The Unlikely Hardware Store Chain That Sells Pie (At Select Locations)
When you're updating your kitchen, you're likely to go to the hardware store for supplies. Perhaps you want one of the trendy kitchen paint colors to try in 2026, like the Hazelnut Crunch from Clark+Kensington. So, you head to Ace Hardware for the paint, and as you head to the register, you see a freezer full of pies. The hardware store is the last place you might think to go for a pie, but this chain is selling them in some of its stores.
Some Ace Hardware franchises started making waves on social media a few years ago when they forged partnerships with The Pie Company. In the comments of a Facebook post, there were a few natural reactions to hearing this news. "Frozen pies at a hardware store?????" one person said. Another commenter responded, "[The] best part is you bake it, your house smells good, and everyone thinks [it's] homemade." In one Reddit thread, someone commented, "I love the ACE pies, we eat them all the time when I don't have time to bake from scratch." Another echoed the sentiment, "The pies are really good ... much better than what is generally available in grocery stores." On TikTok, one user calls these pies her favorite, shouting out the buttery crust.
According to an Ace Hardware employee's interview with the Reno Gazette Journal, one store in Reno, Nevada, sells pies year-round. The strawberry-rhubarb pie seems to be a popular flavor, while the seasonal pumpkin pie becomes the top seller around Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Pie Company desserts are so popular that the North Valleys Ace Hardware in Lemmon Valley sells more than 500 during the week before Thanksgiving.
About The Pie Company and where to get one of its pies
As an independently owned business based in Ripon, California, The Pie Company has been creating handmade pies since 2008. The 10-inch desserts come in at least 14 flavors, including classics like apple, blueberry, and peach, and more unique options like apricot, boysenberry, and nectarine. According to an employee on Facebook, the pie maker's location is important: "It's mostly all fruit orchards out there! all that fruit is harvested and added to their pies!" The unfortunate part is that these desserts aren't available everywhere.
If you're lucky enough to live on the West Coast, you have a good chance of finding one of The Pie Company's 62 retail locations throughout Northern California. You might even consider making a special road trip to visit one. It appears that all the locations have frozen pies with instructions for baking them at home, so there's no need for hacks that take store-bought pie up a notch. A handful also sell some that are already baked.
Outside of those locations, The Pie Company sells pies at about 200 partner locations, including more than 150 Ace Hardware stores, as well as farmstands, grocers, and other hardware-related retailers. These venues stretch as far north as Orlando, California, and as far south as San Diego. Some even extend beyond the state line into Nevada, mostly around Lake Tahoe and Reno. Here's to hoping that one day the business will expand so everyone across the nation can get their pies at their local Ace Hardware.