Ace Home Center expands
<p>Ace Hardware employees Michelle Lamey and Aaron Smith take an inventory in the new section of the store formerly occupied by Hometown Variety.</p>
The expansion for Libby’s Ace Home Center is currently underway, although the store still has a long way to go before the expansion is complete.
The store’s employees have been setting up displays and arranging new items on the shelves for the past several weeks. Almost half of the new space is now filled with new items.
The expaned area still isn’t officially open for business, although customers have access to the new products and have been allowed to shop in that area.
"We’re working on it," said Tom Gilmore, store owner. "But we still have a couple of months to go."
Gilmore said the store broke ground a few months ago on their expansion, which will add roughly 9,000 square feet to the store.
Gilmore said they have started to punch out a wall, and have already installed a new garage door in one area, as well as new shelves.
Even though the expansion has started, it will take time to get the store rearranged completely.
Since they had already decided to expand, Gilmore said they are improving many of their sections to meet the growing demands of Libby and the surrounding area. The largest area set to expand will be the animal and pet-owner section, Gilmore said. The store will also add to its lawn and garden, auto, marine and appliance sections.
"We’ll be doing a lot of moving around," Gilmore said. "And it’s going to take a while to fill all the new shelves."
He said they will be slowly ordering new product over the next few months as the expansion continues. As of right now, there is no set expected finish date.
Ace Home Center decided to expand into the new space earlier this summerwhen Hometown Variety announced it would close.