<i>Living Jackson</i> Magazine : McDonald's Ace Hardware

McDonald Ace Hardware

A landmark and gathering place in Jackson County

By Kelli Teresa O'Clare

In every community, there is a gathering place where men come to talk about projects, discuss business and argue politics. In Commerce that place is McDonald Ace Hardware.

Serving a rapidly growing county, the staff at McDonald Ace Hardware in downtown Commerce know the quality that is the true key to success: caring customer service. Friendly people, helpful staff and owners who care about the community are also keys to the success of this business.

Any business day at 7:30 a.m., you’ll find the people who build gathered around for talk and coffee. By 8 a.m. or so, the trucks are leaving for another day on the job.

“We simply try to treat our customers the way we would like to be treated,” said co-owner and operator Keith Ariail of the business philosophy that seems to have worked solidly for a little more than 50 years now.

A tradition of talking politics with politicians at McDonald Ace started with owner Lauren McDonald Sr., who served on the Commerce City Council and continued with his son Bubba, who served on the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. Today, customers can talk with State Rep. Tommy Benton, who even has the store’s number on his business card.

Commerce Mayor Charles “Buzzy” Hardy said that McDonald Hardware is one of the most community-oriented businesses in the Commerce area and has been for as long as he can remember.

In 1954, Lauren McDonald Sr. left a hardware store to establish his own hardware store, vowing to provide quality products and a full range of services.

His dream grew into what is today a hardware store that provides construction materials, plumbing necessities, electrical supplies, paint materials and other necessities for the professional or the do-it-yourselfer. The first store was in what is now The Commerce News office on the main street in Commerce.

Lauren McDonald Jr., best known as Bubba, said the store was 25 by 60 feet until they moved “back street” to the present location on Central Avenue. Over the years, the McDonalds kept adding land or lots so they could store their expanding inventory.
Bubba said he was his father’s only employee the first summer the business started. They added employees when Bubba had to go back to high school.

From the first, the idea of community service was strong. The elder McDonald was on the city council for many years. Bubba was elected to what is now the Jackson County Board of Commissioners in 1968 and was a state representative from 1970 until 1990.
“The word got around that I was always in the store on Saturdays, so it was not unusual to find a state department head or the chancellor of the University System in the store waiting to talk to me,” McDonald said.

People come in today to talk to another leader. Tommy Benton is the state representative for District 31, which covers much of Jackson County. Constituents come looking for him with problems, he said. That’s okay. That’s why he put the store’s number on his business card.

Longevity is also a feature at the hardware store. Benton has been there 32 years. Tommy Gentry has been there 26 years and Barry Campbell has been there 24. Eric Sailers has been there “only” 16 years. They came with the store.
In August 1998, the younger McDonald sold the hardware to its current owners, Ariail and Jerry McCannon, who took on the business with every intention of continuing the McDonalds’ legacy.

Office Manager Stephanie Martin said it simply: “The customer always comes first. We always try to be available for everyone who comes in, ready and willing to help.”

“It’s amazing,” says a new resident of Commerce who recently visited the store for the first time. “Whenever I walk in it’s always ‘Is there anything I can help you find?’ Everyone is just so willing to help.”

To the McDonald team, community pride and public support are also issues foremost in their minds, Ariail said.
“We try to always say ‘yes’ to churches, to schools and nonprofits,” Ariail said. “I’d like to see us be successful together rather than struggle separately.”

Recently, talk among the folks gathered in the store was about discussions by the Commerce City Council on offering wireless broadband Internet.

Ariail said this wireless capacity may be the key to making small businesses such as theirs more competitive with the larger chains that are moving in. High-speed Internet would allow the store to keep its inventory online so customers can see if something is in stock and place orders they can pick up later.

“Technology is something that is fairly new to us but will give us a new window of opportunity to reach computer-oriented customers,” Ariail said.

No matter how high-tech the store and its customers become, Ariail said, in the end the hardware staff welcomes every customer.

Kelli O’Clare, a senior majoring in journalism at UGA, is the circulation assistant at the Jefferson Library.