Story Category: Home Improvement »

Founded in 1975, Sneade’s Ace Home Center has been supplying the people of Calvert County the solutions to whatever problems owning a home, doing construction, or finishing an odd job might throw at them. June 22, 2011, Sneade’s received the 2011 Leading Edge award for Calvert County’s business of the year for their outstanding customer service.

“In 1986, my parents recognized the potential growth and decided they were ready to welcome retirement and sold the business to my wife Lynne and I,” said Sneade. “What once was a three person, mom and pop operation has now grown into a two store, 80 plus employee organization. Who would have thought that back in 1975, almost 36 years ago when I joined my parents in becoming sole proprietors of a small hardware store we would be honored as recipients of such an award.“

With two locations at 1750 Prosper Lane in Owings, and at the newer location in Solomons, at 11861 H.G. Trueman Road, both locations provide the same unique design and diverse services that Sneade’s is known for.

Back in ’87, Sneade’s bought the Owings lumber center, and expanded into a 1400 square foot lumberyard to supplement their services as a hardware store. Although all ace home stores are independently owned, many do not sell lumber.

“We can build a house, we can build a shed, and we can sell you chemicals for your pool. We are a complete home store,” said Tricia Willis, the retail marketing programs manager at the Owings Store.

As one of the only home centers in the area to offer drive thru lumber, Sneade’s values their customers and is constantly creating, and trying new ways to provide diverse services for their customers. Many customers see the front of the building and think that it is much smaller than it really is, and are surprised to discover there is whole lumberyard in the back.

“Over 36 years, the reason customers keep coming back is our customer service. We’re convient, we’re here in the county, and we offer very diverse services,” said Willis.

To demonstrate how committed they are to helping their customers Willis said that she can’t count how many times people have come in looking for a small, uncommon bolt, and was always able to find the right one. “If you need these little nuts and bolts to finish a job, we have them,” she said.

“Over the past 36 years, we have changed our product mix to meet the demands of our consumers,” said Sneade. “Always remembering, successful retailing is delivering the best customer service.”