(NEXSTAR) — Where do you go when it's time for home repairs? New data from J.D. Power shows America's got a favorite.
For the fifth consecutive year, Ace Hardware has topped J.D. Power's U.S. Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study. To determine the highest customer satisfaction, J.D. Power surveyed 2,728 customers who purchased home improvement-related products from a retailer between December 2022 and March 2023. Stores were ranked on a 1,000-point scale weighing in-store experience, merchandise, price and more.
Of the stores listed, Ace Hardware was the only home improvement retailer to earn a score higher than the study average of 851.
| Store | Score |
| Ace Hardware | 873 |
| Lowe's | 849 |
| The Home Depot | 849 |
| Menards | 839 |
Ace Hardware — known as "the place with the helpful hardware folks," per its famous jingle — was founded in 1924 in Chicago and currently has over 5,000 stores around the globe, the company says.
As far as number of stores, Lowe's reports having more than 1,700 stores in the U.S., while Home Depot says it has 2,324 retail stores currently. Menards, which is based in Wisconsin, says it has over 300 locations across 15 states.
In-store advantage
One interesting find of J.D. Power's study is that while online shopping remains popular, even for home improvement items, 87% of home improvement purchases are happening in brick-and-mortar stores. What's more, J.D. Power found that 89% of customers make a purchase on their first in-store visit.
“The digital aspect of home improvement retailing is becoming increasingly important as more customers are researching online and watching how-to videos, and Amazon is definitely getting a piece of this action,” said Christina Cooley, senior director of the home and retail intelligence practice at J.D. Power. “However, Amazon cannot compete with the holistic journey that brick-and-mortar stores provide. Starting from the digital resources, physical locations have the ability to support customers from project ideation to a personalized in-store shopping and purchase experience.”
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