Ace, Target Add Stores As Consumers Keep Supporting Physical Retail

2024.07.18

Although e-commerce gets a lot of attention, particularly now as brick-and-mortar-based retailers leverage the online part of their businesses to compete with Amazon and its Prime Day summer promotion, many major retailers remain committed to significant and long-term store growth.

In its 100th anniversary year, Ace Hardware introduced its 100th new store and debuted its 5,000th store in the United States. Under its growth plans, Ace plans to open more than 200 new stores by year’s end.

In the first six months of 2024, the hardware cooperative activated 111 new stores, which broke an Ace record. The 100th new Ace opened this year and operates in Henderson, NV, while the 5,000th welcomes shoppers in Roswell, GA.

Then there’s Target, which is opening three new stores during July, with one each in Lomita, CA, St. Louis, MO and Doylestown, PA. The trio is part of the company’s plan to add more than 300 new physical stores over the decade ahead, bringing not only its brick-and-mortar shopping to more communities but also its same-day services, including drive-up, order pickup, and same-day delivery.

Of course, Ace and Target aren’t alone, as dollar stores and off-price retailers continue to add physical store locations as well. The store growth initiatives occur in a marketplace where consumers not only continue to visit brick-and-mortar stores but are doing so more often in many cases.

In its Q2 2024 Retail & Restaurant Review, Placer.ai examined several marketplace channels and saw continuing gains at deeper discounters and superstores. Second-quarter store visits to the Discount & Dollar Store segment, as defined by the market research firm, increased by 11.2% year over year. Both Dollar Tree and Dollar General managed monthly visit gains above 10% for May and June.

When it comes to Superstores, visits increased by 4.6% in the second quarter year over year. Costco led the field up 12% from the 2023 second quarter, with Sam’s up 7.5%, BJ’s up 7.4%, Target up 4.6% and Walmart up 4%.

The Home Improvement & Furnishing Chains segment has been up and down weekly since April, with the traffic-positive weeks coming in at higher numbers than the traffic-negative weeks. In the second quarter, the segment gained 1.1% year over year. Harbor Freight led with visits up 12.8%, followed by Ace Hardware up 5.4%, Menards up 4.4%, Home Depot up 1.1% and Lowes up 0.6%, according to Placer.ai.