For the last 50 years, the Wimberley Ace Hardware has been a pillar for the Wimberley Valley since its inception in 1972.
Though the original building was built in 1947 and later functioned as a grocery store, it was the contributions of one John Kingrey who turned the building into the Wimberley Discount Store then later into Wimberley Ace Hardware Store.
It was here Ace Hardware Store became beloved for its diversity of products from yard equipment, to gardening tools to even becoming the official Wimberley Texan Spirit Store giving the store what locals would call the main department store of Wimberley.
Adding to its diverse nature, the store once had a fully functioning barbecue pit to sell food from while also having functioning gas pumps and an arcade system in the front of the store.
While those three things may be gone, they are part of an idea that owners Tad and Christy Degenhart have taken up by continuing the store’s function as something that is more than a hardware store.
“For me, you have to know who you are,” Tad Degenhart said. “For us it’s convenience, because if we weren’t convenient then I don’t think we are as successful as we are. So we do whatever we can to keep people from driving to any competitor and be that one stop shop the best we can. That’s where it comes from.”
“It’s always evolving and what is convenient changes,” Tad Degenhart continued to say. “Of course we are dealing with the supply chain issues. We are only getting 60% of what we order, so we are trying to stay on top even today. It has its challenges, but you can’t get it all setup and check on it once a year. It’s a constant battle to make sure that we are convenient. It’s very important to not forget that. We are successful, because we are convenient.”
Tad Degenhart himself has had a relationship with Ace Hardware that dates back to his time working in the store as a teenager in high school, where he also met his future wife Christy, before coming back to work at Ace Hardware in college. He then took over as general manager before they bought the store in 2014.
“It’s been a great journey,” Tad Degenhart said. “I’ve learned a lot, but I’m still learning everyday. Retail is not for everybody, but it’s been great to me and my family. In 2003 John Kingrey sold it to his brother-in-law Richard Kilcrease, and then we purchased it from him in December of 2014. It’s funny to see the town evolve and to see our business evolve into what it is today. When I first started working here, we were at an Exxon Station too. Seeing the store evolving into what it is today has been a fun journey.”
Christy Degenhart also made her impact on the store as well from developing the first toy aisle within Ace Hardware.
““When I started doing this, I had two very young kids, and there was a birthday party almost every weekend,” Christy Degenhart said. “You had to drive into San Marcos or Austin for birthday presents which was very inconvenient. So I wanted to make a place where I didn’t have to do that. So I started building the toy aisle, because I wanted to be able to buy birthday presents at the last minute here in town with gift wrapping paper. As a young mom, I knew there were other young moms that needed that convenience.”
But it wasn’t just making the store convenient for moms that Christy wanted, but also making Ace a place where kids will have fond memories of the store as well.
“Not only just convenience, but I want little kids when they grow up and go to college to say ‘We used to get popcorn and drinks every Friday at the hardware store,’ and have kids from big cities be like ‘What?’” Christy Degenhart said. “I want them to realize that they lived in a special place, and I want those kids to have those special memories and be part of that… You want the kids in your community to come back. That is going to build a strong community when kids return and your community grows with a history of family. I want those kids to feel loved and supported by more than just their parents and teachers but the community as well. It speaks volumes that when we have those round-ups (at the register fundraisers) that the community does support them.”
As Ace continues to have its influence throughout the community, it doesn’t mean the store hasn’t gone through its share of hardship.
On February 23, 2014, the original building caught fire due to an electrical problem causing the entire building to burn down.
“The official cause is electrical but undetermined,” Tad Degenhart said. “We believe it started in the drop ceiling but after an insurance investigator, a fire investigation, it was determined as “Electrical, Accidental, Undetermined” as the official cause… We were fortunate enough to have business interruption insurance to continue to pay our employees, because we were not open until 11 months from the time that happened. We had never dreamed of that, even though fires do happen, you had to pull up your own foundation and start from scratch as a scenario. But it happened and we got through it.”
Through the support of the Wimberley community, Ace Hardware was able to stay open as the rebuild began.
“They were amazing,” Christy Degenhart said. “One of my favorite memories was when we would get bills, people were paying their bills. We had lost all of our computer stuff and our ability to bill people before the fire and people were sending in payments based on what they remembered or if that had gotten a bill. We got post notes put down there saying ‘We love Ace’. It was really heart warming.”
As the community supported Ace through their tough time, the roles were reversed and nearly a year later came the 2015 Floods.
Now Ace was helping the community through one of the worst floods in the history of Wimberley Valley, becoming a central hub for people to gain supplies.
“To put it this way,” Tad Degenhart said. “It started as two popup tents we had out in front with our grill and by the time we were done we had a commercial tent taking up a third of our parking lot.”
“The volunteers were amazing,” Christy Degenhart said. “Ruth Mince started showing up helping people everyday. I could not beat that woman here even when I would get here at six in the morning. She was already here making food for people. We would make meals, hand them out in the parking lot but also deliver them to places where a lot of the first responders were… It evolved from just serving hot dogs.
“It was nuts, my phone was going off non stop,” Christy Degenhart continued to say. “From people needing help to people wanting to help, people out of town wanting to show up. But the amount of people who wanted to help was really refreshing as far as learning the community is more united than divided even though it doesn’t seem that way sometimes… Our employees were unbelievable, because it was just crazy with people running in and out of the store. They showed up big time taking over inside and helping people outside. It wasn’t just me that is for sure.”
And it is not just floods that cause obstacles. More recently, it has been the difficulties created from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early on in the pandemic, with stores shutting down in order to stop the spread of the disease, Ace became one of the few stores that remained opened due to being called an “essential business.”
Battling to keep their employees safe while also continuing to be the store for Wimberley Valley residents to supply residents with the essentials, Ace Hardware store survived it all.
“It’s made us stronger and made us a better operator,” Tad Degenhart said. “I can’t say enough about our staff. They are awesome and make us who we are today. We could not have survived this without our staff, especially our management key decision making people. But they are why we are here today and we recognize and know that.”
But despite all the hardships, Ace is stronger than ever.
“When you lay it out like you did, it sounds like something from a Soap Opera,” Christy Degenhart said. “When we were talking about the flood, (Tad’s) dad lost his house in the Memorial Day Flood and my parents lost her house in the Halloween Flood (both in 2015.) When you add all of that up, it sounds like how much can happen to one family. But it has made us stronger and made our faith stronger. I feel incredibly blessed to be where we are to have this store and this community and all the things that have been thrown our way. I wouldn’t have survived without Tad, and I don’t think we would have survived without the support of this community.”
Help Wimberley Ace celebrate 50 years with a community street dance on May 14 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the store. Live music will be the Vegas Stars with food vendors, door prizes and local nonprofit booths.
