A familiar Grundy storefront will soon serve a different purpose, giving residents another place to shop for tools, hardware and home improvement supplies.
Food City announced Oct. 5 that it will convert the Super Dollar building at the mouth of Slate Creek into a Curt’s Ace Hardware store, with an opening planned for later this winter.
For Steve C. Smith, Food City’s president and chief executive officer, the change offers an opportunity to fill a local need while keeping a building with personal significance in use. He also said the company will retain the approximately 19 employees working at Super Dollar.
“I will say this, nobody in the store is going to lose their job,” Smith said in an interview. “Everybody’s going to have a place.”
Grundy Mayor Chris Mitchell welcomed the announcement.
“We in the town of Grundy are pleased to hear of these changes and that no job losses are expected. We appreciate the longstanding relationship with the Smith family,” Mitchell said.
Smith said the company had been looking for a location for an Ace Hardware store in the area for several months. At the same time, declining population and financial difficulties at Super Dollar prompted discussions about the building’s future.
“It’s gotten to a point where we weren’t making any money in the Super Dollar, and we thought we can really fill a need in the county better by putting an Ace Hardware in there,” Smith said.
Smith said a friend in the restoration business had repeatedly told him about the difficulty of finding materials needed to work on houses in the area.
The new store will carry hardware, lawn and garden products and other home improvement supplies. According to the company’s announcement, Curt’s Ace Hardware stores offer brands including Benjamin Moore, Weber, Recteq, Traeger, Big Green Egg, Stihl, EGO, Milwaukee and YETI.
“Sadly, locally owned hardware stores are becoming a thing of the past,” Smith said in the release. “Having served in the grocery industry for 40-plus years, I have seen firsthand how important a local well-run supermarket is to the community, and I think the same holds true for local hardware stores.”
The Grundy project will renovate the existing building rather than replace it. Smith said the structure was built in the 1950s, and an engineer’s assessment found that relatively little work was needed.
The building contains a little more than 20,000 square feet, most of which will be used for the hardware store.
For Smith, keeping the building occupied means more than finding another business use for the property. He recalled riding to school with his father and doing his homework there after school.
“That building has a lot of sentimental value to me,” Smith said.
“So, it’s not going to sit empty, and I’m glad we can fill a need that the county really needs. And more importantly, I’m also glad we can take care of our people.”
Smith said he spent about three hours meeting with Super Dollar employees following the announcement, listening to their concerns and explaining the company’s plans.
Employees will be offered positions at other company stores, with their preferences and distance from home considered. Some could also move into jobs at the new hardware store.
Smith estimated Curt’s Ace Hardware would employ about 12 to 16 people. The company will evaluate employees’ qualifications as it fills those positions.
“I’m excited. I’m really excited for this,” Smith said.
The Grundy store will join a growing group of Curt’s Ace Hardware locations in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Nearby locations include Lebanon, Abingdon and Bristol.
