• Business: Ace Hardware of Orange City
• Location: Orange City, Florida
• Owner: Tim McMillon
• Years in business: 1 under current owner

Tim McMillon never planned on running a hardware store, but today he now owns and operates Ace Hardware of Orange City, Florida and Paladin Point of Sale has helped make his first year in the hardware business successful.

“I had never been in hardware in my life. I was sitting at lunch with the store owner, a longtime friend, Richard Anderson, and I offered to buy the store from him as a joke. The joke turned into reality,” Tim says, explaining how he got into the hardware business.

Tim uses Paladin Point of Sale to help him run Ace Hardware of Orange City.

Tim didn’t step into retail hardware on a whim. He is the owner of an auto recycling business started by his grandfather and is in the process of passing it on to his son, Jordon. So, while he may be new to retail hardware, he has a PhD in inventory management gained from a lifetime of recycling auto parts.

“Spent 55 of my 56 years recycling auto parts, so I know inventory,” he says, adding that he uses Paladin’s Suggested Ordering to compile his weekly orders and ship them off to Ace Hardware. “Paladin’s something that’s made life a lot easier.”

Inventory that used to take an hour or more now takes roughly 10 minutes because Tim and his staff monitor their inventory habitually. His ability to patrol his store aisles, scan products and print out updated bin tags not only allows him to keep track of his inventory, it also easily keeps its prices current.

Outdoor living is big in Florida and a staple of sales at Tim’s store.

Tim took over Ace of Orange City in January 2024 and he spent about three months working with the previous owner, who had installed Paladin Point of Sale. That initiation and Paladin’s ease of use helped make Tim’s first year as owner successful, despite a major overhaul. Close to 90% of the store’s aisles were reconfigured to make them more customer friendly.

Even considering its new ownership and extensive reworking, Tim says his store made approximately $2.4 million in sales in 2024. He said Paladin Point of Sale helped fuel that success.

“Paladin is a very great product. It’s made taking over this business a lot easier,” he explains. “It’s easy and friendly to work with. Support is great. If it wasn’t for the support, I wouldn’t know what I’d do.”

Paladin Support is ultimately responsive and makes it easy for stores to reach out for help. Paladin provides online Chat Support for quick answers to simple questions and in-depth support both through Paladin Point of Sale and Paladin’s online Help Portal, which contains knowledge base articles, training videos, Paladin University webinars, and information about Paladin’s latest updates.