It’s In Their Blood: Seashore Ace a Family Business On the Brink of Its 80th Year at 96th Street
Jim, Scott and Joey Fisher November 2025 in what has always been the island’s largest selection of holiday decorations and supplies.
In 1946, Stone Harbor’s 96th Street looked strikingly different from the bustling thoroughfare it is today. A nearly empty business district, a gas station prominent on the Third Avenue corner, cars parked in the middle of the street (yes, the middle). And so much empty space.
But a few things remain from that 1946 landscape: The watchful eye of the water tower is still perched over town. The municipal building still graces the corner. And “Seashore Home Supply” still sits right in the middle of the action.
Today, only the name has changed for Seashore Home Supply, as the store sits on the precipice of its 80th anniversary in Stone Harbor. Now known as Seashore Ace Home and Outdoor Living, the store is still owned by the Fisher family, still a frequent stop for visitors, residents, and contractors, and still anchors 96th Street.
Seashore Ace not only provides essentials to the community. It also is essential to the community.
The store has stood the test of time, as well as the test of hurricanes, nor’easters, floods, changing times, changing minds, and a pandemic that changed retail forever. With every generation and every hurdle, the Fishers have navigated the times with a solid blend of steadiness and resilience.
“As we prepare to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Seashore Ace Hardware, we honor a true cornerstone of our business district,” says Stone Harbor Mayor Tim Carney. “Since 1946, Seashore Ace has been a trusted one-stop destination for everything from tools and home improvement supplies to gifts and outdoor furniture – all right here in the heart of Stone Harbor. Their dedication to quality service, community values, and local involvement has helped shape the character and success of our town for generations.”
With 2026 on the horizon, the Fisher family is looking forward to celebrating its 80th year in Stone Harbor and looking back on how it got here.
Origin story: In 1946 Clarence Fisher (known as “Spike” to all) bought the property on 96th Street.
“Dad had been working for Atlantic Electric Company during the war, and he wanted to do something more than that,” explains Jim Fisher, Spike’s son and the second of three generations to run the store. “My dad’s brother Marshall was a realtor, and he found this property and my dad bought it and opened the store in 1946.”
Actually, the original property Spike bought was a little bit bigger.
“We are in the same location,” Jim shares. “But originally my dad bought a little more land, but he only had it for 48 hours. Stone Harbor came in and said Spike was sold too much land and they reworked it. So, what the property is now is what it became after 48 hours. And Seashore Home Supply is still the corporate name.”
With his wife, Etta, also involved in running the store, Spike Fisher originally sold appliances for two years before pivoting to hardware, housewares, and beach supplies. In 1964, it became one of the first stores to join the True Value brand, a relationship that lasted until 2001, when the store joined the Ace Hardware brand.
Growing up in the business: For Spike and Etta’s children and grandchildren, the store was simply woven into the fabric of their lives. “I grew up on top of the store,” says Jim Fisher. “We used to have an apartment up there and I started working when I was 8 years old.
“I remember when my dad got a Styrofoam boat, and I wanted it so badly. And my father said, ‘OK, you can do it, but you have to work. I want $25 for it and I’m going to pay you 25 cents an hour.’ So, I worked 100 hours to get that. All during that time – as a kid – we always played in the stockroom and store.”
“Same as I did!” adds Scott Fisher, Jim’s son, who followed his dad’s footsteps into the family business.
While Jim’s brother and sister went into different careers, he began working at the store full-time in 1972, right after graduating from Albright College and right before marrying his wife Joey, whom he met during college.
“We got married in the September of 1972, after Jim worked the summer,” shares Joey Fisher. “Nothing happens in our family in the summer! Not between Easter and Labor Day.”
Jim and Joey would go on to raise their two kids, Scott and Suzanne, in and around the store. Joey worked for years in nursing and orthodontics before becoming more involved in store operations in the 1980s, and Jim took over as the store owner in 1986.
Next generation: “My story is very much like my father’s,” says Jim’s son, and Spike’s grandson, Scott Fisher. “I worked at the store in the summers. I used to come in when I was really little and clean the toilets twice a week, things like that. I used to get paid a toy a week.”
As Scott got older, he became more involved, becoming part of the delivery team in high school and working summers throughout college. “I’ve been in the business my whole life,” he says. “I started full-time in 2000.”
And just as his father influenced the direction of the store, Scott Fisher is also leaving his mark, from growing the delivery side of the business to fostering a community of young innovators in this retail space.
“I joined a group called PAL, which stands for Progressive Ace Leaders,” he says. “It was a group for me to network with all future Ace leaders of my own generation. You had to be 40 years old or younger to be a part of the group.”
Today, PAL is a vital network for the business, where ideas, experiences, and camaraderie in an industry that uniquely mixes family, business, service, entrepreneurship is shared.
Outdoor comes in: As the Fisher family has evolved with time and generations in the 96th Street store, so has the store and its inventory. In fact, the Fishers’ ability to shift to meet customer demands and preferences is one of the secrets to their longevity. “You have to change, you have to be able to pivot,” says Scott.
So, a business that began selling appliances, then hardware, then housewares, became a go-to destination for outdoor furniture in the area.
“My grandfather got us into outdoor furniture in 1964,” says Scott. “And my parents did a great job on building that side of the business in the late ’80s and ’90s. We rented our first warehouse from Bud’s Market near 81st Street. Today, we have 10,000 square feet of storage out in Cape May Court House.”
Joey Fisher recalls the evolution of their outdoor furniture offerings and the lure of their second-floor showroom.
“When I started in 1989, we only had five or six furniture companies,” she recalls. “And we’ve grown from there. Customers used to say to me, ‘My Ace store doesn’t look like this.’ And I used to say, ‘Unless you find three other crazy people like us – you’re not going to find it!’ Because we reach out, all our furniture is individually sourced. We have 12 to 14 companies we work with now.”
Scott is also proud of their relationship with vendors and customers alike. “We have hand-selected every company we work with and if it doesn’t stand up to the salt air – we won’t sell it,” he says. “My motto is: ‘A headache to you is a headache to me.’ And I don’t like headaches!”
Painting the town: The family has found similar success other lines of the business, as well.
“In 1992, Joey and I decided to go to the Atlanta Gift Show and that’s when we started selling gifts and housewares,” explains Jim. “With 96th Street being our ‘boardwalk,’ you need that. I hear people walking in all the time saying, ‘This is the nicest hardware store I’ve ever seen.’ It’s been good for us. And we still go to the gift show every year.”
Bringing in Benjamin Moore paints was another excellent decision for the business. Today the store is the island paint destination for homeowners and contractors alike. “It took us a few years to crack the contractor side of it, but once we got the right person in place, it’s been great,” says Jim.
When asked what the most popular item in the store is today, Jim, Joey, and Scott Fisher answer in unison. “Yeti!”
In a savvy move, Scott added a Fisher twist to the popular insulated cups and mugs.
“I started with custom Yetis,” he says. “We have the Water Tower, we have Avalon Cooler by a Mile, a Stone Harbor lifeguard boat, an Avalon lifeguard boat, and more. What’s nice is these are all my designs and Yeti keeps them exclusive to us. Their sales rep has a territory from Delaware to Maine, and he recently told me that I was his largest single store account.”
Weathering storms: To survive and thrive along the Jersey coastline for 80 years, Seashore Ace has had to weather all manner of storms. Jim remembers the biggest storm from 1962.
“We had water in the store, probably almost a foot in there,” he recalls. “But I had that little Styrofoam boat and we were taking it around the store.”
Of course, the COVID pandemic was a storm of an entirely different sort.
“We were considered an essential business in the recovery,” Jim explains. “So, we were only closed two-three days, then we kept the front of the store closed but had the back of the store open.”
As good as your people: Another difficult time came soon after COVID when a trio of loyal and longstanding employees retired. “You’re only as good as your people,” says Scott. “And we’ve been lucky over the years to have a lot of employees who come back year after year. But in 2022, we lost three main cogs in this place.”
Jim continues: “Phyllis Black was a cashier, and she started here when Scott was a baby and retired when she was 83. So much longevity. Mark Gittle was my manager from 1988 to 2022; he was my right-hand man. Then Bob Birkhead retired, and he’d been with us since 1990. It was all planned, we knew they were all retiring. But we lost 78 years of retail experience in a short period.”
The Fishers have continued to rebuild their team by adding fresh faces and expanding parts of the business. “We started a service that shrink-wraps outdoor furniture about 8 years ago,” Scott explains. “And that has allowed me to keep my delivery teams during the offseason.”
Community: After nearly eight decades in business, the Fishers have left an indelible imprint on Seven Mile Beach. In fact, they were honored at the Stone Harbor Museum’s annual Tour Through Time Gala this past August.
“Each year, we honor someone who has demonstrated unselfish devotion to Stone Harbor and the community with the Risley Award named after the founders of Stone Harbor: David, Reese, and Howard Risley,” says museum president Teri Fischer. “In 2025, Jim and Joey Fisher were chosen as the recipients for their unselfish work to the community. We are grateful to Jim and Joey Fisher for their support and enrichment to Stone Harbor.”
Mayor Carney echoes those sentiments. “Seashore Ace Hardware is more than just a business – it’s part of Stone Harbor’s story,” he says. “For 80 years, the Fisher family has shown what it means to invest in and care for their community. On behalf of the Borough, I want to thank Jim, Joey, Scott, and the entire Fisher family for their unwavering commitment to our town and their remarkable contributions to our business district.”
The feelings are mutual. “We’re lucky that we are in this beach community,” says Scott. “I don’t know if my grandfather could see – in 1946 – what this town was going to become, but it’s neat to see how things have changed. We’re proud to serve this community.”
And they plan to continue serving it for generations to come.
