Drillbrush at the 2024 Fall ACE Hardware 100th Anniversary Convention

Drillbrush has been a common feature at ACE Hardware conventions. Since our first show in Chicago in 2022, we’ve attended all but one ACE show since; talking to prospective retailers and offering great show specials on the floor.

The ACE shows have always been helpful and have increased our retail footprint greatly, which is why we were glad to be back where it all started for ACE’s 100 year anniversary show in 2024.

We’ll give you the deep dish on the sights, sounds, and memories of our trip to The Windy City and how well Drillbrush did at the show.

Day 1: Back in the Windy City

Driving into the Windy City!

Unlike previous shows, which ran Tuesday through Thursday, this show started on Thursday and ran until Saturday at noon. Two days are given prior for vendors to set up their booths, so we loaded up the Honda Pilot Black Edition with our stuff and made the 10-hour trek to Chicago from our base of operations in Marcy, NY.

Our daring Drillbrush team consisted of CAO Armin Pekmez, Amazon storefront manager Amar Pekmez, and yours truly; graphic designer and demonstrator John Cittadino.

It was cold and damp Tuesday morning with dark gray skies throughout the whole drive. In Ohio, the winds picked up enough to sway the vehicles and rain drenched the countryside. We later learned that a little ways behind us, a tornado had touch down, leading off what would be a week of multiple twisters for the state.

Things died down entering Indiana before we crossed the Chicago Skyway into the big city. Safely at the McCormick Place, we quickly unloaded the car and with just a few hours to spare on Tuesday, set up the booth.

John pulls the cart that carries the entirety of our booth!

Our banners, tablecloths, and set pieces were identical to previous shows, but we did make a few improvements. After a mishap with the adhesive melting on our retractable product banners, we swapped to a foldable display for retailers to view and scan.

We also added some dazzling LED light strands to the front of the table and the top of the banner. We set them to be a golden color and they looked great! From afar, it made the booth easy to find; just follow the Drillbrush yellow!

We wrapped up with minutes to spare and checked into the hotel; The Hyatt Regency. The hotel directly connects to the convention floor for easy access to the show and the rooms have a beautiful view of the Chicago Skyline, Soldier Field, and the vastness of Lake Michigan.

With our work complete for the day, we stopped by Walmart to pick up some supplies and got our first meal in the city; Giordano’s Pizza. Having already had deep dish from Lou Malnati’s our first time out in 2022, we ordered a tavern style pizza and their special parmesan crust margherita pizza. Both were very good and got us off on the right foot for the Chicago weekend.

Day 2: Shops, Sights, and the Big Screen

Macy's: Floors and floors of store!

Due to our quick work Tuesday, Wednesday was free to do whatever. We slept in a little after the long day prior and set out to do some sightseeing and shopping.

Among our stops were the computer parts retailer Microcenter and the absolutely massive Macy’s store. After exploring all 6 floors of the department store, we got lunch at Carbon Live Fire. After a vendor had offered him the other half of his burrito in 2022, Amar has been wanting to give the restaurant a try ever since, and it did not disappoint! 

We ended the day by catching a movie at the AMC Theater in Cicero. While Twisters may have been apt due to the storms in Ohio, we settled on the Nicolas Cage thriller Longlegs, which proved to be quite the interesting film. We took in some White Castle sliders and chicken rings and got ready for the big show!

Day 3 - The 100 Year Celebration Begins

Day 1 at the Drillbrush booth!

Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, we made our way down to the show. McCormick Place is a massive facility and they went all out. A large 100 stood at the entrance, for which attendees could walk through the zeros to enter the show floor. 

Guests were treated to large jumbotron dispensing ACE Hardware information and the rocking sounds of pop hits, both old and new. The Department 8O Patio had the barbeque running and the Dewalt, Milwaukee, Ego, and Toro booths had large balloons of their products. A show car of NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell was present on the main aisle with Craftsman and Children’s Miracle Network logos on it. Guests were greeted by The Blue Man Group. And in new arrivals, a stage was added to up the ante on product demos.

Outside of the main convention, the smaller center next to us was booked to be the ACE cafe, which featured hundreds of tables, selections ranging from burgers, to pizza, to churros, to gourmet fudge, as well as a Starbucks for good measure. Additionally, a convention for just ACE Hardware contractors was happening on a lower floor, some of which made their way up to the big event to catch the action.

Christopher Bell's Craftsman / ACE / Children's Miracle Network Toyota

Drillbrush had decent placement fairly close to the edge of a major traffic line. Sharkbite plumbing fittings was the endcap, with Eco-Flo drain cleaner to our right, and Willert Home Products line of toilet bowl cleaners and pest control items to our left. Opposite us was the US Stove Company and Matt Miller, our friend and booth neighbor from Orlando, returned with his Formula 1 Auto Care and other cleaners just down the aisle.

The Willert Home Products booth next to us was manned by Thomas “Thom” Johnson, an experienced salesman who chatted with us often throughout the week, including spinning some pretty entertaining tales. When things were slow, I was enlisted to watch the neighboring booth while he checked on other booths his company managed during the show. My baton-twirling routine with their line of fly swatters received much praise, and to repay the favor, he brought us lunch on the final day.

With a drawing of Cloudgate, or “The Bean” on our whiteboard, we received our retailers at the booth. Most came up simply to say they reordered or to tell us how well they were doing in their stores. Some, who only carried our Medium Yellow 4-2-O kit or 5-4-2-O Variety kit, decided to bring on the full warehouse line or add on the Ultra Stiff 4-2-O grill kit. With some new ACE retailers committing to carrying some of our kits, the show floor shut down for the day.

After the show, the three of us met up with a friend of ours that lives in the area. We stopped by Ricobene to grab some of their signature steak sandwiches, 

Day 4 - The Long Day And The Demo

Back at the Booth for Day 2!

Historically, the second day of the ACE show is the longest. But this year, the show let at 5pm, an hour earlier than other shows. It was still a lengthy 9 hour gauntlet where we addressed more retailers looking into carrying the Drillbrush Power Scrubber.

We saw more interesting sights around the show floor. The Snuggle Bear made an appearance, with samples of Snuggle being handed out. Likewise, a man in a gorilla costume made the rounds for Gorilla Glue, delightfully terrifying guests much like the commercials. Works of art were auctioned at the ACE Hardware / Children’s Miracle Network booth, and the New Arrivals section was a buzz with demos from companies like Ego and Prime.

John a few minutes before the Drillbrush Demo.

At 2:40pm, Amar and I made our way over to the Cleaning Department booth to perform our 15 minute Drillbrush demonstration. Sadly, a glut of incoming tasks prevented ACE staff from being on standby to help drum up a crowd for the presentation, so we had a smaller turnout for the demo. But those who did stop by liked what they saw and visited our booth for info.

The show drew to a close for the day with a nice treat for the ACE retailers; an exclusive Zak Brown Band concert at the Wintrust Arena. As for the Drillbrush team, we stuck to the most American way to celebrate a job well done; ordering Chick-fil-A to go and watching pro wrestling on TV. We turned in for the night in preparation of the final day.

Day 5 - End of the Show

Final Day! Everything must Go!

With a short four hour day to cap off the convention, we assumed our spots at the booth, took in the final retailers making their rounds, and started tearing through our last remaining sample kits as we networked with some vendors.

We passed out kits to hot sauce makers, jerky sellers, some individuals from a booth that sold copper piping, and even the team at the Sprecher Craft Soda booth. I did my last tour in the neighboring booth and our friend Thom gifted us some chicken sandwiches for the road. Shortly after,the call came in; the 2024 ACE Hardware Fall show was over.

Clean up was quick and easy. Within 30 minutes, the three of us packed up the booth onto our rolling cart. All we left behind was a singular Ultra Stiff 4-2-O kit as a gift to the custodial staff, and our whiteboard, which after several years of service, had accumulated enough wear and tear that it needed to be retired.

After some congestion on the elevators, we made it back to the car, loaded everything up, and drove back to Marcy, NY.

Unlike the ride here, it was a bright, sunny, and clear trip back to New York. After a quick rest stop at the Shake Shack on the thruway, we arrived at the warehouse at 1am, put the stuff away, and went home for some much needed sleep.

See You Next Show

We were happy to be able to help ACE Hardware celebrate their 100th anniversary in style and thank them for putting on a great show!

The next ACE show will be back in San Antonio, Texas. We enjoyed our stay last time, so we’re looking forward to Spring 2025.

If you want to read about our last convention experience, check out our blog on the Orlando Show. Or you can read about the last time we were in Chicago here.