At home, projects come in all shapes, sizes, and degrees of difficulty. Facing a do-it-yourself project can be intimidating, to say the least.

Simply walking into a supply store can be overwhelming, with aisles of hardware, tools, paint, and more to navigate through. For a business to have reliable people that can stand with you to provide guidance on materials and their uses makes all the difference.

For 47 years, Gloucester Supply and Ace Hardware, a local Ace Hardware at Hayes owned by the Cook family, has been serving the Gloucester community. They’re ready to help every customer who sets foot through their doors looking to tackle a DIY project.

According to Gloucester Supply and Ace Hardware manager Kati Cook, her goal when a customer comes in with questions is for “you to come back and feel like you’re talking to a friend … . It’s very important to me that we know what we’re doing so we don’t oversell you parts, or under sell you parts.”

I asked if I were a customer coming to Gloucester Supply looking to work on a deck, what could I expect? “What is the actual project you’re doing,” Cook will ask, in the hypothetical. “Are we actually putting a board in or are we repairing part of it?” Employees are trained to “know about products and how to help people,” she said, so that once the employee knows the project, they’re able to start you off in the right direction.

“Are you going to cut it out with your saw? What’s the saw you’re going to do that with,” she continues. “What’s going to be the best fastener for that? Is your joist broken?” Cook’s employees are going to be thorough with any materials that might be needed for your project, so when you’re ready to put your saw to wood, you won’t have to stop and run back to the store.

Once the board has been repaired and it’s time to match the new wood to the existing decking, Gloucester Supply offers both sealant and paint. The store has started selling Cabot “which is a really great deck sealant,” as well as Benjamin Moore, who “allows us to mix practically any other competitor’s colors with their paint,” giving customers an abundance of options for their needs.

More than just a supply store, Gloucester Supply and Ace Hardware strives to go above and beyond for their customers. For example, Cook states that if a customer needs assistance with product assembly, they’ll offer to put it together for them, whether bought from Gloucester Supply or not. Being an independently owned Ace Hardware allows Gloucester Supply to stock “the things that make sense” for the Gloucester area. This includes materials for rebuilding crab pots, crab trap ropes, and even bolts for docks, molding the store to fit the needs of the community.

Tackling a do-it-yourself project doesn’t have to feel like an impossible task, especially with the help of local businesses like Gloucester Supply and Ace Hardware who go above and beyond for the local community.

CHEYENNE FENTON / GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Gloucester Supply and Ace Hardware, Hayes, has been a fixture of the community for nearly 50 years and is a place to shop for all your do-it-yourself project needs. At right, Kati Cook, manager of the business, can assist with all of your DIY dreams.