For the second time in three years, Ace Hardware has changed ownership and a new sign will soon appear at the Main Street store. The Plummer family, who has been in the business for four generations, purchased the store from Bill and Holly Chandler on April 1. The Chandlers took over from the Cook family in 2017 but decided to sell the business to focus on their Yarmouth store.

The new owners are Troy Plummer, his brother Garrett Plummer, and their cousin Chris Sanborn. The Plummers currently own Ace Hardware stores in Buxton, Limerick and Waterboro. Cindy Plummer, who is married to Troy and is the financial manager for the company, said, “Percy Plummer was the first generation of the Plummer family to open a general store a little over 100 years ago. He continued to grow the business with his sons having three locations at one point. The three stores merged into the one location in Buxton in the 1960s selling both groceries and hardware following the general store model. As the business grew, an addition was built in the 80s, and the hardware store had its own storefront for the first time.”

The family added stores in Limerick and Waterboro in the 1990s. With nearly 100 current employees among the three locations, the family took over the Gorham location during a difficult time.

“Purchasing the business right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge. Approximately a third of our workforce across the locations needed a leave of absence for various reasons. We are holding positions for all of these workers until they can return but I have been hiring additional employees to help fill in,” said Plummer.

The Plummers have retained all current employees. Jim Rines manages the Gorham store. Plummer said, “The current staff is amazing. They have all been pleasant and receptive to our ideas. The only new faces you will see are the newly hired employees to help fill in the gaps.”

As the store was deemed “essential,” it remained open all along but did shorten business hours temporarily due to staffing issues. The hours have been extended slightly in May and the Plummers hope to be back to normal business hours in June.

When speaking about the preparation needed to meet the new restrictions set by the State order, Plummer said, “Within a day of the change, we implemented cleaning procedures and store occupancy limits. By the second week, we had our contractor install plexiglass barriers at the registers to help maintain separation.”

In looking ahead to the future, a “store reset” is planned in June which will include moving the location of the registers to improve the flow of the space. A design team from Ace will develop a new floor plan and will help implement the reset. As Plummer said, “There will be some disorganization for a short time, but the results will be a better product selection and better flow going through the checkout process. We hope to take the best of the old and add some new ideas to provide the best shopping experience for the Gorham customers as well as a good working environment for our employees.”

Plummer’s Ace Hardware is located at 57 Main St. Current hours for the month of May are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sunday. To contact the store, call 839-4856, go to www.plummershardware.com, or visit the Plummer’s Ace Hardware Facebook page.

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Maggie, the Cook’s Hardware Cat

Gorham Times reader Mary Jane LeCours shared old photos of Maggie the cat from her many years working at Cook’s Hardware. Maggie lived on Preble Street with her owner Lenora Trussell but quickly adopted the store as her second home in the early 2000s. She roamed the block, guarded the store, and even slept on the shelves and in the tool drawers recounted LeCours. Some customers believed she was a stuffed animal. She was loved by the store employees and missed greatly when she disappeared without a trace one day.