After the retirement of longtime president and founder Richard Hesse in 1973, Ace was sold to its retailers, becoming a retailer-owned cooperative.

By the end of the decade, the company built warehouses in Northern California and Georgia to support its expansion into the Western and Southeastern states.

Ace relocated its corporate offices to Oak Brook, Illinois, the following year and opened a distribution center in Addison.

Needing more space to support its operations in the Midwest, Ace opened a 1.1 million–square-foot distribution center in Princeton, Illinois, in February to serve more than four hundred fifty stores.

[14] Ace surpassed $3 billion in annual hardline sales[clarification needed] and $100 million in net profits in 2003.

[20] The following year, Ace's president and CEO John Venhuizen launched 20/20 Vision, a strategy to use network power[vague] to provide better customer service.

[26] In 2016, J. D. Power ranked Ace Hardware "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Home Improvement Retail Stores" for the tenth consecutive year.

[27] In 2017, Ace announced a restructuring of its East Coast retail support network that closed facilities in Baltimore, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Distribution operations were absorbed by a new retail support center in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, and the expansion of one in Wilton, New York.

[18] In July 2017, a 10,000–square foot customer care center was opened at Page Field in Fort Myers, Florida.

[33] In August 2022, grocery chain Food City opened its own Ace Hardware location in Piney Flats, Tennessee.

[37] In September 2023, the company opened its new headquarters, a 250,000–square-foot campus in Oak Brook that previously housed the McDonald's corporate offices.

[42] In recent years, Ace Hardware has invested heavily in residential repair services once it saw younger customers shift away from DIY.

[48] In June 2023, Ace acquired Unique Indoor Comfort's portfolio of 12 independent heating & air, plumbing, and electrical home services companies from Atlanta-based private equity firm Grove Mountain.

[49] In February 2024, Ace acquired Unique Indoor Comfort, an HVAC service company in the Boston area.

[52] Celebrities Connie Stevens (from 1974 to 1978) and Suzanne Somers (from 1979 to 1982) starred in TV commercials for Ace Hardware.

[56] In 2002, home improvement expert Lou Manfredini was hired to serve as Ace's "Helpful Hardware Man" and media spokesman.

[14] In 2010, Tim-Br Mart Group acquired licensing rights to the Ace brand name in Canada.

[63] In March 2020, Peavey Mart acquired Ace Canada, as well as the master license and began to service the 107 Canadian locations.

[68] In January 2006, Benny Gaon and Shlomo Zbeda bought Ace Israel, outbidding former owner Gad Zeevi.

[69][70] By 2007, the company announced plans to expand into Turkey and debuted its IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

[13] In June 2014, Ace Hardware International announced an agreement to be a wholesale supplier for New Zealand's Mitre 10.

[81] 29 years passed, it was announced the Ace brand left the country on December 31, 2024 and eventually rebranded to Azko from January 1, 2025.

The following year, the company opened its first outsourcing and storage facility in Shanghai and moved purchasing operations from Hong Kong.

[90] Alongside the Eugene Group, it attempted to expand into South Korea in 2018 but was blocked by the country's Ministry of SMEs and Startups.