Corporate Retail Operations Intern Summer 2026, Full Time / Paid / 12 Weeks

Corporate Retail Operations Intern

Compensation Details : $22.00 per hour

Why Should You Join Our Team?

We live our values - W.E.L.I.G.H.T (Winning, Excellence, Love, Integrity, Gratitude, Humility, and Teamwork). Gratitude. Humility. Love. You don't often see values like these in most corporate statements, but Ace is different. These things are important to us. They represent our commitment to the company, our employees, to Ace retailers and to the Ace brand.

Job Description :

About this Role : We are looking for a collaborative business partner with exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving skills to support the growth and development of our 5,000+ domestic stores and to optimize the process to open our 170+ new stores. As the Corporate Retail Operations Intern you will research, develop and implement processes for one or more critical business capabilities to support our Field Team. Our field team is made up of 225+ team members that are supporting the day-to-day activities of our stores. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with leaders across sales, merchandising, supply chain, customer service, accounting, IT and other functional departments. Your work will ensure that all Ace internal departments are aligned with our direction and strategy. You will partner directly with our Operations, Project Management and New Business teams to ensure that the processes you build are consistent, repeatable and scalable for our business. Ultimately, you will gain broad experience in general business operations and exposure to multiple business functions.

The candidate will support our vision to be the most helpful field organization in Retail and investment opportunity of choice by :

• Research business capabilities needed to support project remodels or new store growth
• Connect cross-functionally with key stakeholders to complete projects
• Evaluate Retail Readiness site (support platform for the field teams) and provide input, ideas and partake in updates
• Participate in weekly team meetings and share work updates
• Develop standard operating procedures and documents
• Provide support to all teams within the department

The ideal intern will possess the following :

Why Ace?

Ace Hardware (headquartered in Oak Brook, IL) is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world with over 5,800 locally owned and operated stores in approximately 60 countries. Since 1924, Ace has become a part of local communities around the world and known as the place with the Helpful Hardware Folks.

Ace has retained its #5 position in the annual Franchise Times Top 400 List in 2023. Unmatched customer service is a cornerstone of the Ace Hardware brand. We are a 100-year-old retailer that supports its owners with programs that leverage their local expertise, giving them a distinct advantage over their big box competitors and has resulted in Ace retailers being named by JD Powers #1 in Customer Satisfaction with Home Improvement Retailers, 16 out of 18 years. The Helpful Spirit transcends the enterprise with Ace Hardware Corporation consistently ranking amongst the top workplaces in Chicagoland.

Location Description

Ace Hardware corporate headquarters is about 20 miles west of Chicago and you'll get the very best of city and suburban life prestigious shopping, dining, recreation, performing arts and historical neighborhoods. Our brand new corporate facility opened in September 2023 and has state of the amenities such as a work-out facility, underground parking and upscale cafeteria. We work in the office the majority of the week and enjoy everything our new facility has to offer together as a team.

2026 Summer Internship Program Overview

The Ace Internship program allows you to apply skills and knowledge you're learning in College today, while contributing in a hands-on environment to fit your career objectives, complement your academic work and enhance your learning. Here's what you will take away from your experience :

Your internship experience at Ace will give you the knowledge and skills future employers will look for! Want to hear more? Please review our Glassdoor comments from former interns!