Ace Hardware comes to town

The manager of the newest store in town grew up sweeping the floors and dusting the shelves of her grandfather's building supply store in Greer's Ferry and knows the business from the ground up. Caitlin Baker is the manager of the newest F.L. Davis store -- F.L. Davis Ace Hardware that is scheduled to open in May in Pea Ridge.

Baker said her maternal grandfather started F.L. Davis Builder's Supply in 1960 in Greer's Ferry and her mother now owns the stores -- F.L. Davis Building Center in Greers Ferry, F.L. Davis Home Center in Heber Springs, F.L. Davis Hardware in Sherwood. All of the stores are Ace stores.

"I grew up in these stores," Baker said. "Most of these guys who work for us remember when I was very small sweeping floors and dusting shelves."

Baker earned her degree in psychology from the University of Arkansas. While studying psychology, she was a research assistant her senior year and studied group corporation and team building. She has begun working on her masters degree in business.

"I answered phones, did paper work ... I remember using that pink wax on my fingers so I could flip through the papers quickly," she laughed. She said her mothers owns the stores as her grandfather recently died.

"I loved the area and wanted it to be where we had our newest store. I was looking for the right spot and found this one," She said.

"We're shooting for mid-May opening," she said.

"We're going to be a Stihl dealer and will have chainsaws, and other Stihl equipment," she said, adding that there will be a grilling section with grills from Weber, Traeger and Big Green Egg.

There will be a housewares section carrying Le Creuset and anything to use in kitchen including openers, ladles, cleaning products. There will also be a home decor area with small accessories, paint including Benjamin Moore, Clark and Kensington and Valspar; hardware and tools including tools by Craftsman; plumbing and electrical; a pet department - bird feeding; and a lawn and garden area as well as an outdoor nursery.

There will be some men's and women's clothing.

"We won't have full lumber yard," she said, but said there would be a small amount of wood for projects.

Baker said she has been interviewing prospective employees and plans to hire around 12 to 13 people both part- and full-time and will be hiring students.