It's not a cooperative like REI or other much-loved stores are cooperatives. In the case of REI, the end customers are the members. In Ace's case, the store o

It's not a cooperative like REI or other much-loved stores are cooperatives. In the case of REI, the end customers are the members. In Ace's case, the store owners are the members. So in the example of REI, it's a cooperative but there is still a central control and consistency between stores. Between Ace chains, the only thing common is the word "Ace" and some fraction of Ace-branded products in the store. Some chains have tons of them, some have very little. The "Ace cooperative" exerts very little control over the stores. The cooperative is mostly about branding, not about products or quality.