{"id":10579,"date":"2012-07-20T09:21:15","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T13:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=10579"},"modified":"2012-07-20T09:21:15","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T13:21:15","slug":"new-brandywine-ace-pet-farm-is-twice-as-nice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=10579","title":{"rendered":"New Brandywine Ace Pet & Farm is twice as nice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Combines the best of old Unionville Feed & Pet, Brandywine Hardware stores<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The new owners and managers of the Brandywine Ace Hardware Pet & Feed. From left, owner Chris Drennen, manager Ed Mallard, owner Larry Drennen Sr., manager Casey Kampf and owner Larry Drennen, Jr. show off the new sign, signalling the joining of the former Unionville Feed and & Pet and the Brandywine Ace.<\/p><\/div>\n

POCOPSON \u2014 It\u2019s kind of a no-lose scenario for local shoppers.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve always shopped at the Brandywine Ace, you\u2019ll find an increasing number of products, especially when it comes to feed and pet supplies \u2014 plus, in the coming months, more space and a whole new look.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been a loyal customer of Unionville Feed & Pet, you\u2019ll have to drive a bit further, but the Drennen Family \u2014 the owners of the new Brandywine Ace Hardware Pet & Farm \u2014 are willing to make it worth your while, knocking 5% off your purchase for the next few weeks. Plus, you get easier parking and much better selection.<\/p>\n

The biggest issue owners Larry Sr., Larry Jr. and Chris Drennen said Thursday with the move was confusion, rumors about what was going on and some worried local customers \u2014 worried that their beloved store, either the old Brandywine Ace or the old Unionville Pet Feed would close.<\/p>\n

The truth is this: customers of both stores are likely to enjoy a better shopping experience in the near term, but more so, once the current retail space is expanded. The result is going to be more like the Drennen\u2019s other outlet, Oxford Feed and Lumber.<\/p>\n

The Drennens had been looking for another option \u2014 initially hoping to stay in the Unionville\/Willowdale area \u2014 but couldn\u2019t find a way to make it work, despite looking closely at a number of locations. Although full of praise for East Marlborough township officials \u2014 they make it clear that the township worked with them to keep the store in town, there just wasn\u2019t a great fit. Without room to grow \u2014 and expand their product line \u2014 the Drennens said they worried about frustrating their customers by not having he items they needed.<\/p>\n

It was at about that point that the owners of the Brandywine Ace building \u2014 as well as the group renting it and running the Ace franchise \u2014 were looking to move on. With that sort of opportunity \u2014 and facility \u2014 available, as much as the Drennens wanted to stay in Unionville, the Pocopson site was just too good to pass up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An artist’s rendering what the new Brandywine Ace Hardware Pet & Feed will look like after renovations, scheduled for later this year.<\/p><\/div>\n

The new store is already showing signs \u2014 literally \u2014 of the transition. First, there\u2019s the new sign. Inside the store, the product mix is already being reworked \u2014 all the hardware always available at the Ace is still there, but now there\u2019s a wide range of supplies for horses, cattle and other farm needs. Expect to see a wider range of gift and leisure products, too.<\/p>\n

One thing that hasn\u2019t changed: the great employees from both outlets. All of the Unionville Feed & Pet employees and joining the Brandywine Ace team, and all of the current employees at Brandywine are being kept on as well.<\/p>\n

And there was never a doubt that the Drennens would continue their relationship with Ace Hardware \u2014 the store\u2019s customers have one of the highest rates of using the Ace Rewards card in the nation, plus Ace has been a strong marketer in recent years.<\/p>\n

In the coming months, pending some township approval, customers will see even more improvements, as the rear office space is renovated into retail space. About the only thing that won\u2019t be carrying over is the old lawn mower\/tractor sales and service operation \u2014 which had already closed before the transition. The store will continue to sell and service its full line of Stihl power equipment.<\/p>\n

In addition to a whole new exterior look, the store will add a second entrance along Pocopson Road. With the bigger interior \u2014 hopefully by this fall, pending approvals by the township \u2014 the plan is to offer new items, including clothing and an expanded gift area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Combines the best of old Unionville Feed & Pet, Brandywine Hardware stores By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times POCOPSON \u2014 It\u2019s kind of a no-lose scenario for local shoppers. If you\u2019ve always shopped at the Brandywine Ace, you\u2019ll find an increasing number of products, especially when it comes to feed and pet supplies \u2014 plus, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,183],"tags":[1635,1637,10,24,1636],"class_list":["post-10579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-business","tag-brandywine-ace","tag-hardware","tag-pocopson","tag-unionville","tag-unionville-feed-pet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}