Sunshine Ace Hardware Doubles Down on Local with Three New Collier County Stores

Naples-native Sunshine Ace Hardware is leaning hard into its brick‑and‑mortar roots, rolling out three new Collier County locations in 2025 alone. Whether it’s new builds or retrofitted spaces, the family-run chain is betting on local presence and personalized service to stay ahead of online giants.

🛠️ Store Rollout & Strategy

• New Locations:

  • Babcock Ranch (Lee/Charlotte) – opened May 1

  • Winchester Center near Golden Gate Estates – soft‑opened early July

  • Marketplace at Pelican Bay, North Naples – on track for this fall

• Next up: A potential fourth Collier store in 2026, plus additional west‑coast expansion .

Sunshine operates 14 Ace Hardware shops and two Benjamin Moore paint stores across Florida, bringing in over $100 million in annual revenue. Impressively, just under 10% comes from e‑commerce—the rest is rooted in physical sales and omni‑channel integration.

📍 Choosing the Right Location

Sunshine Ace’s leadership—President Michael Wynn—favors neighborhood-anchored sites, tapping into community-centric shopping trends noted by economists. That fits a post-pandemic shift: even though e‑commerce grew, 84.6% of shopping still happens in physical stores in 2024.

They’re smart about placement:

• Winchester Center: a new build (~$9M investment).

• Pelican Bay: retrofitted ~21,000 sq ft former Stein Mart.

• Stores cluster in close proximity—marketing synergy, easier logistics, brand dominance.

🧰 Inside the Stores: What Sets Them Apart

• High-touch service: Expert staff in signature red vests help DIYers and pros alike.

• Omni-channel friction removal: In-store pickup, curbside, home delivery—and even drive-thru pickup.

• In-home services: Handyman options that big-box competitors skip.

• Tailored product range: Over 40,000 items in store, plus 25,000 regional SKUs. Mixes range from gardening tools to jewelry and frozen bait—curated for local tastes.

👥 Culture as a Growth Engine

Sunshine’s secret sauce? Culture. Wynn—who won Business Observer’s Top Entrepreneur in 2019—built a values-driven company. Staff training, surveys, and community-first ethos empower team members to go the extra mile. It’s part of a larger strategy to "deliver sunshine" to every customer