Jules Pieri Celebrates 9th Anniversary of The Grommet with Ace Hardware Announcement
In October 2017, Jules Pieri (BFA ‘82) celebrated the 9th anniversary of The Grommet, a product launch site and e‑commerce enterprise.
The anniversary celebration included an announcement that Ace Hardware had acquired a majority stake in The Grommet, helping connect Grommet products to consumers through co-op retailers.
Pieri spoke to David Brancaccio about the new partnership for NPR’s Marketplace Morning Report. In describing the synergy between The Grommet and Ace, Pieri said:
“I think it’s incredibly cool that this company is 93-years old and is defying the odds and succeeding. I’m gonna learn a ton from that. They’ve had seven straight years of same store growth. And they’re profitable. Those profits go back to local communities. And on our side, because we’re an 85-person company, we’re very fast, very nimble. We can take tremendous risks that would’t make sense for Ace to take without our ability to test these products and validate them digitally. And that’s where it all works.”
https://jules.thegrommet.com/2017/10/18/happy-birthday-to-us/