Retooled: As Seashore Ace Turns 75, It’s Not Just a Hardware Store
Seashore Home Supply in the 1960s. (Photo courtesy of Stone Harbor Museum archives)
What’s in a number?
Sometimes, everything.
Seashore Ace celebrates a remarkable 75th anniversary this year. The landmark 96th Street family business remains a powerful community asset and signature downtown property.
For owner Jim Fisher, who has worked in the store for more than 60 years, the number conveys longevity, magic, family history, and the badge of perseverance.
The business has evolved, from appliance store to small hardware facility, then to colossal two-floor entity and Stone Harbor institution. Its hardware-store roots have morphed into new product lines and high-end outdoor furniture reflected in its modern-day name: Seashore Ace Home & Outdoor Living.
The store has advanced through several economic eras and family generations, on a couple of fronts.
Several subtle expansions and one transformative doubling of the property have marked its ascent. Seashore Ace has grills, household gifts and Benjamin Moore Paints, along with beach chairs, umbrellas and numerous lawn and garden products.
At 75, the store’s best days may lie ahead.
“Most businesses don’t last 75 years, so we are proud to be here,” Fisher says. “I am especially proud of the business my parents started. When I became in charge of it, my father said, ‘Don’t screw up, second generations often do.’
“But we have been able to grow the business tremendously, outlasted most of the competition on the island, and we have been able to operate this as a family.
“In a family business, sometimes you have wonderful ups and downs. Sometimes you battle harder than you would with a normal business, and sometimes the success is much more satisfying, too.”
Fisher has probably spent more time in the building than anyone. He was 8 when he first worked for his parents Spike and Etta, who launched the store in 1946. The couple showed foresight, switching from the appliance line to hardware after a couple of years. It was known as Seashore Home Supply.
Success bought more inventory, and subtle expansions over the years. And then came a quantum leap in 1990: the demolition of the original building and the creation of a high-end furniture showcase on the second floor, where there had been an apartment. This took the store beyond the hardware realm.
“That 1990 expansion doubled our size,” Fisher says. “We keep stealing stockroom space. Now we have an off-site warehouse.”
Early in his journey, Fisher discovered the family’s strong work ethic. He says his dad had been the residential sales manager for Atlantic City Electric before going into business for himself.
Spike gave Jim an early lesson on finance. Or was it the art of the deal?
Young Jim wanted a 5-foot Styrofoam boat the store carried. Dad said it would cost $25 and would pay Jim 25 cents an hour until he worked it off. Jim took the deal, got the boat and formed a correlation between labor and finance.
The family business connection now includes Jim’s wife Joey, whom he met while they attended Albright College in Reading, Pa., and son Scott.
Both work in the store with him now. Joey takes the lead in running the outdoor furniture department. Scott, the manager, encouraged his dad to branch out to pursue contractors’ business a few years back.
“The biggest change in Stone Harbor over the years was that we don’t have the family town we used to,” Jim Fisher says. “When I grew up, there were kids to do things with everywhere. Now it’s too expensive for a lot of families to be here.
“A lot of the homes in Stone Harbor are not even second homes now, they are third and fourth residences. That’s a great thing for those who own them, because Stone Harbor and Avalon are dynamic areas, but people are using these homes less. There are fewer people here.
“We have maintained the base of customers who are here, but Scott suggested we also go after the contractor business. We sell hardware, nails, etc., to the builders and we deliver stuff that they need. For them, it’s much better to stay here and get something from us than lose a guy for an hour or hour-and-a-half if he has to get something offshore. We cater to the contractors.”
And to nearly everyone else.
Along the way, Jim became affiliated with the Ace Hardware brand, tipping into the buying power and warehouse stock from its base of 5,500 national stores.
Connection with the hardware giant led to the current store name in 2001.
And Seashore Ace became a powerhouse.
Fisher says it is one of the largest family-run businesses in South Jersey.
Seashore Ace was the first to bring Telescope Casual outdoor furniture, Yeti drinkware and coolers, Big Green Egg smokers, Benjamin Moore paints and much more to Seven Mile Beach, Fisher notes. Seashore Ace retains exclusive relationships with these high-quality companies.
The store offers a full selection of beach, home décor, home improvement and maintenance, and shore-themed products. Many of its brands are the most popular in their industries — from RIEDEL stemware to OXO products, RIO Brands to Frankford Umbrellas, Lloyd Flanders wicker furniture to Treasure Garden Umbrellas, and Festool power tools to Benjamin Moore.
It’s all there: the inventory, the history and the vision.
Seashore Ace Home & Outdoor Living is well-positioned to thrive tomorrow.
And to enjoy a happy birthday today.
