Grills & Smokers for Petersburg, Colonial Heights, & the Tri-Cities
Your Local Grills & Smokers Store for 50+ Years
If you’re searching for grills near me, a BBQ store near me, or BBQ grills near me, Thacker Ace Hardware is the local place that carries everything you need. We have grills and smokers for every kind of outdoor cook.
We carry gas grills, charcoal grills, pellet grills, smokers, griddles, fuel, replacement parts, and the covers and accessories that keep them looking great.
Thacker Ace Hardware is the local grills and smokers store for the Tri-Cities. With two convenient locations and free assembly and delivery for Ace Rewards members on qualifying grills, we are proud to be the family-owned hardware store you trust for everything from a starter charcoal kettle to a serious backyard pit.
Truly Local for Over 50 Years
Family owned and operated grills and smokers store with 50+ years of community service in Petersburg and Colonial Heights.
Expert Help for DIYers and Pros
Get your questions answered and receive project guidance for home cooks and local support for restaurants.
A Bigger In-Store Selection Than the Box Stores
More grills and smokers, more grilling tools and accessories, and more in-store only items you won’t find online, always with convenient in-store pickup.
Who We Are
Why Tri-Cities Grill Shoppers Come to Thacker
When you search “grills near me” or “bbq store near me,” you want to know that you are going to a place that actually knows the difference between a kettle and offset smoker.
Big-box pages are good at showing rows of gas grills, charcoal grills, pellet grills, smokers, portable grills, accessories, covers, and replacement parts, but their staff has no clue how to actually use them or what to recommend to a new BBQ enthusiast.
At Thacker Ace Hardware, we help you shop by how you like to cook.
Want fast weeknight burgers and easy temperature control? A gas grill may make the most sense.
Want deeper smoke flavor and a more hands-on BBQ experience? Charcoal may be the better fit.
Want low-and-slow cooking with more control? Pellet grills, pellet smokers, and classic offset models are worth a serious look.
Ace also offers grill delivery and assembly options for qualifying grills.
Get Your Grill On
Choose the Grill That Fits How You Like to Cook
What kind of outdoor cooker makes sense for your backyard? Essentially, you have four choices. Gas grills are about fast heat and convenience. Charcoal is about classic smoky flavor. Pellet grills give you more controlled low-and-slow cooking. Smokers take a bit of practice to master, but they are the backbone of professional BBQ.
Thacker Ace Hardware helps you shop smarter. If you’re searching for smokers near me, BBQ grills near me, or a BBQ store near me, come in and talk with us. Tell us what you love to cook and we’ll match you with the right grill or smoker.
Free Assembly and Delivery
Buying a grill shouldn’t mean spending an entire weekend trying to decode assembly instructions. For Ace Rewards members, Thacker assembles your new grill and delivers it to your door on qualifying grills. That is a real difference from how the big box stores do it. Membership in Ace Rewards is free, and signing up takes a minute in-store or online.
That is one more reason Tri-Cities grillers buy from a bbq store near me instead of driving to the big box. You get the same brands, a team that helps you choose, and a grill delivered and built without the add-on fees or the afternoon lost to assembly.
The Grill and Smoker Brands People Ask For
Prefer to shop by brand? Thacker Ace Hardware carries the names that backyard cooks and serious pitmasters trust. Why? Because we’re an authorized local dealer and have the answers that you need to be a real pitmaster this summer.
Gas and everyday grilling
Weber leads the category because it is reliable and built to last a decade or more. We also carry Char-Broil for budget-friendly gas options that still get the job done. If you are looking to do indoor style cooking outside or mainly cook burgers and other picnic favorites, a gas grill is the way to go.
Pellet grills
Traeger put pellet grilling on the map, and we carry it alongside Recteq, a favorite among people who want precise, set-it-and-watch-it temperature control. For dedicated smoking on a tighter budget, Masterbuilt is hard to beat. Pellet grills let you smoke like a pro, without having to worry about tending to a pit or real logs and a live fire.
Charcoal and kamado
Big Green Egg is the one people drive across town for. This ceramic kamado grills, smokes, bakes, and roasts. Best of all, it is almost indestructible. We’re a local Big Green Egg dealer, so you can see one in person before you commit.
Griddles and flat-top cooking
Blackstone turned the backyard griddle into a weekend ritual. Use this style for smash burgers, breakfast, and hibachi-style dinners. We stock the griddles and the accessories that go with them.
Pizza ovens
Ooni and Gozney bring pizzeria-level heat to your patio, turning out a blistered, 90-second pie in your own backyard. These grills reach temperatures of upwards of 600 degrees for that perfect pie. You can also use these styles of grills as an outdoor broiler.
Fuel, rubs, and the finishing touches
We also carry the brands that make the food taste right — Smokey Woods and other smoking pellets and wood chunks, plus Meat Church and Loud Mouth BBQ rubs and sauces to round out the cook. Come into the store to check out the full lineup.
Don’t see the exact model you want on the floor? As a local Ace dealer, we can special-order from across the Ace network and have it shipped to the store — often faster than you’d expect.
Grills & Smokers for the Tri-Cities and Beyond
Thacker Ace Hardware has been the Tri-Cities’ local hardware store since 1973, and our grills and smokers department has become the spot Tri-Cities cooks come to when they have questions.
With two locations in Petersburg and Colonial Heights, we’re a short drive from most of central and southside Virginia. People come to us from across the region for the brands, the advice, and the assembly-and-delivery service they can’t get online.
Two Convenient Tri-Cities Locations
Petersburg & Southside
Our Petersburg store on South Crater Road serves the heart of the Tri-Cities and the neighborhoods around Fort Gregg-Adams. Whether you’re firing up a smoker for a backyard cookout in Ettrick, replacing a rusted-out grill before a weekend in Disputanta, or grabbing propane and charcoal on your way home, we’ll get you set up in one stop — and load the heavy stuff into your truck for you.
Colonial Heights & Chesterfield
Our Colonial Heights store at Dunlop Village pulls grill shoppers from along the Boulevard, Temple Avenue, and Southpark, plus the Chesterfield neighborhoods running up toward Chester and Meadowbrook. It’s the convenient stop for a new Weber, a pellet grill for the deck, or the rubs and wood chips you need before the game.
Hopewell & Prince George
Customers from Hopewell, Prince George, Enon, and the river-county neighborhoods come into both stores for grills, smokers, fuel, and replacement parts. We keep deep selection of all these options.
The Tri-Cities & Beyond
We’re the local grills and smokers store for backyard cooks, tailgaters, and weekend pitmasters across the Tri-Cities and the surrounding region.
Communities we serve include:
- Petersburg
- Colonial Heights
- Hopewell
- Prince George
- Chester
- Chesterfield
- Ettrick
- Matoaca
- Disputanta
- Dinwiddie
- Sutherland
- Carson
- Enon
- Meadowbrook
- Fort Gregg-Adams
- Old Towne Petersburg
Don’t see your neighborhood listed? If you’re in the Tri-Cities, you’re closer to one of our stores than you think — and if your new grill qualifies, we’ll assemble it and deliver it to your door. Stop in, give us a call, or use the contact form.
Find the Right Grill. Get Set Up the Right Way.
If you’re comparing grills near me, BBQ grills near me, or smokers near me, come to Thacker Ace Hardware and shop with a better plan.
Need the full setup? We can help you pair your grill or smoker with the fuel, tools and accessories you need to get the meat over the fire. Ask our team about local pickup, delivery, and assembly options for qualifying grill purchases.
Grills & Smokers FAQs
Grilling questions tend to come up the same way every season — what to buy, gas versus charcoal, how to get set up. Here are the ones we hear most at Thacker.
Probably gas or a charcoal grill like a smaller kettle. These two are easy to learn and easier to manage the heat. That is especially true of gas grills. Most people just getting started with grilling and basic smoking start with one of these. Many people also start with both. That’s because both the gas and charcoal options give you more versatility.
Grills excel with hot and fast cooking. Think things like burgers, steaks, and hearty veggies. If you’re looking to get your meat a great sear, you want to go with a grill.
A smoker is essential for low-and-slow BBQ. It creates a deeper flavor, and the long cook times and lower temperatures soften tough meat and impart that classic smoky flavor.
If you are just getting started and want to do a little bit of both, consider some of our hybrid options. Some of the pellet grills we have in stock can be used both as a grill and a smoker.
So, you got the grill. That’s great…but what do you need with it? This is where newbies in BBQ need some advice, and here at Thacker, we are happy to provide it. We can help you consider fuel, a cover, cleaning tools, long-handled utensils, a reliable thermometer, drip trays, charcoal starters, grates, and anything else you have questions about. Our staff in the grilling department are proud grillers themselves. We love to talk shop, and we can even give you some tips to get started.
Yes, ask us what options are available for the grill you’re considering. We offer delivery and assembly options on qualifying grill purchases and store pickup is always available.
We get it. Nobody wants to lug around a heavy box with a 20-piece grill in it that they have to get home and try to figure out how to put together. We are here for that portion of the project for you. Just ask about our assembly options.
It depends. What do you want to do with your outdoor grilling? Ask yourself what your goal is. If you usually cook up steaks and burgers, and a few other things from time to time, you probably want to go with gas. It’s the easiest setup and you can whip out some great food in 15 minutes. Gas is the most popular option in the United States.
If you love the ritual and that real smoky flavor and you don’t mind a little more time and cleanup, charcoal is the way to go. You can use these types of grills, like a kettle, to either grill directly over the flames or cook at a lower temperature indirectly.
A pellet grill is great if you need to keep a consistent temperature, like for low-and-slow BBQ, but you also don’t want to have to fuss with the fuel or tending the fire. A pellet grill feeds itself.
Most people buy too big of a grill for their first go. If you are usually just cooking for your family on the occasional weekend, a three-burner gas grill or a 22-inch kettle is plenty.
Go bigger only if you regularly cook for a crowd, host tailgates, or want to grill and smoke at the same time. Grill size is measured in total cooking square inches, and we’re happy to walk you through what you need.
Refilling is almost always the better deal. When you swap your tank at one of those exchange cages outside a big box or gas station, you’re usually paying for around 15 pounds of propane even though a standard tank holds 20. That’s because they usually under-fill to a “standard” exchange amount. When you refill, you get a full fill up.
We refill propane tanks at our stores, so bring your empty in, and while you’re here we can check the tank’s date and condition too. Here’s the short answer: for most grillers, refilling instead of exchanging saves money.
Word on the Street
When people call Thacker Ace Hardware “the helpful place,” they mean it. DIYers come in with questions and leave with the answers they need. Contractors stop in because they can get what they need quickly, without wasting time. Take a look at what your neighbors are saying—then come to the store and see why so many customers keep coming back.
Hardware & DIY Resources
