Work Begins On Area's Newest Ace Hardware

    Work has begun on the newest Carter’s Ace Hardware store in the area. To be located north of downtown Eustis along SR 19, the 15,000 square foot store is the latest addition to the growing chain of family-owned stores, with the Carter family operating in a footprint that will soon include 11 stores stretching from Apopka to Crystal River.
    Dubbed ‘North Eustis’, the store is envisioned to serve customers in that growing area as well as service residents along CR 44 west to Grand Island. Along with stores in Umatilla, downtown Eustis, Tavares, and Mount Dora, the store will fill a niche currently left unserved.
    "In about a five-mile area, we'll have five stores," said Cadie Carter, who along with his sister Dee Ann Wilson and her husband Chuck will have ownership of the new store. The siblings are second generation in the hardware business, following the footsteps of their late father, Roy, and mother, Deloris, who gets the credit for the new store's location.
    “The location was Mom’s idea,” said Cadie this week. “She’s a smart lady, so we went with her preference.”
    Once complete, the store will feature a large garden center, offer lumber, and include propane sales, a feature that is currently not available at the downtown Eustis store.
    But for customers used to shopping the historic downtown location, don’t worry. That store is expected to remain open.
    “We are intending to keep the one downtown,” said Dee Ann.
    Indeed, Cadie said the store downtown will continue to serve the area around it as well as people to the south. In addition, the Umatilla store also remains a priority.
    We want people to stay with Umatilla,” Cadie says, and the family has planned a late-summer renovation of that large store to make sure it is just as sparkling as the new store.
    “We will be remerchandising Umatilla this summer,” Cadie said. “We are adding inventory, and remodeling. It will look just like the new store.”
    While the new store won’t be quite as large as the Umatilla location, it is a sizable investment by the Carter family into the future hardware needs of the area.
    "It's the most expensive building we've built," Cadie said, noting the recent increases in cost of supplies has pushed the price of the building northward. "It's just the times."
    The new store is expected to open this coming January.