We're more than just hardware- we're part of your community.

The story of A Few Cool Hardware Stores started in 2003 in Logan Circle. We knew the community wanted and needed a hardware store. Renovations were happening everywhere and traveling out of the city to get hardware supplies was slowing down progress.

We opened Logan Hardware on March 1, 2003 to great success. It wasn’t long before people started coming in from other parts of the city asking us to open in their neighborhood, too. It was a special time in Logan Circle, with many new retailers opening their doors and providing moral support for us as we tried to learn how to use everything we were selling! In 2015 we relocated Logan Hardware to it's current home and AFCHS headquarters on 14th St NW, with 2.5 floors of retail space, an outdoor garden center balcony, and a third floor for our dedicated DC back office team and community conference room.

Glover Park Hardware opened in 2005 exactly two years after Logan Hardware and then in June of 2006 we opened Tenleytown Ace Hardware. A year later, we decided to test the waters in a new city – Baltimore, and took over a 7,800-square-foot space in the historic neighborhood of Federal Hill, which was expanded in 2016 to include an additional 2,000 sq. ft housewares and paint department.

Three years later we opened the doors at Waverly Ace Hardware in the old brick post office building at 601 Homestead Street, and in 2017 we grew the location with a 3,000 sq. ft. garden center and 500 sq. ft. indoor plant nursery, both located behind the store in what was formally an old auto repair shop.

In July 2010 we opened Old Takoma Ace, part of the Takoma Park, MD community just over the district line. In 2014, we expanded the space to include an additional 2,000 square feet dedicated to our lawn and garden department and an outdoor garden center. 

We opened our third Baltimore location Canton Ace Hardware in September 2012 in the beautiful waterfront Canton neighborhood. Formally a vending warehouse, the store boasts nearly 10,000 square feet of retail space and also houses our Baltimore back office team.

Old Town Ace Hardware in Alexandria, VA joined the AFCHS family in 2015, acquired from a previous Ace retailer who opened the store in 2008.

Adams Morgan Ace followed in 2016 and has become famous in the community for their "Plant Store" within the store, featuring more than 40 varieties of indoor house plants and a wide selection of outdoor plants available seasonally.

In 2017 Frager's Hardware & Garden Center joined us as our 11th store and first location in SE DC. Frager's relocated to the site of their original location in May 2019; the new storefront at 1115 Pennsylvania Ave SE in the Capitol Hill neighborhood features 5,000 sq. ft. of retail space for hardware and paint, a 500 sq. ft. outdoor patio for grills and patio furniture, a 3,500 sq. ft. garden center converted from an old parking lot, and a 600 sq. ft. free standing plant store, Foliage by Frager's, located two doors down (but all interconnected through rear entrances) at 1123 Penn Ave SE. 

Two new stores, both former Ace locations, joined the AFCHS family Winter 2020: Silver Spring Ace Hardware in downtown Silver Spring, and Petworth Ace Hardware located just off the Uptown Main Street in DC's growing Petworth neighborhood. Both locations feature an outdoor garden center and continue to provide the same level of excellent customer service our neighbors have come to expect of all our locations. 

2023 saw the addition of Fairfax Ace Hardware to our company to better serve you in Northern Virginia.

We are always searching for new spaces and welcome any request. We look forward to seeing you at your local hardware store soon!