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Ray's Food Place in Central Point is adding eight aisles of hardware Comment By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted Jun. 9, 2015 at 3:56 PM Updated Jun 9, 2015 at 4:40 PM By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted Jun. 9, 2015 at 3:56 PM Updated Jun 9, 2015 at 4:40 PM » Social News CENTRAL POINT — It may not be a one-stop-shop superstore, but Ray's Food Place is seeking to carve out a new niche for itself in Jackson County's third-largest town. The 31,030-square-foot store at 126 E. Pine St. is rearranging its mission and shelves to make room for an in-house Ace Hardware center, adding 14,000 new items. "There's no hardware store left in town, so we Central Point residents have to run to Medford for nails and screws," said Ray's spokesman Dan Gustafson. "There was a lack of offerings and an opportunity." The store is a test market of sorts for C&K Market, which operates 43 stores in Oregon and Northern California. Gustafson said CEO Karl Wissmann encountered a similar operation while traveling and thought it might work for C&K Market, which emerged from Chapter 11 protection in 2014. "We talked about doing an Ace partnership about 10 years ago," said Gustafson. "This kind of deal is not that unusual, but it fits with the way we do business in small markets." Ray's is dedicating 3,000 square feet, or eight aisles, to the makeover. "This is an average size Ray's market," Gustafson said. "We've rearranged the aisles and increased the number of shelves on aisles to keep up our selection. We did reduce some facings, but overall we kept all the products and even increased things in a number of categories." The hardware operation begins Friday, June 19, and requires about 20 additional staff members, he said. "We've hired people with hardware experience, but I don't have an exact number yet." The grocery store with 40 employees and the hardware unit will both operate 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. "All the people will check out in the front end whether they're buying steak or a box of nails," he said. Gustafson said C&K Market hopes to go into other smaller markets without hardware stores, but declined to specify which markets. "We'll have a period of three to six months to evaluate the return on investment and go from there," he said. Oak Brook, Ill.-based Ace Hardware is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world with 4,800 affiliated stores, including small-town grocers such as Ray's, and has 17 U.S. distribution centers. C&K acquired office space in Navigators Landing near the Medford airport in December 2012. Since Jan. 1, its 60-plus headquarters employees have occupied two buildings. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness , on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31 , and read his blog at www.mailtribune.com/EconomicEdge . By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted Jun. 9, 2015 at 3:56 PM Updated Jun 9, 2015 at 4:40 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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