At ACE Hardware, loyalty runs deep.

Out of 20 employees at the Bainbridge location, owners Steve and Becky Mikami have 11 who have been with them for eight years or longer. The most senior employee, Geetha Wilcoxon, has been with them for 19; a husband-wife pair rack up 17; and Mathew Quesada, one of the store’s supervisors, 15.

In an industry notorious for its high turnover, their longevity is surprising.

What gives?

For Wilcoxon, the key is loving her job. She likes the daily interaction with customers but also with other staff.

“We have a good team,” she said, although she never envisioned herself working at ACE. Her husband spotted the Help Wanted sign one afternoon and made her fill out the application.

“He said I was sitting at home watching too many soap operas,” Wilcoxon recalled.

She’s since fallen helplessly behind, but she has no regrets; she doesn’t even remember the titles of the programs she used to watch.

“I’m too busy,” she laughed.

According to Wilcoxon, convenience and a knowledgeable staff are the main reasons ACE continues to thrive in the digital age.

“I think it’s because it’s run like a mom-and-pop store; it’s not like the big box stores,” she said. “[Customers] come here and they know the people and they get help and it’s easy. Sometimes you go into the big stores and you can’t find anybody to help you.”

Though she started as a cashier, Wilcoxon now works in the back office, as the assistant manager. Occasionally, though, ACE’s senior most employee said she misses the sales floor.

“I think I kind of even now enjoy being a cashier because you meet a lot of people,” she explained.

The one issue with meeting and knowing everyone is that eventually, they’re going to ask you for favors.

But the Mikamis, honored by the Bainbridge Community Foundation last year for their philanthropic endeavors, enjoy giving back to the community.

Steve compares the culture among island businesses to the auction paddle call: “It’s like Town & Country’s doing this; we’ll do this,” he said. “If Bainbridge Island Electric is doing something with Young Life, well, we better do something with Young Life. It’s good peer pressure.”

This Friday, the hardware store celebrates its 25th anniversary. Much of that timeline is a blur, Mikami said, but he’ll never forget the road closure that nearly shuttered him.

“In ’92, they actually tore apart High School Road,” he said. “It was an LED project that they did.”

With the road inaccessible, nobody could get into the store; it seemed like an intractable death sentence.

But somehow, ACE, just one year old, survived, and Mikami didn’t forget the lesson.

In 2011, “When they tore up [Winslow Way], I knew what was coming, that nobody would go down there,” he said. “So we used to make it a point, weekly, to try and go down there and buy something, eat at Teriyaki Town, go to Town & Country. We went out of our way to make sure they were going to be OK because I knew exactly how it felt.”

Today, the toughest blows to business come from online competitors. But Mikami said he’s given up on worrying about it.

“If they’re gonna buy it, they’re gonna buy it,” he said. “And now my thought process is — when it breaks, fine. Go to Amazon.com and return it there! I’m not fighting it. I get it. I understand people are busy and it’s so easy and it’s going to show up in two days. But again, if it breaks, return it to them.”

Besides, Mikami has more important things on his mind. He just redid the store’s plumbing department and the power tool accessories.

Plus, Christmas stock is in, which means, in a couple of weeks, on Thanksgiving Day, Becky will have to pull an all-nighter to create the grand display.

But all of that comes second to time with family.

“My son plays baseball and he does football, and I know that these games, these events that they do are not going to last forever,” Mikami said. “I want to make use of time with the kids while they’re still little.”

Or not so little, Becky reminds Steve.

The two kids still at home are already 14 and 17.

But the point is, he can work later.

And do home improvement projects later.

That’s actually the great irony.

“People would think that I have all the latest and greatest tools,” Mikami said. “I have nothing. ’Cause literally we don’t have time to do things.

“I’m like the mechanic who fixes everybody’s cars great and their own cars don’t run.”

Or in this case, whose driveway needs resurfacing.

“We sell the material right over there,” he said, pointing to the back wall of the paint department, down Aisle 12.

He’ll get around to it when it matters more than all his other things.