Home improvement consumers have spoken, and their choice of top retailer might surprise you.

Ace Hardware, the hardware cooperative with 4,600 stores, ranked highest in home improvement customer satisfaction for the second straight year, according to a J.D. Power and Associates study.

The 2008 study, conducted in March and April, tracked satisfaction with merchandise, price, sales staff, sales/promotions and store facility. Findings are based on responses from 9,770 consumers who bought a home improvement product or service within the past year.

Illinois-based Ace scored 791 points out of a possible 1,000 and rated high on sales staff and store facility measures.

Lowe’s came in second with a score of 784, followed by privately held Menards at 779. True Value, another cooperative, rated 774 on the satisfaction index. Home Depot, the biggest home improvement retailer, had a score of 753 and trailed Sears, which scored 767.

Lowe’s stood out for its merchandise, while Menards got high marks on price and promotions, the information services company said.

“Home Depot ranks lowest overall in our study primarily in its performance in the sales staff and store facility categories,” said Dale Haines, senior director of the retail and construction practice at J.D. Power.

Shareholders of Home Depot complained at last week’s annual meeting that finding goods on store shelves and workers to help customers was difficult. The company responded by saying it has stepped up store maintenance and hired electricians and other skilled staff.

As consumers pressed by higher gasoline and food prices spend less, service can be a key factor in determining where they’ll shop. “Retailers who are competing for that shrinking source of revenue can differentiate themselves by focusing on providing superior levels of customer service,” Haines said.

Meanwhile, Lowe’s told its shareholders on Friday that it was confident that it will rack up market share gains this year even as the slumping U.S. housing market continues to pressure sales.

“In a tough environment, great companies look for opportunities to strengthen their business,” Lowe’s Chairman Robert Niblock said.

(Photos: Ace Hardware and Lowe’s)

Check out fewer places to sip that latte or buy that power saw.

Late on Wednesday, Starbucks said it would slash U.S. coffee store openings through 2011 as it adjusts to slower U.S. growth.

The coffee giant blamed the domestic housing crisis for a significant quarter-over-quarter deterioration in U.S. customer traffic and said it saw early signs of a potential traffic slowdown in the United Kingdom, which may be related to economic problems there.

“Starbucks coffee and premium coffee experience has, over time, been an affordable luxury.  And at this time, it isn’t for some people,” Chief Executive Howard Schultz said.

Then on Thursday morning, Home Depot said it plans to close 15 underperforming stores and will curb future store openings. 

Home Depot said it will no longer pursue the opening of about 50 stores that had been in its new-store pipeline. New store spending will be cut by about $1 billion over the next three years, it said.

Announcements of store opening slowdowns or store closures are nothing new this year. Retailers’ growth plans, designed during a consumer spending boom, are being squashed by the consumer spending slowdown.

In fact, it’s not even the first time we’ve heard from Starbucks. In January, the coffee chain said it would close 100 underperforming U.S. stores and slow domestic store openings in the face of a likely consumer recession.

Also in the basket:

Clorox 3rd-quarter profit falls

Apple’s iTunes sells movies on DVD release date

CVS Caremark 1st-quarter profit rises

Disney buys back North American Disney Store chain

(Photos: Reuters)