The Mile High City welcomed Ace Hardware's 2011 Denver Fall Convention & Exhibits, Oct. 15 to 17. The event brought 12,332 attendees and 2,564 booths to the show floor at the Colorado Convention Center.
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Ace Hardware dealers file into the Wells Fargo Theatre at the Colorado Convention Center for the General Session. Ace executives promoted a "Play to Win" theme, including a list of top 10 marketing and merchandising strategies for success.
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John Surane, senior VP consumer marketing, merchandising and paint for Ace Hardware, helped describe the top 10 plays for dealers. Among them: Clark + Kensington paint, the new Ace Rewards Visa, and Craftsman tools and outdoor power equipment.
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On the show floor, retailers posed with the co-op's five J.D. Power & Associates awards for highest customer satisfaction in the major home improvement retail store category. Shown here is Don Mason of Naylor's Hardware in Oakland, Md.
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Artist Eric Waugh fills his canvas with Clark + Kensington paint, Ace's new paint-and-primer-in-one product. The paint was a big story at the event. Some 1,500 dealers have signed up for the program.
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Ace merchants pointed to the emerging category of decorative lighting and lighted fountains. A "Garden after dark" display presented the latest products in simulated nighttime conditions.
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Ace Hardware chairman David Ziegler welcomed dealers to Denver. One of his slides focused on the 20th anniversary of the Ace Foundation, which has raised more than $46 million for charity.
