Food City Grows Its Hardware Stores With 10th Location

A year after joining the Ace Hardware family, Food City recently broke ground on its 10th Curt’s Ace Hardware location, on Cook Street in Abingdon, Va. 

“Much like our Food City stores, we are excited to continue to grow and expand our Curt’s Ace Hardware family of stores,” said Steven C. Smith, Food City president and CEO. “Sadly, locally owned hardware stores are becoming a thing of the past. Having served in the grocery industry for 40-plus years, I have seen firsthand how important a local well-run supermarket is to the community, and I think the same holds true for local hardware stores.”

The company currently operates Curt’s Ace Hardware locations in Prestonsburg, Ky.; Pigeon Forge, Newport, Erwin, Elizabethton, Gray and Piney Flats, Tenn.; and Bristol and Marion, Va., with other locations soon to follow. 

“We greatly appreciate the support of our loyal customers, and we want to leverage our Curt’s Ace Hardware brand to better serve the communities where we already do business,” said Smith. “Food City is the name you trust for your grocery needs; now we can help with your home and garden needs as well. Given our vast merchandising and marketing experience, our team has done an excellent job managing and operating these locations.” 

Ace Hardware is known for its wide variety of top-quality products, including Benjamin Moore paints, Big Green Egg, Trager and Weber barbecue accessories, as well as power tools, including both battery- and gas-powered Stihl and EGO power equipment, YETI products, hardware, lawn and garden, and other home improvement supplies.

Meanwhile, Food City will also open new supermarkets early next year. Planned locations include a 46,000-square-foot Food City store located at 116 Whitewater Drive in Ocoee, Tenn.; a 54,000-square foot supermarket at 1015 Gault Avenue S in Fort Payne, Ala.; and a 60,000-square-foot store at the intersection of Taylor Lane and Highway 431 in Huntsville, Ala. Five other Food City supermarkets are planned for the coming years in the Huntsville market. 

Food City’s parent company, Abingdon, Va.-based K-VA-T Food Stores, operates more than 150 retail outlets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, north Georgia and Alabama. K-VA-T is No. 70 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.