On Feb. 14, ownership of the Ace Hardware business in the old City Market shopping center in Carbondale passed from longtime owners Vicki Peterson and her husband, Chris, to Telluride-based Tom and Jenn Mortell. The process was not only a real estate transaction, it also represented a succession of ownership between two families who have long been friends.
In a recent conversation with The Sopris Sun, Tom Mortell described his family’s long association with the hardware-store business, which started decades ago in Kankakee, Illinois. In 1985 the family sold their store there, bought the Timberline Ace Hardware in Telluride and moved there. He was 16 and said, “I’ve been involved with the store ever since then.” In 2011 he bought out his parents and in 2015 acquired a second Ace store in nearby Norwood.
Vicki Peterson’s family also has a long history with Ace. Her father opened a store in Aspen (now below Clark’s Market) in the early 1970s and, later, added others in Parachute (on Battlement Mesa), Clifton (near Grand Junction) and Grand Junction — in addition to the Carbondale location. All five were part of the sale to the Mortells, although he noted that the Grand Junction store had to be closed.
Mortell described the relationship between his family and the Petersons by first mentioning the Ace business model, in which most of the stores are independently owned, often by local families. He continued, “Ace is a co-op model that doesn’t dictate as much [to individual owners] as a franchise might.”
This meant that store owners frequently interacted with each other at Ace functions and other settings, and it was inevitable that the two families would meet and get to know each other. Soon Mortell’s parents and Vicki were close friends.
When the time came for the Petersons to sell their stores, Mortell said that Vicki “wanted to keep [them] in her circle of Ace friends.” The Mortells, obvious contenders, were helped in the negotiations by their two sons. Both are attending Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS), and, Mortell said, are “very interested in the business.” He described how their elder son, a CRMS senior, explained his “vision” to her of how he and his brother saw themselves as “succession heirs” to their parents in running the stores. That helped seal the deal.
Now that they have possession of the four businesses, Mortell acknowledged that there was much to do. A main issue was inventory, which he said was “slowly getting back up in stock,” noting that they had already added some $150,000 in new inventory to the Carbondale location. He continued, “We are taking them one at a time” — with the Carbondale store being the last one — to do “a complete refresh” of each before “shouting from the mountaintop” about the new ownership. Part of that “refresh” will include rebranding each of the four stores as Timberline Ace Hardware. They are staying in Telluride but have rented a condo in Glenwood Springs for several months while the renewal work is underway.
One lingering question with the Carbondale store is the situation with the old City Market building (see the Feb. 5 Sun article). SRS Real Estate Partners, which owns and manages the entire old City Market shopping center, had approached the Petersons and then the Mortells about moving the hardware store into half of the empty space. That would more than double the size of the existing store.
During the interview for that story (before acquiring the Carbondale Ace) Mortell expressed interest in the proposal but was uncommitted. He remained so in our recent conversation, though still “open to exploring the possibility.” He continued, “They would like us to move” into the space, “but I asked that we just get the lease assignments done,” which he hopes will happen by the end of March.
Asked about potential competition from the Harbor Freight store going into the old Safeway building in Glenwood Springs, Mortell replied that it is “a competitor but not a direct competitor.” He touted the attraction of a local store that earns loyalty with “great customer service” and his desire to “do a good job for the community,” beginning with all the upgrades.