Ottesen's now the place for Ace

What has been talked about for months has finally happened: Ottesen's True Value is now Ottesen's Ace Hardware.

The sale was finalized on Feb. 15 to David Roemhildt, of Cordova, who has big changes in store for the business, but some things will stay exactly the same.

"The thing I kept hearing from everyone was, 'Oh, that's a good store. It's got a lot of history,'" Roemhildt said. "There's a lot of goodwill and customer loyalty to this location and this family. It's going to remain Ottesen's, but it will be Ottesen's Ace Hardware instead of Ottesen's True Value."

He added that in towns like Wrangell and Cordova, it wouldn't matter if the name was changed, "people are still going to refer to it the next 30 years as Ottesen's."

Longtime staff members Danette Grover, Marlin Benedict and Karl Altepeter will stay with the store and about five more positions will be added in the next few months. Grover has been with the store for nearly 11 years, Benedict has been there 18 years, and Altepeter has been there 10.

"That's necessitated by the fact that we're bringing in so many new items that we're probably going to end up being a 30,000 (item) store, which is enormous for a hardware store," Roemhildt said. "With that comes the need for people to happily help and assist and check people out and stock shelves."

Brands like Milwaukee, DeWalt, Toro and Craftsman, among others will be carried, and four brands of paint - a basic Ace line, an upscale Ace line, Benjamin Moore and Magnolia Home - will be available. Roemhildt said they will "pack the store," and be fully stocked by mid-May.

"There's going to be a lot of changes, but there's still continuity," he said. "People are still going to be able to ask Danette, ask Marlin, 'Hey, where's this new stuff,' or, 'What's this versus this?' People are going to be impressed with the change. But, the staff, I couldn't find a better staff. We don't even really need a manager. They can manage the store themselves."

Roemhildt isn't a novice when it comes to owning such a store. The full-time general contractor also owns an Ace Hardware in Cordova, along with a plumbing and electrical warehouse and marine supply in the same city. He also owns a welding and fabrication shop in Kodiak.

"I kept going to locations that had better hardware stores than I had (in Cordova)," Roemhildt said. "Wrangell is one. Going to Sitka, they blow you away with their hardware store. Go to Yakutat and they have a pretty good hardware store for a tiny little town. So, we decided that's something we wanted to look at."

He said being a contractor aids in owning a hardware store since he's familiar with the products. "It's kind of fun. You can still talk shop and be connected to the industry whether you're actually building something or not."

That background in construction will help in one major noticeable change at the store: He will remodel to bring back stairs in the middle of the first floor, so that customers can better see what's upstairs.

The process to purchase the store has taken some time. It began 18 months ago when Roemhildt approached owner Brian Ottesen about buying it. Then came COVID-19 with its myriad of interruptions; there were signature delays for paperwork. "Then product and logistical delays that happened with the big freeze-up in Texas," Roemhildt said. "So, all the sudden you can't get plastic. Then the ports on the West Coast (slowed up), and now the truckers. The orders have been placed, we just have to be patient."

The transition has taken some time, but Chris Blanchett, the transition manager and manager of the Cordova Ace Hardware, said it's coming along.

"It's going pretty good," he said. "We're checking off boxes and moving right along. We're doing everything we can."