Ace Hardware, the world’s largest hardware retail cooperative, plans to enter the home improvement market in Mexico.
Ace Hardware International Holdings Ltd., the company’s international division, will focus on franchise development in Mexico City, with a projected first store opening in mid-2021.
The company also recently signed a supply and logistics agreement with Monterrey, Mexico-based PIMSA Ferreteros to provide transportation, warehousing and distribution services for Ace International’s Mexico initiative. PIMSA will provide 60% of the product mix for Ace stores.
Mexico is the 11th-largest economy in the world based on gross domestic product and has a growing demand for home repair and improvement products, said Alejandro Lorenzo, Ace Hardware’s vice president of international business development.
“We want to continue to develop a network of successful, locally owned and operated Ace Hardware stores that focus on serving Mexican families with locally sourced products,” Lorenzo said in a release.
Founded in 1924, Oakbrook, Illinois-based Ace Hardware is the largest hardware franchise in the world with more than 5,300 hardware stores in 70 countries. Ace Hardware has 4,600 stores across the United States.
Ace Hardware also operates 14 retail support centers and eight freight redistribution facilities in the U.S., including distribution centers in Dallas and Laredo, Texas. The company operates a fleet of 500 tractors and 1,400 trailers.
Ace Hardware works with 4,200 suppliers, including companies either from/or with factories in China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Mexico.
Ace Hardware joins The Home Depot and Walmart as U.S. retail companies betting big on Mexico’s home improvement market.
The Home Depot’s (NYSE: HD) Mexican unit is investing $122.8 million in the country to open four new stores and two new logistics facilities by the end of 2020, the company announced in March.
The Home Depot currently has 125 stores, two distribution centers and 16,000 employees across Mexico.
Walmart Inc. is Mexico’s largest retailer. Walmart de Mexico, or Walmex (BMV: WALMEX.MX), runs 2,580 stores in Mexico, the largest number of stores outside the United States. Walmex has opened nine new stores in the first two quarters of 2020.
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