Retail · registry year 2024 · HQ IL
Ace Hardware Franchise
A Ace Hardware Corp brand operating in the retail sector, franchising since 1976. According to the 2024 FDD filing for Ace Hardware, this is an editorial comparison record; it does not reproduce the brand's current FDD.
- $650K – $1.8M
- Initial investment · Higher entry cost
- 5,800
- Total locations · Large network
- $2.7M
- Avg unit revenue · Above-average unit revenue
FDD outlay schedule
Registry ace-hardware Ace Hardware
Ace Hardware needs $650K–$1.8M to open - an entry cost above the typical retail franchise.
- LO $650K
- HI $1.8M
- FEE $5K
- UNT 5,800
- I19 Disclosed
- INV# #47/223
- UNT# #22/223
Same-sector Item 7 peers
Nearest Item 7 peer: MY SALON Suite ($553K)
Same-sector Item 7 neighbourhood for Ace Hardware (registry year 2024). Listed lows only - not a profit, cost-of-living, or suitability claim. Verify the current FDD before relying on these figures. How we place brands →
Franchise Opportunity Health Score
How healthy and transparent Ace Hardware's franchise system looks, from 2 of 2 tracked dimensions.
- Network momentum 0.9% net unit growth (YoY) 30/100 · F
- Financial disclosure Item 19 disclosed 100/100 · A
Benchmarked against the 223-brand tracked corpus (p10-p90 range per dimension); a higher score means a growing unit count and a disclosed Item 19. See how we place brands.
Where Ace Hardware's investment ranks nationally
Ace Hardware's listed Item 7 low of $650K against every one of the 218 tracked franchise brands with a disclosed initial investment. Listed figures only, verify in the current FDD before relying on them.
Ace Hardware vs all tracked franchise brands by listed investment
Initial investment low (FDD Item 7), PlainFranchise brand corpus
$650,000 Higher than most higher than 78% of 218 franchise brands
Franchise brands, banded by listed Item 7 low
Each bar is a $0.001K-wide band; taller bars hold more franchise brands. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainFranchise editorial comparison registry · 2024-12-31
Investment Overview
- Franchise Fee
- $5K
Revenue Data (Item 19)
- Average Revenue
- $2.7M
- gross revenue per location
* Revenue figures are gross revenue (sales), not profit. This registry does not report operating costs or profit.
Network Size & Growth
Net Growth Rate
Year-over-year unit change
100 locations closed in the last reporting year
Quick Facts
- Sector
- Retail
- Subsector
- hardware
- Founded
- 1924
- Franchising Since
- 1976
- Headquarters
- IL
- FDD Year
- 2024
- Item 19
- Disclosed
Important Notice · Ace Hardware
This Ace Hardware page is a registry comparison record, not a verified FDD extract. It does not establish suitability, operating costs, profitability, or expected results for Ace Hardware.
Large-network capital outlay for Ace Hardware
Signature read: 5,800 locations · Item 7 low $650K
Ace Hardware, a Ace Hardware Corp franchise, has been franchising since 1976 - 52 years after the concept was founded in 1924 , currently with 5,800 total locations (5,800 franchised, 0 company-owned; 100% of the recorded total is franchised) in the retail sector, headquartered in IL. The registry records a total initial investment between $650K and $1.8M, using the registry's listed low and high fields. A franchise-fee field of $5K is recorded separately, while the registry summary does not reproduce the full Item 7 schedule.
This registry summary does not carry royalty or ad-fund figures for this brand. Ace Hardware has an Item 19 financial-performance field in this registry, a voluntary disclosure under the FTC Franchise Rule. The reported average gross revenue per location is $2.7M. This reported revenue field is not a profitability measure; operating costs are outside this registry.
Network momentum is currently positive: Ace Hardware added units at a 0.9% net rate year-over-year (150 openings, 100 closures). The registry records both the reported percentage and the count of openings and closures when those fields are available.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Ace Hardware franchise cost?
How many Ace Hardware locations are there?
What are the ongoing fees for a Ace Hardware franchise?
Related reading for Ace Hardware: Understanding FDDs , Ace Hardware lists Item 19 revenue here, how Item 19 fits the 23-item FDD.
Snapshot uses the registry's listed Item 7 initial-investment low and Item 20 location-count fields. It is a descriptive comparison, not a ranking or investment recommendation.
How Ace Hardware's Item 7 and Item 19 fields are labeled (expand)
Nationwide brands with similar investment or network size
Two data-derived peer sets for Ace Hardware , both outside HQ state IL : nearest Item 7 lows and nearest total-location counts, not the same-sector roster below.
Similar listed investment
Nearest Item 7 lows ($650K here).
Similar network size
Nearest total location counts (5,800 here).
What to do with this
Ace Hardware at a glance, drawn from the same figures above.
- Ace Hardware scores 65/100 (D) on our composite opportunity read, combining net unit growth and Item 19 financial-disclosure transparency.
- Its $650K – $1.8M entry cost runs above the typical retail franchise.
- Ranks #47 of 223 listed franchises by initial investment. See rankings
- MY SALON Suite sits at a comparable investment level ($553K) in the same sector. Compare
Editorial comparison registry, not a source-linked FDD record. Verify the current FDD before relying on any figure.
Read our methodology - what this registry can and cannot establish.
Source: PlainFranchise editorial registry Record-level FDD source link and retrieval date pending
| Publisher | PlainFranchise |
| Sources | Public state franchise disclosure registries and FDD filings |