House packag€... and fries with that?

By Carla Waldemar

petitors might, but customers simply hail it as "one-stop shopping" and revel in the convenience it offers.

Farmers come to him for everything from fence gates and corral panels to feed, fertilizer and veterinarian supplies.

Simultaneously he's pumped up his pro business to SOVo by giving his custom builders and remodelers what they tell him they value most-"a price that's hard to beat" paired with bend-over-backward service. "We'll let them have what they need when they need it, even if it takes working a little later that night, loading lumber at 2:30 in the morning," Martin allows in the slow-and-easy drawl that nails him as a native of these parts.

I\TEXT time you're talking about a I \ full-service operation, consider this: At Mike Martin's Town & Country Minute Market/PRO Hardware, his home center-cum-lumberyard is just the beginning.

The shopping complex he built from the ground up as a convenience store five years ago soon grew to contain hardware, electrical and plumbing supplies.

Next came lumber-along with everything else one could dream of to sell complete home packages (which he does. Barns and garages, too).

Now it's expanded to include a sitdown restaurant, discount tobacco shop, gas station, feed store and- well, no diamond tennis bracelets yet, but if I check back next year, I wouldn't be surprised.

The business he launched "from an open field" in Camargo, Ky., a bedroom suburb of Lexington, in 2000the year he "got tired of working for someone else" and left his 23-year stint in management and maintenance with Sylvania-has grown close to 307o a year, thanks to Mike's aggressive "capture" approach to help customers part with their money.

And he plans to build a kitchen and bath showroom next year to add some a la mode to his hefty slice of the market pie.

Call him greedy? Maybe his com-

But that's what happens when you grow a whale of a lot faster than you anticipated. Mike didn't come blustering into this business as an expert. He learned-sometimes, the hard wayby trial and error. At the beginning, the feedback he got went, "Your prices are high and your service could be better."

"Those are things you've got to learn," recalls the new kid on the highway. And learn fast. Not too many second chances in a town with fierce independents that's also boxed in by Lowe's and the like. "We didn't know what to buy or how to buy, so we joined IBSA," an independent business buying co-op "that enabled us to buy smarter. Through them, we-not the distributor-receive the suppliers' rebates, which we can pass on to our customers. It made us more competitive with the big boys, yet we remain an independent operator, able to make our own marketins decisions." he notes.

When it came to service, he quickly learned another lesson. "We'd started out with very young kids, but that didn't work out very well."

Martin soon transitioned to what he calls "an older-type group, people in their early 60s with a lot of background. Now," combating the bane of the boxes, "customers can deal with the same people day after day; they won't be gone tomorrow," he can boast of his staff of 26, who routinely turn down competitors' offers to pick up their paychecks elsewhere.

Among a diverse customer base that includes contractors, d-i-yers, farmers, commercial accounts and area businessmen, Town & Country is proud to cater to a growing number of women shoppers. (Doesn't hurt that Martin chose a location directly across the street from an elementary school, to which moms chauffeur their vanloads twice a day.) "They come in for breakfast and come back after school to get their kids a snack, while also using our gas station and picking up other products," he notes. "Our staff enjoys talking to them, helping with their projects by asking the right questions, not just leaving them with 'I hope this works."'

Town & Country is a prime supporter of the town's annual Spring Fling promotion month. Ads in local newspapers encourage consumers to stop in and register for a chance to win a getaway vacation for two offered by the city, along with Town & Country's own give-aways and sale items bannered throughout the store.

"We advertise a markdown price on two different items each week of the month." Martin says. pointing out that he deliberately targets seasonal items likely to lure people to the door. Most contest participants return to they need, when they need it, even if it takes working a little later that night, loading lumber at 2:30 in the mornino." drop their entries in his bucket each of the four weeks. "When your prize bucket starts to fill up, you know the promotion is successful," Martin indicates. As he analyzes the entries week by week, he estimates that close to 20Vo represent first-time customers. "They often come back to shop," he notes, "so this is a great way to acquaint them with the store and our merchandise mix."

Right at the outset five years ago, Martin initiated a popular customerconvenience feature. (Those of you with queasy stomachs better skip this part): He stays open 2417 for 365 days of the year. Not for lack of a home life (his son, daughter, son in law and wife play roles in the business, too)rather, call it an untapped niche. "We knew at the outset that to get in. we had to provide something no one else was doing. It's a tough business to enter, so we decided to try the 'after hours' approach. It got us established as a place to trade and grew us into a real marketplace," he says. "There's no reason to go elsewhere."

Recently, Denver, Co.-based Pno Group, Inc. honored Town & Country with its annual award for distinguished retail performance. Having expanded the store every year since its opening and grown sales at a rate that turns colleagues and competitors pea-green, what's left to do (well, besides the tennis bracelets)? "We'll expand again next year," Martin states. "And we plan to grow sales another 25,3OVo."

- A former award-winning LBM trade magazine editor, Carla Waldemar writes frequently on the lumber and building material industry. Contact her at cwaldemar@ mn.rr.com.