Port Royal’s new nationally known and locally owned hardware store has more than tools

A new Ace Hardware, one of the nation’s leading hardware brands, has opened in a Port Royal shopping center in need of “TLC” and it’s offering more than home improvement merchandise on its shelves.

Port Royal Mayor Joe DeVito believes the store will be a “catalyst” for additional change at the shopping center along Ribaut Road.

“The town is absolutely thrilled,” DeVito said, “to have Ace Hardware here in Port Royal.”

When the doors opened Monday, Labor Day, DeVito was among the first customers.

The Port Royal Ace Hardware joins the Piggly Wiggly, West Marine Supply Store, Frank’s Spirits and Wine and Roses Express in the Royal Oaks Shopping Center.

Oak Brook, Illinois-based Ace Hardware is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world with more than 5,600 locally owned and operated hardware stores in 70 countries.

The Port Royal store at 1347 Ribaut Road is owned by Gregg Brunson of Beaufort.

The main attraction of the Port Royal location, Brunson told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet, was its proximity to the population center of Beaufort and Port Royal.

“If you look at Beaufort and Port Royal from the aerial view, that’s the largest population center along that stretch,” Brunson said. “Plus, it was an under-served area from a hardware standpoint because people had to drive so far.”

The shopping center site, Brunson said, needed “a little TLC” but had big potential.

“And I knew the town of Port Royal would be supportive in making that shopping center look a lot better,” Brunson said. “It’s a more welcoming gateway to the town of Port Royal than what was currently there.”

Brunson and his business partner own Brunson Construction Co., an Ace Hardware in Hampton and now the Port Royal Ace Hardware.

To make way for the Port Royal Ace store, an old satellite bank building was torn down. A tanning salon and liquor store also needed to be moved.

The tanning salon relocated. And Brunson and his business partner purchased the liquor store, reopening a new store called Frank’s Spirits and Wine. The business partners also own a Frank’s Spirits and Wine on Boundary Street in Beaufort.

Ace Hardware stores are known for being independently owned and operated.

A 2015 story in Forbes magazine said the success of the Ace brand is built on entrepreneurs with knowledge of local markets, inventories geared toward a neighborhood’s demographic and superior customer service.

Brunson and his partner showed their knowledge of the Lowcountry in both the location they chose for the store and the merchandise they are selling.

Besides hardware, the Port Royal Ace Hardware is selling sporting goods including hunting and fishing merchandise.

“I had so much demand for it,” Brunson said of the sporting goods, “we decided to add it.”

Lowe’s Home Improvement in Beaufort is only a mile away. But Brunson knew the unusual geography of Beaufort and Port Royal, divided by water and marshland, actually made it a 10- to -15-minute drive.

“If you are a crow you can fly across the river,” Brunson said, “but if you’re in a car you need to drive all the way around.”

The Port Royal Ace Hardware is the third Ace in Beaufort County — the others are in Bluffton and Hilton Head Island — and employs 20 people.

Hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.