CK Supply becomes ACE Hardware Store
By John Earp
CK Supply is not a new business to Jal. Their recent affiliation with ACE Hardware has revolutionized and vastly expanded the hardware store, however. Last week, CK Supply/ACE Hardware held its grand opening, showcasing the greatly expanded selection of products over what the store had previously had. Drawings and a raffle were held at the grand opening. Brenda Herrera said that areas of the store which have greatly expanded in include plumbing, painting, tools, grills and dog supplies. The store’s hours are pretty much still the same for now, but Herrera says the hours may expand in the future depending on business. The newly expanded store is, “next level” compared to how it used to be, according to Herrera.
Manager Heath Acrey said he started the process for CK Supply to become an ACE Hardware store about a year ago. CK has moved all its oilfield supplies out to their oilfield supply store out on Highway 128 in order to make the original CK Supply almost exclusively a hardware store, with over 90% of its inventory being supplied by ACE Hardware. Acrey says that ACE is a coop, and the owners of CK Supply (Cody and Kristin Abel) became owners of ACE Hardware. “The idea was to get more merchandise, more material. The company we were using before had around 32,000 items we could choose from, 35,000 maybe max. With ACE, we’ve got up to 108,000 items. We’ve got all the top-line brand names, as well as a hundred years of experience with ACE. We got everything from ACE.” Acrey says he is trying to go strictly solely with ACE Hardware inventory, with 90% to 95% of their store being ACE products.
Acrey says, “We offer everything for a swimming pool, solutions, bleach, anything you’d need for a swimming pool, drip irrigation, lawn and garden. Basically, anything you’d find a Home Depot or Lowe’s on a smaller scale. We carry brand new faucets, sinks, PVC. PVC was a big deal. Now that we’ve got it categorized and labeled properly with price tags on it, it makes it a lot easier for the customers to find. All the plumbing that you’d need, if we don’t have it, we can get it. The biggest kicker with going with ACE Hardware, you can order it online and have it delivered here and picked up here in the store. Whatever is on ACE.com, I can get. Because we’re limited to 6000 square feet, I couldn’t carry it all, but I’ve got more merchandise in here than this store has ever seen.”
Acrey says CK/ACE Hardware is based on the prices carried on ACE dot com, which makes the prices the same as ACE Hardware stores nationwide. “They set up the structure with the hundred years of experience that ACE has, if you abide by that structure and follow their game plan, you’ll never fail. This will be generational wealth, as long as you stick within those guidelines. You really have to stick by the ACE playbook. We’re going to be real, real comparable to Home Depot or Lowe’s in Hobbs. We should be the same price as the ACE in Builder’s Supply Kermit, though they’re not a full-on ACE hardware; they’re about 60%, a partial ACE distributor.”
Acrey says they have hired a couple of people that are ACE-exclusive, with the training being provided through ACE. Acrey came on at CK Supply in June 2020, and used to be a contractor that bought a lot pipes and fittings from CK. CK Supply/Oilfield is on the west side of town out on Highway 128, with all the oilfield supplies that used to be sold at the South 3rd St location having been moved out to the Hwy 128 location. CK Supply also has an oilfield-exclusive store in Hobbs.
