Multiple Ventures, One Trusted Partner: How Britt Wood Scaled Success with Alliance Capital

*Photo from left to right: Matt Condra, Britt Wood, Sam Renta and, in front, ACE

After 30 years with Walmart, including time as a district manager overseeing East Alabama and metro Birmingham, Britt Wood knew he was too young to officially retire. After taking a year off, he decided to give entrepreneurship a try. “I called the mayor of Gardendale [Alabama] and asked what the city needed,” he says. “He told me: a hardware store and a restaurant.” That conversation led to the birth of ACE Hardware in Gardendale in March 2020.

Before starting his business, Britt spoke to other ACE owners and studied market trends to get a good grasp of what was needed to open his own store. With his decades of experience in retail, Britt used what he already knew, combining that with what he had learned and then pulled the trigger. “Don’t start something until you have done your homework completely,” he advises.

Despite launching at the onset of the pandemic, the store was considered essential and remained open. “It gave us a strong foothold in the community,” Britt says. The store quickly thrived, blending hardware, outdoor apparel and grilling gear, and earned ACE’s “Store of the Year” award in 2022 out of 5,500 stores nationwide.

Building on this success, Britt acquired and revitalized Werner’s Trading Company in Cullman in 2022. A year later, he returned to Gardendale to build and open Wood’s Trading Company, with a focus on outdoor lifestyle brands like Patagonia, Hoka and Vuori, as well as fishing, camping and hiking gear, shoes and boots. The facility also hosts lease space to three new businesses, True40 Fitness, The Filling Station and Sweet Caroline Ice Cream, opening this fall and bringing new energy to the community.

Throughout this growth, Britt has relied on strong relationships, particularly with Sam Renta of Alliance Capital Corporation and Matt Condra at Oakworth Capital. “They’ve helped me fund all three businesses with SBA 7(a) and 504 loans,” Wood explains. “If I need something, I pick up the phone and call them directly and they are always available for me. I really appreciate the relationships we have built through these many transactions.”

For Sam, relationship-building is the most important part of working with his clients. “When you have a good working relationship with a client, they are more apt to come to you again when they are ready to grow their business,” he says. “I’ve worked with many entrepreneurs multiple times over their business’ lifetime.”

For Britt and his co-owner and wife, Laura, who leads apparel buying, next steps include launching an e-commerce platform with vendor-direct fulfillment. “A brick-and-mortar location isn’t enough anymore,” he says. “We’re focused on grilling gear online, a huge opportunity for us as many items can be shipped directly from the manufacturer.”

Britt’s entrepreneurial journey continues to grow and he looks forward to what the future may bring. “This isn’t just business. It’s personal,” he says. “We’re here to serve our neighbors—and Sam and Alliance Capital have been with us every step of the way.”