Gina Schaefer

Founder, CEO, and selling owner of A Few Cool Hardware Stores, an employee-owned group of Ace Hardware stores in the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Northern Virginia region. Schaefer is also an author and speaker known for building a community-focused retail business and transitioning it through an ESOP.

Employee Ownership Gave a Local Hardware Chain Its Succession Plan

Gina Schaefer, founder and co-owner of A Few Cool Hardware Stores, used her keynote at the 2026 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum to present employee ownership as a succession strategy for community-rooted businesses. After building a 14-store hardware company in the Washington region, Schaefer said selling to employees through an ESOP was a way to preserve the company’s culture, reward the workers who built it, and keep ownership tied to the communities the stores serve.

The Aspen InstituteJun 9, 20266 min read