Solano Sun

Pedrotti Ace Hardware in Benicia, California, is celebrating 100 years of service to its local community. 

Pedrotti Hardware originally opened in 1922 in the town of Crockett with a store that was only 500 square feet. Gene Pedrotti is the third generation to run the family owned company, joining Ace in 1981. He has strong ties to the town of Crockett, and started the Crockett Chamber of Commerce, serving as it first president. The store had been carrying on for 70 years, but commerce in Crockett wasn't booming, and Pedrotti made the decision to relocate the store in 1992 from his hometown to an existing Ace store 10 miles away at 830 Southampton Road in Benicia. 

"We survived wars, depressions and recessions, the splitting of the atom and landing on the moon," Pedrotti told Solano Sun. "But, ultimately, we had no choice but to look elsewhere."

The move was a positive one for the company, as five years later Pedrotti Ace Hardware was awarded the Ace Hardware President’s Cup as the Best Ace in the United States.

"I had taken a two-man operation in its waning years, thus sparing it from extinction, to become the most premier Ace store in the country and now here we are at our centennial. Yeah, it’s been a great ride and worth the pain," Pedrotti said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many businesses nationwide, and not only did Pedrotti Ace Hardware survive, but it has been thriving, showing the resiliency of hardware stores and their ties to the community. 

"It was wicked crazy," Pedrotti said. "Lines out the front door, everyone anxious about infections but in desperate need of things. First, essentials such as masks, toilet paper and soaps disappeared. And then later, folks stuck at home and decided to garden, paint and otherwise avoid boredom.

"A mature store in a mature market, we suddenly faced sales increases of 20-30 and 50% increases. If ever a hardware earned its stripes in a community, my team did during the pandemic. I am so proud of their professionalism and their accomplishments. They were patriots."

As part of the celebration, on June 30 the store will hand out 500 free apple pies. The event will serve as a prelude to the Pedrotti-sponsored 200-drone show after the Torchlight Parade at the foot of First Street on Sunday, July 3, plus a performance by a Bay Area cover band, East Bay Mudd, according to a Pedrotti Ace Hardware press release. The events all will be part of the 100th anniversary of the Pedrotti family hardware legacy.

“Hardware stores often provide an identity to a community, much like a post office,” Pedrotti said in a statement on YouTube. “There's a timeless quality to hardware. People will always be fixing and repairing things. Our descendants will be doing that for centuries to come.”

The drone show will be performed by Verge Aero, a Philadelphia-based company that reached stardom after being a participant on America’s Got Talent Extreme, as reported by Benicia Magazine.

According to a press release, 75% of people live within 15 minutes of an Ace Hardware store. Top brands the stores carry include Yeti, Scotts, STIHL, Big Green Egg, Milwaukee, Ben Moore, Traeger and Weber. Services the store provides include assembly, color paint matching, delivery, key cutting, propane exchange and rentals.