Ace Hardware Opens First Suburban Store 'Toegyewon Branch'

First Attempt to Transition from Urban-Type to Suburban-Type Store

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] EHC, a subsidiary of Eugene Group (CEO Yoo Soon-tae), announced on the 16th that it has opened the 5th branch of the interior and building materials specialty store 'Ace Hardware' in Toegyewon, Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do.

The Toegyewon branch, the first suburban store, is a single-story store with a site area of 3,876.4m² and a store area of 1,383.6m², with a parking lot of about 50 spaces in front of the first floor. Located near Toegyewon IC, it offers convenient accessibility and services to customers in Seoul and the metropolitan area. In particular, it is expected that many customers will visit to purchase interior materials needed for country houses in the metropolitan areas such as nearby Yangpyeong and Gapyeong, including weekend farms.

Ace Hardware Toegyewon branch has about 40,000 products in more than 10 categories including interior and building materials, tools, paint, and hardware. It is characterized by arranging categories according to each field such as construction, equipment, and processes. The overall layout flow was also designed for customer convenience, dividing the space into areas focused on interior·building materials, tools, paint, and construction·equipment, and areas focused on interior process·sub-materials such as bathroom·kitchen materials, cleaning supplies, and repair supplies.

Combining the logistics function of building materials with the role of existing stores, it strengthened expertise to satisfy corporate and individual business customers, and equipped the store with a system capable of storing large quantities of products to suit the characteristics of consuming large volumes in a short period. Recently, with increased interest in indoor hygiene due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), a separate cleaning zone was operated by gathering hygiene and cleaning supplies, and considering the regional characteristics with many orchards nearby, the product lineup related to horticulture and agricultural materials was also strengthened. For general customers, considering that professional installation and construction are required for partial bathroom construction, entrance doors, insect screens, flooring, and indoor painting, single-item construction linked products were also added.

Additionally, for customer convenience, various services and facilities were prepared such as early morning operations starting from 6:30 AM, wood cutting service, tool after-service (AS), and free delivery of building materials. An EHC official said, "The Ace Hardware Toegyewon branch is the first attempt to switch from an existing urban-type store to a suburban store," adding, "We plan to provide various customized services to enhance purchasing convenience for both general and business customers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.