There's something about that old fashioned General Store feeling you get when you walk into some neighborhood Ace Hardware stores.

Typically less sprawling than those big box home improvement stores, Ace is the place where the staff isn't always busy scurrying about stocking shelves, but will actually make time to answer your questions and address your concerns.

With a top "among the best" rating for both store facility and staff and service, Ace also scored an "A" for best overall satisfaction in J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study report.

Ace has topped the charts for each of the five years J.D. Power has conducted the survey.

Home improvement retail stores were rated for overall customer satisfaction based on performance in five factors (listed in order of importance): staff and service (including availability, courtesy, knowledge); store facility (including ease of finding merchandise and cleanliness); merchandise (including availability and product information); price; and sales and promotions.

"When customers aren't able to find the merchandise on their own, it's critical that they receive assistance quickly -- ideally within two minutes," said Christina Cooley, senior manager of the real estate and construction industries practice at J.D. Power and Associates.

"The highest-performing retailers are typically able to meet this threshold. In contrast, the average customer-reported wait time for assistance is four minutes. Customers should not hesitate to ask for assistance, as the study indicates that they can depend on retailers to help them when asked and that assistance comes relatively quickly," Cooley added.

Not without good deals, Ace also scored "better than most" in sales and promotions, but was only "average" in merchandise and price categories. Ace scored 786 out of 1,000 points

Big box Lowe's improved substantially, moving from fourth last year to second this year with a hot-on-the-heels-of-Ace score of 771. It's overall satisfaction score was "better than most." Lowe's scored "among the best" in both the store facility and merchandise categories, earning the highest score of all retailers for merchandise. It also earned "better than most" marks in staff and service and sales and promotions. It was "about average" in pricing.

Shop Menards for prices and good deals. It retained its third rank position from 2010 with a score of 765. It was the leader in both sales and promotions and price, where it was the only retailer to score "among the best." In overall satisfaction, it was right up there with Lowe's as a "better than most" retailer.

For overall satisfaction, Sears and True Value were rated "about average" followed by Home Depot and Do It Best/Do It Center, both earning only a "the rest" rating.

Generally, overall, home improvement store shoppers were more satisfied with store facilities, merchandise and pricing in 2011, compared with 2010.

"Shoppers, whether novices to home improvement or those who are more experienced, need not be intimidated by the store. Retailers have invested in improving their layouts and signage to help guide customers to the products that they are looking for," said Cooley.

Other findings

J.D. Power also found:

• Home improvement retailer customers shop at their primary home improvement retailer two to three times per month.

• The average customer in 2011 has spent $1,650 at home improvement retailers within the past 12 months.

• The percentage of shoppers who use a self-checkout kiosk grew from 42 percent in 2010 to 53 percent in 2011.

"To ensure a quick checkout, customers should limit using self-checkout to visits in which they are purchasing relatively few items and the bar codes are clearly identifiable on all products," said Cooley.

J.D. Power's study, conducted from March to April this year, was based on responses from more than 6,900 consumers who purchased a home improvement product or service within the previous 12 months from a store that sells home improvement products.

Published: June 2, 2011

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.