A hardware store is not the first (or even second or third) place you think of when seeking a heartwarming story. However, 100-year-old company Ace Hardware (named after the popular “flying aces” of WWI), which runs a chain of hardware stores throughout the United States, thought it was a prime source of such stories. Five years ago, they set out to prove it. They sought stories directly from customers, social media, local news coverage, and Ace’s corporate field staff and brought on a crew of filmmakers to produce the results.
Now, in recognition of its 100-year anniversary, Apple TV will air select examples from 100 stories of love, compassion, and giving that relate to employees and customers of Ace Hardware stores across the country.
The collection, called “Heartware Stories,” consists of easily digestible short-form media— perfect palate-cleansers for the days full of stress, strife, and division that pervade many of our screens today. According to a press release from the company, the stories, each about 5 minutes long, highlight “the company’s century-long commitment to community support and heartfelt kindness.”
The Heartware Stories collection is also available on Google Play and Amazon Prime, with a special rollout on ROKU planned for fall 2024.
One example, from a Cleveland Ace Hardware store, called “Man and His Dog,” detailed how a store associate, Sam, went above and beyond to help a grieving customer who came in for a shovel to bury the dog he had for 15 years. A co-worker from the story, moved by Sam’s kindness, posted the story to social media and it went viral. Interviewed for the short film, Sam takes it in stride with a humility characteristic of many of those profiled in the short films. “‘How can we help you?’ is the term we use and it’s definitely something that I have taken into consideration every day that I live,” he said.
Another inspiring story, called “The Gift,” comes from an Ace Hardware store in Massachusetts. This time, the person doing the giving was the customer, and the recipient was a store associate named Raymond, who became a well-liked member of the community and his workplace after a rocky start. A dedicated worker who distrusts cars, Raymond is famous around town for his daily two-hour bike commutes to and from work. In describing Raymond, one co-worker commented, “He’s committed to do everything he can to be joyful and happy when he comes in to work. Raymond chooses to be kind.”
In addition to possibly moving viewers to tears, the stories will undoubtedly cause them to examine how they can make a difference for the people they encounter in their everyday lives or create structures for lasting change. One such story is that of a mother from California whose 18-year-old son died in 2019 from a drug overdose. “Ending the Stigma” features Michelle Leopold, a cancer survivor, who decided to create change in the Bay Area Ace Hardware stores she owns.
Michelle recalls that she and Trevor “always had a great relationship and always ended every conversation with ‘I love you.’” That love drove her to create events at her stores to teach members of the public how to help someone who is overdosing, including the use of Narcan, a nasal spray that dispenses the medication naloxone, which can reverse an opioid overdose. Leopold, who was in chemotherapy when Trevor died, describes it as a dark time but says that, “although I live in a darker world, I can still help others.”