Baskin's Ace Hardware opens in old Christmas Tree Shops location in Orleans

ORLEANS — A steady stream of customers made their way through the doors of the new Baskin's Ace Hardware on Monday morning.

The store, in the closed Christmas Tree Shops, is more than double the size of its previous location on South Orleans Road, just hundreds of feet away.

The extra space has allowed Store Manager Jim Morton to increase the number of SKUs for sale from 22,000 to up to 45,000.

The bigger space has an indoor barbeque grilling section complete with an array of Weber, Big Green Egg and Traeger grills, and accoutrements like wood pellets, rubs, fryers and fry oil.

A 36-foot aisle is dedicated to an assortment of Stihl power tools, both battery and gasoline powered. A Stihl representative was following the planogram to get all the shelves correctly positioned before filling them with products that morning.

The hardware aisle has grown from 24 feet to 48 feet, featuring everything from door hinges and handles to locks and mesh screening. There are hex head bolts, square head bolts, u bolts, and eye bolts. There are coupling nuts, flange nuts, square nuts, and cap nuts.

“Our nuts-and-bolts section is out of this world,” said co-owner Lauren Baskin.

Baskin's Ace Hardware offers color consultations

A color consultant will be available to customers who want help with paint. The store now has a referral relationship with Budget Blinds should customers want help in that home decor area. And the store will sell a selection of lumber that will keep weekend projects on track for do-it-yourselfers: strapping, two-by-fours and plywood.

The store has items it never used to carry like swimming pool chemicals, yard games, greeting cards and some knickknacks in honor of their predecessor, Christmas Tree Shops. There are kitchen towels, lobster glasses, accent rugs, candy and pet treats. Morton said they were trying to fill the gaps left by some stores that are no longer in Orleans.

Baskin's legacy of customer-first, community-based continues

But it's the camaraderie among employees and customers and the sense of community that’s the most important element of the new store, according to Baskin. In that way, the new store is following the example set by Baskin’s parents when they had to rebuild and reopen the store in 1977 after a fire.

“Mom and Dad wanted to create a welcoming, community-based, customer-first organization and it carries on today,” she said.

“It was a little overwhelming when we walked in and it was empty,” General Manager Marcus Farias said of the new location. But the footprint and 10,000 square-foot size is in keeping with traditional Ace Hardware stores, he said.

Employees of four of Baskin's Ace Hardware stores stepped up to ensure the move and opening went smoothly. The move started five weeks ago and is expected to be complete in a few months, Baskin said. Teams from Ace Hardware helped behind the scenes and helped the Orleans team set up the store and display the merchandise.

"Ace corporate came in with a whole measurement team,” Farias said. “They knew where every single square inch of this store was before we even put a pen to paper.”

On Monday, Baskin was on the phone trying to line up a box truck to help move inventory from the old store. Farias was looking for a key to unlock the large selection of ladders. The phone kept ringing with customers looking to buy glasses to watch the eclipse safely. A nearly constant line of customers lined up for the registers. Nearly all of them took the time to congratulate the employees and fawn over the new store.

“This store has always been a place for the community to come and connect with old friends, hear town gossip, tell funny stories,” Baskin said. “It's like the giant water cooler area in an office building – the giant water cooler of Orleans where people come to chew the fat and have some fun.”

Denise Coffey writes about business, tourism and issues impacting Cape Cod’s residents and visitors. Contact her at dcoffey@capecodonline.com.  

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Orleans Christmas Tree Shop becomes Baskin's Ace Hardware