Ace Hardware, Menards lead key trend Home Depot and Lowe’s missed

Anyone who shops at a big-box home improvement store has likely experienced the same frustration: needing help and not being able to find it.

As a frequent customer at both Lowe’s and Home Depot, not being able to get help quickly has been a bone of contention for me, but there are some things I can only find at the bigger retailers.

Lumber to repair a fence, for example, or the granite slab I recently needed for a bathroom remodel at my parents’ house. Those items are not available at my local Ace Hardware.

But for just about everything else, I head to Ace.

For one thing, there’s a location within walking distance of my house. But even more than convenience, when I walk in the door, I’m greeted with a friendly “Hello, what are you looking for today?”

I don’t have to ring the customer service buzzer in the plumbing aisle and hope someone shows up within five minutes, or wait for someone to come to mix my paint.

Ace’s signature “helpful hardware folks” are right there, ready to help. I’ve been in three different Ace Hardware locations in the last month (two in Nevada, where I live, and one by my parents’ house in California), and the experience was the same.

My experience isn’t unique, and new data from the Market Force 2025 Home Improvement Panel Study help explain why Ace (and Menards) came out on top in terms of customer service.

Ace Hardware and Menards took top customer experience scores with 58.0 and 57.7, respectively. The Market Force study sampled 1,000+ U.S. consumers with varied DIY and professional buyer profiles.

Ace and Menards outperformed big-box competitors in categories such as customer loyalty, helpful staff, and trust.

Nearly 70% of the survey participants reported household incomes over $50,000. About 50% identified as DIY enthusiasts, and another 26% reported buying materials but hiring professionals to do the work.

Related: Ace Hardware bets on new partnership to rival Home Depot, Lowe’s

“This year’s results show that great experiences still beat great advertising,” Senior Director of Customer Experience Strategy at Market Force Information David Murray told Hardware Retailing. “Shoppers reward brands that make their lives easier — clean stores, fast checkouts, helpful staff, and real value. That’s where Ace and Menards shine.”

Home Depot still leads in purchase share, but customer behavior suggests service beats scale in loyalty metrics.

“At Ace, loyalty is a growth driver, not just a rewards mechanism. Customers stay with us because we consistently make their shopping experience easier, more helpful, and more approachable. Our loyalty program is designed to strengthen that long-term relationship,” Ace Hardware Corporate Vice President of Ace Rewards & Marketing Analytics Rebecca Haas told TheStreet.

Key Market Force survey findings included the following.

45.5% of Ace Hardware customers have a positive opinion of the company’s brand image and company values versus 31.69% at Home Depot and 35.69% at Lowe’s.

85.7% of Ace Hardware customers are “likely to return” versus 73.8% of Home Depot, and 74.1% of Lowe’s customers saying the same.

71.4% of Ace Hardware customers say they are “likely to recommend” the store versus 59.2% of Home Depot customers and 66.1% of Lowe’s customers who say the same.

Customer experience has become a crucial battleground in home‑improvement retail as shoppers increasingly value service and satisfaction over sheer size and price.

Overall satisfaction has risen meaningfully, with nearly two‑thirds of shoppers saying they would definitely shop again — up nine percentage points from 2024, according to the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study.

In that study, Lowe’s topped the satisfaction rankings with a score of 680 on a 1,000‑point scale, while Ace Hardware followed closely at 672, underscoring how service and trust can level the playing field against larger competitors.

The study measures satisfaction in categories such as staff and service, in‑store experience, value and trust, illustrating that consumers today reward helpful associates and smooth shopping environments more than ever.

At the same time, mid-2025 foot‑traffic data from Placer.ai show that traditional big‑box chains like Home Depot and Lowe’s have seen year‑over‑year declines in visits amid economic uncertainty and a slow housing market, with Home Depot down about 3.8% and Lowe’s down roughly 3.6% in the first quarter of 2025.

This highlights the pressure on performance when shoppers put off discretionary projects.

Menards is the third-largest home-improvement chain in the U.S., behind Home Depot and Lowe’s. The chain has about 340 stores in 15 Midwestern states and is beloved for its signature rebate program, even if it’s not as generous as it once was. Menards, like Ace, has also built a loyal customer base, in part because of a reputation for customer service.

In the 2025 Market Force customer experience benchmarking, Menards excelled in categories such as store layout, product variety, and price competitiveness, helping it outperform larger competitors on loyalty metrics, despite having a smaller footprint.

Related: Home Depot and Lowe’s quietly gain new rival

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jan 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the Retail section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.