading brands. Our current vendor partners include Weber, FOGO Premium Charcoal, Truff, B&G Foods/Weber Seasonings, Livia’s, Crown Shade, Bryson, Vornado, HY-C, Wilt-Pruf, AL-NEW, Bright Air, Trendspot Pottery, Giraffe Tools, Merotech, Klein Toys, and Mr. Canary. We have also proudly supported past partners such as Husqvarna, Agio Patio, Jack-Post Outdoor and Christmas, Duraflame, Weiman, Coleman, Sterno, Gatorade, EZ-Smart, and many others, each contributing to Ace’s expanding domestic and global offering.

Whether working with established national brands or emerging innovators, SKKR partners closely with Ace Hardware Corporate to drive product and brand adoption through discovery assortments and planograms, national events, AceHardware.com, and integrated marketing campaigns. Backed by a dedicated field team covering 37 states, we provide hands-on support to Ace retailers, ensuring that the programs and brands we champion, both corporately and locally, are executed successfully at the store level. This unified approach strengthens retailer performance, deepens brand engagement, and continues to fuel Ace Hardware’s overall growth.

To promote and grow our vendor partners within Ace Hardware, SKKR & Associates actively participates in a wide range of corporate and field events throughout the year. We attend both the Spring and Fall national Ace conventions annually, where we showcase our vendors and product offerings directly to Ace store owners, managers, associates, and key decision-makers. These conventions allow us to work one-on-one with retailers to identify the best assortments for their stores and the unique needs of their communities. Beyond national events, SKKR also takes part in numerous regional Ace Retailer Group meetings and BBQ Expert training seminars, where we train and equip local store associates, managers, and team members with deep product knowledge to help them confidently and successfully sell our brands. While we collaborate closely with Ace Corporate to develop strong assortments and planograms, our field team ensures these programs are executed effectively at the store level, bridging the gap between corporate strategy and in-store success.

Since partnering with Ace Hardware in 1962, SKKR & Associates has celebrated numerous success stories that highlight the strength of our collaboration. Our most notable achievement is helping establish Ace Hardware as a premier destination for Weber products, consistently ranking among Weber’s top retailers nationwide. More recently, we have successfully grown FOGO Charcoal, a family-owned company from El Salvador, from a small online startup into a widely recognized brand featured in all four of Ace’s Discovery Assortment planograms, generating an estimated $4 million in retail sales within just five years. In addition to sales growth, we have helped create memorable holiday experiences for Ace customers through FOGO’s popular “Santa’s Bag of Coal” White Elephant and Charcoal Enthusiast gift event, held for the past three years in Ace’s Thanksgrilling (November) and wrap it in Red (December) events to bring extra excitement to the grilling category during the holiday season.

Beyond FOGO, several other vendor lines represented by SKKR have achieved impressive double-digit growth across multiple assortments, including Bryson’s CitruSafe Grill Cleaners, B&G Foods/Weber Seasonings, Truff Sauces, and Vornado.  These successes are driven by the strong, personalized partnerships we maintain with both Ace Hardware Corporate and local Ace retailers, ensuring that each brand receives the focused support needed to thrive in stores and deliver ongoing value to Ace customers.