Tea Ace Hardware honored as 2024 Small Business of the Year
The Tea Chamber for Development has honored Tea Ace Hardware with the 2024 Small Business of the Year Award.
Since opening their doors in 2005, Ace Hardware has lived up to their motto “Nationally Known, Locally Owned.”
“The Tea Ace Hardware is part of a six-store operation including Tea, Lennox, Hartford, Harrisburg, Dell Rapids and Brandon, the ownership is made up of the managers and corporate members of the company,” said Tea Ace Hardware Managing Partner, Jason Melcher.
Melcher has been with the company for 20 years.
“I started in 2005 as the manager of the Tea location as my family and I lived in Tea until 2011 when we purchased the Brandon location. During our expansion project in Tea, I was able to reconnect with so many great customers from my time at the store,” he said.
Choosing Tea Ace Hardware means supporting a locally owned business and Melcher and his team take pride in their customers choosing them over other retailers.
“We are local, convenient, and we pride ourselves on over the top customer service. People enjoy doing business with people who they know and trust and are all about building relationships and helping customers with their needs,” Melcher said.
His relationship with his customers is what makes the Tea Ace Hardware a place customers want to return to and Alex Baran the store manager and owner represented the business for the Chamber award.
“Alex sent me a picture of him and the award, I was very excited for Alex and his team at the store. We pride ourselves on trying to be a positive part of the community and I think this recognition reflects that,” he said.
Giving back to the community is an important part of the job to Melcher.
“We get an opportunity to give back to our communities by sponsoring the local school or giving donations to groups for their events, and we also work with Children’s Miracle Network and Sanford Children’s Hospital and it’s so cool to see the impact on local families in their time of need,” Melcher said.
Partnering with the public both in the store and through public service is important to the team.
“We take a lot of pride in being a positive influence on the communities we have stores in. We love supporting the Titans and we partner with the City and Chamber throughout the year,” Melcher said.
Having a positive attitude on public service is what makes Melcher feel like the company is part of the town it serves.
“Alex and his team at the store work tirelessly to provide the community with the best customer service possible and it is awesome to give them this recognition,” he continued.
Melcher encourages everyone to support Alex and his team as they are highly motivated to continue their journey of over the top customer service skills.
“My favorite part of my job is helping solve problems as every person that comes into our stores has a problem and it is satisfying to help solve something over a five cent nut that finishes a project to an outdoor power equipment for a first time home owner,” he said.
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