After 78 years as a family business, this South Shore hardware store is being sold

Despite changing times and pressure from national home improvement retailers such as Home Depot, locally owned Curry Ace Hardware has persisted on the South Shore for more than three-quarters of a century and three generations of the Curry family.

But ownership of the two Curry Ace Hardware stores is set to change hands later this year to another family-owned company.

Curry Ace Hardware will soon be owned and operated by the Aubuchon Co., according to an announcement by the business in October. The name of the stores at 370 Copeland St. in Quincy and 1271 Washington St. in Hanover will remain the same.

The announcement cites Bob Curry turning 80 and son Sean’s children “on different career paths” as the reasons for the change.

“As we look to the next 100 years for Curry Ace Hardware, we didn’t want to just sell to anyone. We wanted to find the best fit for our customers and staff,” Sean Curry said in the announcement. “For years we have respected the Aubuchon family and how they operate their stores. Passing our legacy on to another family business means a lot to us. And for me personally, joining their team to help another family business grow just feels right.”

Curry Ace Hardware started in Quincy

Paul and Grace Curry opened the first Curry Ace Hardware on Furnace Brook Parkway in Quincy in 1945.

While Paul lacked a business background, he “just loved people and being around them,” the Curry Ace Hardware website said.

A season to give: Can you Lend a Hand to your South Shore neighbors in need?

One of Paul’s nine children said he started the business with “five or six thousand dollars, a couple of screwdrivers and a handful of hammers” and worked in the store six days a week.

The original store burned down in the early 1960s and was replaced by the current Copeland Street location.

Paul sold the business to son Bob in 1975 after Grace had a stroke. Bob and his late wife, Marie, later opened a second location in Braintree at 190 Quincy Ave. (where there are now plans for a seafood market). A third store was opened on Hancock Street in North Quincy, but was later sold to a former manager. Bob’s son Sean joined the business in 1990.

When Home Depot came to Quincy in 1992, Bob would tour the country as Ace Hardware Corp.’s ad hoc spokesman, promoting his local store’s success in spite of the larger chain’s presence.

Part of that success, he told The Patriot Ledger in 1998, was “staying small and in the community, serving customers right and carrying the right line of products.”

That meant offering products and services that Home Depot didn’t offer at the time, such as sharpening tools, making specialty keys and selling propane. In the late 1990s, Bob estimated that they filled 400 to 500 propane tanks every week, amounting to $300,000 in sales one year.

He also embraced the Internet Age. With the 50,000 products offered on their website, he wanted to “be one of the leading hardware sites on the internet” by 2000.

Curry family's long history of community work

The Currys shared their success with their community. When Bob’s wife, Marie, died of breast cancer in 1995, the family donated $100,000 to Quincy Hospital to help women without health insurance receive free mammograms.

Over the years, Bob and the family contributed $60,000 to light historical downtown buildings, helped raise another $60,000 for a life-size bronze statue of Abigail Adams, and donated leaf bags for spring cleanup in Milton, according to Patriot Ledger archives.

“We treat customers like family, like neighbors,“ Sean Curry said in the announcement. “Helping our neighbors every day is so rewarding because we genuinely love what we do. We are the go-to place in our communities, providing real help, with real people. Our passion is making a difference with each and every person that walks through our doors.”

William E. Aubuchon IV, president and CEO of the Aubuchon Co., called Curry Ace Hardware an “inspiration.”

Make your own list: The Christmas parade, Santa by helicopter and more. Your guide to Quincy holiday events

“Celebrating 78 years, Curry Ace Hardware is an independent success story that I have long admired,” he said. “For three generations, the Curry family has consistently invested in their business, built an incredible team and supported their local communities.”

Aubuchon has more than 100 stores in the Northeast

The Aubuchon Co., now in its fourth generation and based in Westminster, operates more than 100 stores in nine states in the northeastern U.S. Most of the stores are under the Aubuchon Hardware name, but in some cases they operate under the existing local hardware name.

The Aubuchon Co. started in 1908 when William “Willie” E. Aubuchon bought a hardware store in the French-Canadian part of Fitchburg-Cleghorn. Aubuchon had immigrated to the U.S. from Canada with his mother and two of his siblings seven years earlier.

The company grew and grew, and with the acquisition of the two Curry Ace Hardware stores, that will make 113 stores in all. The South Shore is home to four Aubuchon Hardware stores in Cohasset, Kingston, Carver and Plymouth.

Hannah Morse covers growth and development for The Patriot Ledger. Contact her at hmorse@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: After 78 years in business, Curry Ace Hardware is acquired by Aubuchon