It's been all about timing for Montana Ace owners
By BILL SCHWANKE of Missoula.com
It's been 14 years since Stew and Meg Weis bought the Missoula Ace Hardware store from longtime owners the Mahlum family.
To hear the Weises talk now, it still seems like yesterday.
Both had Ace Hardware in their family blood, Meg from her earlier years in St. Louis where her dad owned seven stores and Stew, first in partnership with his father in Chicago suburb Palatine, Ill., and then with Meg after the two were married in 1988.
The Palatine store was similar in size to the one in Missoula - about 25,000 square feet - and was doing well enough that Stew figured he always would be at that store. But four events completely out of their control influenced the decision to consider selling the property in the late 80s and early 90s.
One, competition arrived from the big box stores, with two locating within one mile on either side of their store; two, the country went into a recession; three, the Illinois Department of Transportation embarked on a two-year renovation of the highway in front of their store; and four, real estate taxes rose dramatically to virtually equal the rent they pay at the Tremper Shopping Center in Missoula.
"All of a sudden we found ourselves on the other side of success," Stew said. "We needed to do an extraordinary volume to break even. All of a sudden we weren't making it."
Stew's father wanted to sell the store almost immediately but Stew, "being only slightly more naïve than I am today," thought they could make it work.
"We kept planning, executing, failing," Stew noted, "and my dad finally convinced me to at least look into selling."
Enter the national Ace Hardware real estate department - at that time basically a one-man operation. The man was surprised they were trying to sell because the Palatine store had been so successful for so long.
"This sort of reminds me of another store that I'm trying to sell," the man told the Weises. "I've been trying to sell this store for about a year and I can't sell it. I think it has to do with where it's located."
Where it was located was Missoula.
"Fourteen years ago if you told somebody probably anywhere east of the Mississippi that you had a business opportunity in Missoula, Mont., more likely than not they would say, 'who the heck would want to live in Montana?'" Stew remarked, adding that things certainly have changed since then.
"We do," Meg chimed in.
The draw for Stew in particular was skiing; he had dreamed for some time about relocating to the mountains. Neither had ever been to Montana. Meg was just ready to get out of the Midwest and enjoy being outdoors more than she had been able to before.
"All I knew was that Missoula . . . had to be a lot closer to the mountains than Chicago was," Stew laughed.
Both Stew and Meg were excited about the possibilities but tried to restrain their enthusiasm in case there was a letdown. Two weeks later - in March 1993 - they were in Missoula to meet with Dale, Sue, Tom and Brenda Mahlum.
"We definitely hit it off," Stew said of that meeting. "Meg and I very quickly said, 'we could live here.'"
The big hurdle appeared to be selling a store that was losing money. But as luck would have it - less than 24 hours after the store went on the market - the owners of an Ace store in an adjacent community saw it as an opportunity.
The deal in Palatine closed June 30, 1993, opening the door for the Weises to purchase the Missoula store. By August Stew and Meg were in Missoula and, on Sept. 1, closed the deal with the Mahlums and "got to work."
"When we headed to Missoula it was so much fun in Stew's little red Corvette," Meg recalled. "We (were) just coming here to enjoy the mountain life, and we have."
Stew considers himself very fortunate that his wife was so willing to come along for the ride. But he said that's how their relationship has always been.
"Except for ski season . . . we're together 24 hours a day and really can't get enough of each other," Stew, also an avid jogger, said.
At the time they arrived in Missoula Stew and Meg had no thoughts about owning more than one store. Their immediate challenge, given the fact that they had purchased a very good store, was to try to improve on what already was here.
Early and often they were reminded by customers that they were trying to fill some big shoes.
But beyond that the Weises found the reception in Missoula to be "extraordinary." They've been told by some that they could write a book about how to move successfully from the big city to a small town.
They actually were envious of the people who already lived in this area and asked for their help.
"Teach us the Montana way of doing things," the Weises said to customers and employees alike.
Probably because of that approach virtually all of the employees at the store remained despite whatever apprehensions they might have had.
"They just loved that so much and Stew and I were enthusiastic about our move here," Meg explained. "We were excited and happy and upbeat, and that kind of spread around the whole store and got everybody feeling almost as good as we do.
"Then our customers come in and they see a happy place," she added.
The other thing the Weises did was take baby steps in any changes they made to the store.
In 1996, after speaking about their move to Missoula during a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Missoula, the Weises were approached by accountant Jim Galipeau, at that time representing Maynard and Bonnie Wexler - owners of the Eastgate Trustworthy Hardware Store on East Broadway - who were watching their business struggle.
"We were realizing some pretty significant success and growth every year," Stew recalled, "and with only this one store we quickly got to the point where we were bursting at the seams, and we needed to do something."
A bigger slice of heaven than they expected: was what Meg, left, and Stew Weis found when they bought the Ace Hardware store in Missoula 14 years ago. BILL SCHWANKE/Missoula.com
Coincidentally they had hired a consultant to help them decide what to do. The Ernst Hardware store by Southgate Mall had gone out of business. The consultant said their options were to stay single store and go bigger in the Ernst location or go multistore with - by coincidence - the Eastgate store as a possible viable site.
The Weises bought the Eastgate store in 1998 not even knowing if they would have an opportunity to expand its size. In reality they said they had their hands full just jumping into the multistore situation for the first time.
Then, two years later, the Weises bought existing Ace stores in Ronan and Polson as a package deal. It was three years ago that they added a store in Kalispell, bringing their total to five.
"Right now there is no plan for a No. 6 or beyond," Stew said, "but if the right opportunity presents itself I'm sure we would give it a real hard look."
The motivation for expansion, Stew said, actually was their employees.
"I think that we have some people - especially in the management level - that are making comfortable incomes and doing pretty well," he explained. "And knowing that there's an opportunity maybe to have their own store down the road is part of what motivates them."
Another key has been hiring the right people to run the additional stores.
"I'm almost embarrassed to tell you how many months can go by without us being up in Kalispell or Ronan or Polson," Stew said. "But it doesn't worry me at all. I have total confidence and trust in our people."
Meg said communication lines among the stores are solid.
"Our communications with them are always daily with e-mail and phone calls and different things," she said, "so it's not like we're totally (ignoring them)."
Customer service is a big push from the Ace Hardware corporate office but it doesn't always happen. The Weises have concentrated hard on it in their five stores.
"Unfortunately, today, those stores that are really able to truly execute the service commitment as Ace preaches it are the minority rather than the majority," Stew explained. "But Ace is doing better all the time in coming up with programs to assist the retailers."
One thing the Weises anticipated was that the big box stores would come to Missoula. Their hope was that they would not locate near their store.
Their sales did suffer initially, something they said was inevitable when Home Depot and Lowes come on the scene. But the long-term effects, Stew said, really were related to how many hardware players there were in town.
Boyce Lumber and Quality Supply are respected competitors, but Stew said they really target different clientele than Ace does, with Boyce leaning more to contractors and Quality Supply more to ranchers and farmers.
"We target the consumer, so it's a very peaceful coexistence," Stew said.
The Weises were doing a high enough volume that the influx of the two larger stores never put them into red ink even though their initial losses were at about 20 percent.
"Once we lapped that one-year anniversary (of Home Depot) the second year we had a small increase, the third year another increase," Stew said. "I think that after year No. 4 we actually passed our pre-Home Depot numbers."
After Lowes opened there was no decrease for Montana Ace although things remained flat for about a year, something the Weises said was "pretty typical" with a second big store opening.
One thing Stew and Meg are known for is their offbeat commercials. The two never advertised in the Chicago area because it wasn't cost effective. When they began advertising in Missoula they wanted their commercials to be different enough to attract listener and viewer attention.
They give their advertising representatives total credit for coming up with the ideas.
"The radio and TV people were on us like flies on you-know-what," Stew joked. "In all seriousness I'm very grateful for the . . . sales people that we have because that's where the creative genius comes in."
Meg said it's become a fun part of the job, dressing up in silly costumes and saying and doing silly things.
"Sometimes when I look at my script I say, 'I have to say this?'" she noted. "I do it, and it is fun, and everybody likes to laugh, and if anybody's not able to laugh at me, I don't know."
They know the ads are working because they get a lot of positive feedback on the street.
Stew said the two disagree about things, but not very often. And that includes both their professional and private lives.
"If I could package what we have as a married couple," Stew said, "I'd give it away because what a wonderful place this world would be. I really feel like the luckiest guy that ever lived."
There was no argument from Meg.
"We are the best team," she boasted. "We work well together, and why not stay focused on the positive and the good that we have and keep it going forever?"
As for living in Missoula for 14 years based on their preconceived notions, Stew recalled reading a newspaper story soon after their arrival about some vandalism at the Rattlesnake Trailhead. It devastated him.
"I thought I was coming to a place where crime didn't exist," he said. "I (also) thought we were saying goodbye to good food forever, and I was delighted to find out there's good eating in this town."
Stew said they look at each other often and say, "'I can't believe we live here.' I truly feel privileged and blessed and I don't think we'll ever take it for granted."
"Small town life is absolutely just the best," Meg added. "It's so wonderful to be able to run into so many people you know."
Click here to listen to the entire interview with Meg and Stew Weis
