Dry cleaning, laundromat business passes from one family to another
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March 2, 2026
MARSHFIELD – After 63 years as Hiller’s True Value Hardware, the Marshfield staple is going a different direction.
Phil Hiller, who owns the hardware store along with his wife, Jill, said the business will soon become Hiller’s Ace Hardware.
The couple, who have owned the hardware store since 1992, said customers can expect some “organized chaos” until the full transition is complete.
“We are hoping that happens sometime in May,” Phil Hiller said. “You may notice some of our shelves start to look a little bare from time to time. We’re currently closing out our ‘old’ inventory as our ‘new’ Ace inventory begins to arrive, so things may look a little different over the next few months.”
Once the transition is complete, Phil said customers can expect the “same local ownership, the same great staff and the same great service.”
“It will just be more of everything you love about shopping at Hiller’s,” he said.
As the transition progresses, Phil said in the near future, customers will soon notice several improvements and benefits, including:
- Decreased prices thanks to Ace’s massive buying power
- A larger selection and deeper inventory
- Access to exclusive brands like Weber and Traeger
- Even more top national brands – Milwaukee Tool, DeWalt, EGO, STIHL, Craftsman, Big Green Egg, Meat Church, YETI, Owala, Stanley, Oakley, Goodr, Maui Jim, Costa and Benjamin Moore paint
- A stronger rewards program with Ace Rewards
- Expanded promotions and national deals
- Buy online, pick up in store options through the Ace Hardware app
Other reasons for the change
Phil said several other factors influenced the transition to Ace Hardware, including True Value’s bankruptcy filing in October 2024, which prompted them to carefully consider their next steps.
“When my dad started things 63 years ago, it was pretty [early] in True Value’s history,” he said. “During its heyday, there were probably about 6,000 stores. Over time, there was a series of business decisions that took place where True Value wasn’t quite the powerhouse it used to be.”
Despite seeing “the writing on the wall,” Phil said they temporarily stayed with True Value because of their loyalty to the organization.
“It was kind of like a divorce where all of a sudden we were completely blindsided [by the bankruptcy filing],” he said. “We all had stock in the business and lost on that deal.”
Though Phil said True Value leaders thought that with the right amount of effort, they could rebound – “I was on the fence saying, ‘How long is this going to take to do that – to get us back into a good position?’”
“Then Ace came along because they obviously knew what was going on,” he said. “Ace went out trying to court the better stores, and that’s what got us started looking at them as a partner. We ultimately made the final decision to take the leap.”
A storied history
Before relocating to the Marshfield area to start Hiller’s True Value Hardware, Phil said his parents were living in Schiller Park, Illinois, where his father was an industrial arts teacher.
Despite living near Chicago, his parents both grew up in Janesville.
“Basically, my parents decided they didn’t want to raise the five children they had at that time in that [Chicago] environment,” he said. “My dad had a wild and crazy dream to be in business, one way or another.”
Though he would never have considered his dad much of a sportsman, Phil said he was considering opening a sporting goods type of store.
However, he said his dad instead discovered a hardware store in Marshfield that had gone bankrupt and was available.
“Knowing he’d have to pour a lot of his time and life into creating a business, he wanted to make sure there were things for kids and for the family to do,” he said. “He had done surveys to many different communities and ended up in Marshfield.”
With the decision made, Phil said his dad retired from the teaching world and moved the family to Marshfield.
Starting with virtually nothing and supporting a family of five, Phil said his dad worked diligently to build the business.
“It was continual growth over the years, with a move from the original location after a year or two, and then an expansion in the second location in 1975,” he said.
Phil said Hiller’s remained in its second location for about a decade after the expansion before growth prompted a new build.
“When Dad retired, Jill and I bought him out,” he said. “In the mid-1990s, we ended up making the plan to build a new building just five blocks north of where we were, just to expand what we were doing already. We were completely out of space, so that’s how we ended up where we are right now [at 751 S. Central Ave.].”
By age 13, Phil said he was already attending buying markets and industry events, already sensing he was meant to take over the family business.
“Over the years, I came to realize I really didn’t feel like I needed to go to college when I already had a job at the hardware store,” he said. “I knew pretty much from the start that I was a merchant at heart.”
Into the future
Phil said customers will notice a slightly updated store layout with the transition, marking the first major change in about 10 years.
“The aisles are going to change, so we will pick up linear footage,” he said. “Throughout it all, we will remain open, so I urge customers to be patient as we work through the transition to Ace Hardware.”
After more than a year of planning behind the scenes, Phil said they finally informed their staff at Hiller’s Christmas party.
“I had a big vendor reveal party because we were changing vendors to Ace, so that was the kickoff for my people to know,” he said. “I wanted to make sure we were going through with the change before letting the word out. I didn’t want rumors flying all around while I was just ‘investigating.’”
Phil said he made the announcement public in an early February Facebook post.
“There is a little dance we have to do to get everything to work,” he said. “Besides transitioning products, I’ll be working on some signs to put up around the store informing newcomers what’s to come and that we’re gearing up for better things to come.”
Phil said Hiller’s will also have some sales going on to clear the “old” inventory.
“It’s also important to inform people that in-house True Value gift cards [purchased at Hiller’s] will be honored forever, even though we’re changing to Ace,” he said. “I’m sure people are wondering about that, but those will be honored.”
To keep up to date with the changes moving forward, Phil said to check Hiller’s Facebook page.
