On
April 1st of this year Bjorkman’s Ace Hardware was sold to the
Laskowski family, who owns and operates eight stores in Lake County
including: Waukegan on Lewis Avenue;
Libertyville; Round Lake; Grayslake; Mundelein; Antioch; Gurnee and Wauconda. On April 1st of this year the
Laskowski Family expanded their operations in McHenry with the purchase of Bjorkman’s Ace Hardware located at
4520 W Crystal Lake Road.
Steve Bjorkman and Rich
Laskowski at 4520 W Crystal Lake Road
The
Bjorkman Family and Bjorkman’s Ace Hardware have been synonymous with the City
of McHenry for more than 67 years. On
July 29 of this year an honorary street sign dedication ceremony was held to honor and celebrate the contributions of
the Bjorkman Family as business owners as well as being an integral part of the
fabric of the City of McHenry for three generations. The sign is located at Lillian Street and
Crystal Lake Road.
The
new owners of Bjorkman’s Ace Hardware, the Laskowski Family, share many of the
same values, qualities and beliefs of the importance of being a part of the
community as the Bjorkman’s have continually demonstrated over the past 67
years. I had the opportunity to sit down
and speak with Steve Bjorkman and Rich Laskowski a couple of weeks following
the consummation of the purchase of the store at 4520 W Crystal Lake Road.
CONVERSATION WITH STEVE
BJORKMAN
Now that you’ve officially
completed the sale of your business and have had about a week or so to digest
everything-what are your thoughts, feelings and has it sunk in?
Steve
stated his earliest memories as a child were being a part of and around his
family’s original store, which was located on Riverside Drive. Steve said his grandparents lived above the
store on Riverside Drive, which was approximately 1,500 square feet. He and his brother Craig would go to school
and work in the afternoons at the store.
Can you provide a glimpse of
the next phase of your life?
Steve
stated both his children live out of state
and one of his primary goals is to spend more time with his family. He also intends to spend more time at his
family’s home in Southern Wisconsin but has no plans to leave the City of
McHenry in the near future.
From the time you first
considered the sale of your business up until you decided that is what you were
definitely going to do-what thought processes did you go through? How tough of a decision was it? How did you decide who you were going to sell
your business to and what factors/process did you consider/utilize?
Steve
stated it was an extremely tough decision to sell the business and he and Craig
were unsure of the marketability of the store due to its size. A typical Ace prototype store is 8-10,000
square feet, and Bjorkman’s Ace Hardware on Crystal Lake Road is 30,000 square
feet and employs 50 people.
“We
wanted to make sure whoever bought and owned it was a good fit for our
staff. That was a very important part.”
(Steve
Bjorkman)
Steve
reiterated how wonderful his staff is and it was a priority for he and his
brother Craig that the new owners were a fit with their staff as well as the
McHenry community. Steve stated the average
employee tenure at 4520 W Crystal Lake Road is quite considerable
with most full-time employees working in the store more than 15 years and other
than Steve and Craig one their longest tenured employees has been with the company for nearly 40 years!
Can you provide a brief
history from the inception of Bjorkman’s Ace Hardware to the present and take
me through the various stages of growth/timeline from the company’s inception
on Riverside Drive to Century Plaza to the current location on Crystal Lake
Road?
Steve
stated his grandfather Walter Bjorkman opened the first store on Riverside
Drive, 1,500 square-feet, in 1948.
Steve’s father, Stanley Bjorkman, commenced working at the Riverside
Drive location six months after it opened.
Steve
stated his father was concerned about the long-term viability of the business
due to the size of the City of McHenry at that time and the fact it was
primarily a resort town.
W.B. Bjorkman and Son Hardware/Paints circa 1947
(Riverside Drive)
W.B. Bjorkman and Son
Hardware/Paints circa 1947 (Riverside Drive)
A pictorial history of
Bjorkman’s Ace Hardware
W.B.
Bjorkman and Son grew and moved to Century Plaza on Elm Street. Initially they moved into an 8,000
square-foot space but expanded at that location to a total of 16,000 square
feet and during the latter part of the 1980’s were quickly growing out of that
location.
Ace Hardware-Century Plaza
circa 1964
Steve
stated his father bought property on Crystal Lake Road but was very concerned
because there were no businesses on Crystal Lake Road at that time and the
location was considered on the “outskirts of town.” Steve stated his father had purchased the
corner of Crystal Lake Road and Royal Drive and the post office, which was
located at 1306 N Green Street at the time, was also growing and agreed to buy
the northwest corner of Royal Drive and Crystal Lake Road from Stanley
Bjorkman. Steve said his father thought
Bjorkman’s Ace Hardware would have a better chance of being successful on
Crystal Lake Road if the Post Office was immediately adjacent. The current location of Bjorkman’s Ace
Hardware at 4520 W Crystal Lake Road, 30,000 square feet, was constructed in
1989.
When did you (Steve and
Craig) decide you were going to make this business your career and what factors
played into that decision?
“Craig
and I were always in the hardware store in our youth and it was kind of like a
natural progression.”
(Steve
Bjorkman)
Steve
stated his dad retired in 1988 and prior to the construction of the store at
4520 W Crystal Lake Road, both in their mid-twenties, he and Craig took over
and ran the store at that time. Stanley
Bjorkman passed away in 2009.
What did your parents
teach/instill in you about running a business; being successful and being part
of a larger community? Quality customer
service is obviously something you have instilled in everyone who works at the
store and anyone who ever has come into the store can attest to that.
Steve
stated his father always told he and Craig to treat customers well and offer
exceptional customer service. Steve said
his dad was not a big believer in advertising but more in “word of mouth.” Steve’s father was of the mind set if those
two things were done the business will grow.
“You
should give back to the community.”
(Steve
Bjorkman)
Steve
said over the years they donated merchandise to numerous organizations;
sponsored sports teams and never wanted to say no to anyone even though there
was an overwhelming demand from many groups and organizations.
“Obviously we love McHenry. We love the town. We really enjoyed doing business in
McHenry. It was a pleasure. I just would like to thank the thousands of
customers who supported us over three generations.”
(Steve
Bjorkman)
THANK YOU BJORKMAN FAMILY FOR
MORE THAN SIX DECADES OF GROWING YOUR BUSINESS WITH THE CITY OF MCHENRY AND THE
COMMITMENT; SERVICE AND DEDICATION TO THE MCHENRY COMMUNITY!!!!
As
a testament to everything the Bjorkman Family stands for, their commitment to
the City of McHenry for over 67 years, exemplifying what it means to be a
responsible corporate citizen and active community member, the City of McHenry
City Council approved an honorary street sign for the Bjorkman Family at
Lillian Street and Crystal Lake Road.
The dedication ceremony was held on July 29, 2016.
Laskowski
Family posts on freestanding sign at 4520 W Crystal Lake Road honoring Bjorkman
Family
CONVERSATION WITH RICH
LASKOWSKI
Am I correct that your father
Rich Laskowski Sr. was the former CEO of Ace Hardware Corporation? Is he still actively involved in your
business operations?
Rich told me his family owns and operates eight
stores in Lake County and now the store at 4520 W Crystal Lake Road in the City
of McHenry. Rich said his parents opened
their first hardware store on July 1, 1962 in Round Lake, Illinois. Originally, the store was a hardware store
and was then rebranded as an Ace Hardware Store.
In 1987 Rich Laskowski Sr. was elected to be on
the board of Ace Hardware Corporation.
Ace Hardware is a cooperative, therefore owned by all Ace Hardware
Dealers (Store Owners). Rich Laskowski
Sr. served on the Ace Hardware Board from 1987-1998 and was Chairman of the
Board for the the last six years
(1992-1998).
Rich explained that prior to his father opening
the original Round Lake store in 1962 he lived in Chicago and would take the
train from Chicago to Downers Grove since he was 10 years old to work in his
uncle’s hardware store. Rich Laskowski
Sr. went to college to study architecture and planned to become an
architect. However he got married, moved
to Round Lake and opened the Laskowski’s first store, which in 1962 was 4,000
square feet. Since that time the Round
Lake Ace Hardware Store was expanded three times and is currently 78,000 square
feet. Rich Laskowski Sr. works full-time
as President in the family business which he and his wife started in 1962.
How
many of your family members are actively involved in operating your stores? What values does your family instill in your
employees in order for your stores to remain successful?
Rich told me six family members are currently
involved in the Laskowksi Family Business in some manner, including Rich
Laskowski Sr., President; himself (Rich serves as Vice President of Operations);
and his sister Debbie is Vice President of Financing and Advertising of their
nine stores. Rich stated the values they
focus on are: honesty, integrity, and
allowing their team to grow their knowledge.
Rich said they place a great deal of resources
into employee training and said they are always open to change. He said the Ace Corporation maxim is: “Amaze every customer every time,” and
reiterated his family’s belief in embracing that maxim. Rich stated one of their company’s
goals/sayings is to “Fix a Dream!”
Rich stated they continually learn as they expand
and purchase new stores. He said they
purchased their Gurnee store in 1986 and their Libertyville and Mundelein
stores in 1990 and they learn from each store purchase. He reiterated they are not going to stop doing
something, at a recently-purchased store, just because it isn’t done at their
other stores.
He said they believe in going slow and making
adjustments as-needed over time if it’s in the best interest of that particular
store. He went on to state they use good
ideas from one store and may implement in other stores.
What
made you interested in purchasing Bjorkman’s Ace Hardware? Am I correct that you have chosen to maintain
the current employees/management team currently in place at Bjorkman’s Ace
Hardware?
Rich told me he and his family have known the Bjorkmans for
many years, as well as the store manager Gary, therefore the decision to
purchase the store was fairly easy. Rich
also stated it was his intention to keep the current Bjorkman employee team in
place:
“Why
would we do anything but keep everybody?”
(Rich
Laskowski)
He said they were attracted to the Bjorkman Ace
Hardware store due to its size and location and he and his family knew what the
Bjorkman’s stood for as they share those same core values.
In 2013 Laskowski Ace Hardware in Libertyville
was recognized for its commitment to philanthropy by the Ace Hardware
Foundation and one of five national winners of Ace’s Regional Store
Contest. The Libertyville store raised
$4,300 for the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
In
2014 you partnered with the Fuller Center for the Housing Hero Project of Lake
County. Can you give me a brief overview
of what this entailed? Does this
community involvement from one of your stores provide an incentive/goal for
your other stores to do similar projects and form partnerships in the community
in which the respective store is located?
How did philanthropy/community involvement become such an integral part
of your business?
Rich said last year his company raised $22,000,
and the Chicago Ace Dealers contributed $291,000 to the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of
Chicago. In fact the fourth floor of the
hospital is named in honor of Ace Corporation.
Rich stated they donate to area organizations, schools, as well as
Habitat for Humanity.
The 10th Annual BBQ Cook-Off
Contest & Bake Sale was held on September 10, 2016 at 4520 Crystal Lake
Road in McHenry and proceeds will benefit Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s
Hospital of Chicago. The following are
photographs taken at the event!
Thank
you to all who coordinated the event; donated their time at the event; those
who participated in the BBQ Cookoff (14 entrants); judges for the cookoff;
patrons who attended to help raise money for a great cause; representative from
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; those who contributed
baked goods; food sold at the event and merchandise which was raffled to raise
money, and Bjorkman’s and Laskowski Ace Hardware!
Change
is never easy and the Bjorkman Family has certainly been a household name in
the City of McHenry for more than half a century. At the same time your family has a similar
reputation throughout Lake County for many of the same reasons. What do you want the people of the City of
McHenry to know about the Laskowski Family and how you operate/conduct
business?
“We’re very familiar with the City of McHenry and
have shopped here for years and we’re family-oriented!”
(Rich
Laskowski)
WELCOME LASKOWSKI FAMILY TO THE CITY
OF MCHENRY; WE LOOK FORWARD TO AN ONGOING PARTNERSHIP WITH ACE HARDWARE-4520 W
CRYSTAL LAKE ROAD!!!
SAVE THE DATES:
FREE BACK TO FAMILY OUTDOOR MOVIE NIGHT
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MANUFACTURING TRADE AND INDUSTRY CAREER
EXPO SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 MCHENRY EAST CAMPUS: 1012 N
GREEN STREET: 6:00 PM TO 8:00 PM. http://www.mfgday.com/events/2016/mchenry-community-high-school-district-156
JETT’S HEATING AND AIR INC. AND SIDELINE
MARKETING SPORTS MEMORABILIA: “BACK THE
BLUE CHARITY GOLF OUTING”: SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 BOONE CREEK GOLF CLUB 8:30 AM TO 6:00 PM: PROCEEDS WILL GO TO PURCHASING SAFETY GEAR
FOR THE CITY OF MCHENRY POLICE DEPARTMENT AND CO-RECIPIENTS RECEIVING MONETARY
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GREEN STREET CRUISE NIGHTS SPONSORED BY
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SHOPPING EVERY THURSDAY MAY 19-SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 4-7 PM: http://www.mchenrydowntown.biz/events
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OF FALL TASTE FEST OCTOBER 9, 2016: 1:00 TO 4:30 PM: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2016-flavors-of-fall-taste-fest-presented-by-mchenry-downtown-business-association-tickets-27643861534?aff=es2
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MCHENRY DOWNTOWN BUSINESS
ASSOCIATION: DOWNTOWN CHRISTMAS WALK AND
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THANK YOU TO ALL BUSINESSES AND
ORGANIZATIONS WHICH HAVE MADE A COMMITMENT TO GIVE BACK TO OUR COMMUNITY, SUPPORT/VOLUNTEER
AT A LOCAL EVENT, AND/OR LOCATE THEIR BUSINESS AND/OR EXPAND IN THE CITY OF
MCHENRY…EVERY ONE CONTRIBUTES!!!!!
Please help us keep our community
vibrant and strong to the greatest extent practical for businesses, residents
and visitors alike!
The City Council is continually evaluating ways to assist in promoting
business, tourism, community events and service! Economic development is an ongoing effort the
City is committed to and is a community-wide effort. At the end of the day the entire community
and everyone who is a part of it benefits!
Douglas P. Martin
Director of Economic Development
City of McHenry
333 S Green Street
McHenry, IL 60050
815.363.2110 (d)
815.363.2173 (f)
815.790.4752 (c)
