Ace really is the place.
Flabby old John Madden used to do ads for Ace Hardware , and he'd say their slogan, "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware folks" and you'd figure it was just an ad slogan, but sometimes slogans are really meaningful. As faithful readers know, I have been searching ad nauseum for a snow shovel. What at first seemed like a simple task in February had become something of a chore to the extent of it being a quest, like the Holy Grail or one of those dates with a woman that I keep hearing about. Having visited several so-called "Big Box" retailers (spelled The Home Depot and Lowe's ), a K-Mart and Sears, I turned my lonely eyes to an Ace Hardware store at 129 N. White Horse Pike in Hammonton, NJ ; a few miles from where I work. I wandered in after lunch today and was greeted by a red-shirted employee who asked (as had the big box people) "How can I help you?" I didn't see any shovels near the entrance, so my question was tinged with...