Curt’s Ace Hardware opens in Elizabethton

Published 4:03 pm Tuesday, November 29, 2022

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By Danielle Morin
Elizabethton Star
Carter County residents can now get their lawncare and hardware needs met right here in Elizabethton.
K-VA-T Foods, the owners of Food City, launched its newest Curt’s Ace Hardware location on Tuesday, Nov. 29. Food City President and CEO Steve Smith, Elizabethton Mayor Curt Alexander, and Food City Vice President of Marketing Kevin Stafford were among those in attendance for Tuesday’s ceremonial ribbon cutting.
“I would like to take the opportunity to thank K-VA-T Foods, Steve Smith, and the things that your all’s company has done, not just for Elizabethton-Carter County, but the whole East Tennessee area,” Alexander said. “The things that y’all do, the jobs you create, the improvements you make to the buildings and infrastructure … the investment that you make in our community — we thank you for that and appreciate all that you do.”
Joy McCray, executive director of the Elizabethton Chamber of Commerce, called the store opening, “a great addition to Carter County,” citing the need for such services in the Carter County region to, “take care of their yards, take care of their hobbies, and everything else that they may need for their residences.”
Smith said he was especially honored to open a new store in Carter County. “We’ve got a special bond with the folks here in this area, and they’ve supported our company extremely well.” He went on to thank Carter County, “for the support that you’ve shown our company over the many years,” adding, “I don’t think we’ve ever invested a bad dollar into your city or in your county.”
Director of Store Operation John Jones, whom Smith describes as “instrumental” to the company, was the last to speak on the importance of the day. “I’m proud to be over here and to get to open this store and look forward to seeing the business it can generate,” said Jones. “I think this will serve the area well, serve not only this side of Elizabethton, but Hampton and all the way up into Roan Mountain and Butler and Siam and all the local areas.”
Jones also introduced the new location’s store manager, Derek Nave, along with other members of the store staff — those who Smith described as, “the most important part of the store,” — before gathering for the long-anticipated ribbon cutting.
The Curt’s Ace Stores, which were named in honor of Smith’s grandfather, were Jones’s “brainchild,” says Smith, after meeting with the Ace company at a recent grocer’s convention in Alabama. Smith says K-VA-T Food’s new retail location will help the company in, “going up against the big box hardware guys…a little bit the way we have with some of our big box competitors in the grocery business.”
The new hardware store, located on US-19E in Elizabethton, marks the fifth store opening the company has announced in the Tri-Cities region, with other locations in Gray, Erwin, Bristol, and Piney Flats. Jones said the company will not be stopping anytime soon, announcing, “A couple more [stores] to come on the drawing board.”
Carter County residents can start shopping now at Curt’s Ace Hardware by visiting the store’s location at 1731 US-19E in Elizabethton, in the same shopping center as Little Caesar’s. The store is open Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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