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It all began back in 1976. Our
country was going through a terrible recession.
Our local economy was devastated. At this
time, our founder, Vincent Costello was forced
to close his air conditioning and heating
contracting business. Looking for a means
to support his wife and 10 children, Vinnie
stumbled upon a business opportunity, a retail
hardware store. Originally opened 1973, it
was a small, neglected, under stocked store of
barely over 2,000 square feet located in Deer
Park. With no previous retail experience
and no other options, Vinnie courageously
embarked on a journey that few would ever have
dared. Sales were dismal and the store was
in desperate need of attention. He worked
every day for 5 years and managed to make the
store profitable. While most would have
been satisfied with this miraculous feat, Vinnie
was determined to grow beyond that one small
store.
By refinancing his home, he opened a second
location in 1982. This 5,000 foot
industrial store was also located in Deer Park,
on the other side of town.
In 1988, another opportunity arose. A
shopping center was being constructed in the
little-known town of Nesconset. It wasn’t
the most populated area, but Vinnie had lived
there for over ten years and he thought that the
residents of Nesconset would respond well to a
neighborhood hardware store. Did they
ever! The 4,000 square foot store was an
instant success, managing to be profitable from
the day it opened. Over the next 4 years,
the success of that store helped fuel the
expansion of the company to larger stores in
Farmingdale and Central Islip.
During those early growing years, his children
worked in the business and contributed to its
success. Our dad taught us the
importance of taking care of our customers.
“Treat them like family”, he would say.
He taught us how to solve their
problems and how to learn from them.
Most importantly, he taught us that the
most sacred bond between us and our customers is
trust.
In 2001, with Vinnie’s encouragement and
guidance, six of his children opened a 25,000
square foot store in Bellmore. This store
was the size of all of the other locations
combined, it was huge. I remember thinking
that we would never be able to find enough
products to fill it. It took some time,
but eventually we had a successful home center.
This hardware/home center concept has continued
over the past nine years in Massapequa Park,
Farmingdale, Bethpage, New Hyde Park, Island
Park, Centereach, West Islip, North Massapequa,
Northport, West Babylon, Garden City Park,
Smithtown, and East Islip.
Our vision is to grow Costello’s throughout Long
Island, and beyond.
Michael Costello, President of Costello’s Ace
Hardware
We invite you visit any one of our 18 fully stocked stores.
For more information call
(631) 243-2220 or
send us email. |
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