<html><head></head><body>I would use "brand". They tend to have an Ace Hardware sign in addition to the individual store name, and Ace Hardware advertising flyers.<br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">Andrew Errington <erringtona@gmail.com> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Either they are associated with Ace Hardware, or they are not. If they are, then it's probably easiest to use brand=*. I doubt very much that they are a co-op.<br /></div><div><br />My suggestion:<br />
brand=Ace Hardware<br /></div>name=(the store name)<br /></div>operator=(the name of the owner)<br /><br /></div>Best wishes,<br /><br />Andrew<br /></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br /><br /><div class="gmail_quote">On 30 August 2013 11:55, Serge Wroclawski <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:emacsen@gmail.com" target="_blank">emacsen@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br />
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">In the United States and Canada, we have a very large organization of<br />
hardware stores called Ace Hardware:<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_Hardware" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_Hardware</a><br />
<br />
Each Ace Hardware is independently owned and operated, and each of<br />
them uses their own name.<br />
<br />
But they all belong to a single organization called Ace Hardware,<br />
which provides them benefits in ordering, etc.<br />
<br />
Since each store is independently owned and operated, the "operator"<br />
tag does not fit, since the stores are not controlled by a central<br />
organization, such as would be the case with a franchise.<br />
<br />
And since each store is branded uniquely, and don't always use the<br />
name Ace Hardware in their name[1] or other material, I don't think<br />
"brand" fits either.<br />
<br />
But we may want to indicate that the relationship between store and<br />
co-op exists, so in this case, since they belong to a co-op, I've used<br />
co-op=Ace Hardware.<br />
<br />
If someone has an alternative suggestion for this type of arrangement,<br />
I'm interested in hearing it.<br />
<br />
- Serge<br />
<br />
[1] Sometimes they do, such as in the case of "Springfield Ace<br />
Hardware" (a real place), but two Ace Hardware stores near me are<br />
called "Aquarius Hardware" and "AJO Home and Lumber", neither of which<br />
indicates any affiliation.<br />
<br />
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