THE HARDWARE CONNECTION HONORED FOR OVERALL EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE
November 2020 Vol. 12, No. 7
THE INDUSTRY’S DIGITAL LEADER
Unleashing the Power of DIGITAL MARKETING ALSO INSIDE: Frager’s Hardware Celebrates 100th Anniversary Executing a Retail Turnaround in Kansas
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Higginbotham Brothers Texas
CONTENTS November 2020 ■ Vol. 12, No. 7
30
MAIN FEATURE: UNLEASHING THE POWER OF DIGITAL MARKETING
CATEGORY REPORT: ELECTRICAL & LIGHTING TRENDS & PRODUCTS
6 8 12 14 16 27 30 35 38 43 45 48 50 52 58
Editor’s Note: Chris Jensen Trend Watch: Craig Cope Digby’s Hardware cartoon: Scott Jensen Amazing But True Hardware Stories How’s Business? Regional Reports on Business Conditions Shop Talk: Hardware Products Review Main Feature: Unleashing the Power of Digital Marketing Dealer Profile: Arrowhead Hardware Dealer Profile: Frager’s Hardware Dealer Profile: Edgewood Do it Best Hardware Category Report: Electrical and Lighting In the News Upcoming Events Retail Ideas Behind the Numbers The Hardware Connection app is available for iPhone, iPad, Android and Amazon. Download here.
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THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020 ■ 3
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ADVERTISERS’ INDEX A.O. Smith/Reliance Water Heaters | www.RelianceWaterHeaters.com . . 23 Do it Best Corp. | www.doitbestonline.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 ECi Software Solutions | www.ecisolutions.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Epicor Corp. | www.epicor.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Ganymede Technologies Corp./J3 Point-of-Sale | www.j3pos.biz . . . . . . . 15 Kaba Ilco | www.ilco.us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Orgill Inc. | www.orgill.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Police Security Flashlights | www.policesecurity.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Rescue Sterling International Inc. | www.rescue.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Retail Automation | www.retailautomation.biz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Robert Bosch Tool Corp. | www.boschtools.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 24 SureCan Inc. | www.surecanusa.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Taiwan Excellence Hardware Showcase/Taiwan Trade Center . . . . . . . . . . 25 www.taiwanexcellence.org WD-40 Company | www.wd40.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 21
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91900 Overseas Highway | Tavernier, FL 33070 | www.TheHardwareConnection.com Publisher/Principal: Craig Cope craig@thehardwareconnection.com 804-690-0666 Editor/Founder/Principal: Chris Jensen chris@thehardwareconnection.com 317-514-8864 Marketing & Creative Director/Principal: Dan Akers dan@thehardwareconnection.com 317-797-6609 Founder/Principal: Tom Chasteen tom@thehardwareconnection.com 305-852-6126
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Senior Business Advisor: John Hammond jhammond@thehardwareconnection.com National Account Manager: Dan Beck dbeck@thehardwareconnection.com 518-852-9624 Contributing Writers: Doug Donaldson, Gary Pittsford, John Fix III The Hardware Connection is published eight times a year by The Hardware Connection, Inc. All editorial contents copyrighted 2020 by the publisher. No editorial may be reproduced without the prior permission of the publisher.
THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020 ■ 5
EDITOR’S NOTE By Chris Jensen
E
Celebrating a Resilient Century Club Retailer
verybody loves a happy ending, but especially during these crazy times, as we all suffer through another month of a deadly pandemic amid a frenzied election season punctuated by a divisive political atmosphere. In this issue, we are excited to share the happy ending of the Frager’s Hardware story, although we should point out that their story is still very much continuing. We featured Frager’s Hardware on the cover of our May-June 2013 issue, proud to recognize such an outstanding store. Then disaster struck. Exactly one week after Frager’s appeared on our cover, the store in Washington, D.C., was destroyed by a devastating fivealarm fire that gutted its two historic buildings. You may have heard of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx, where a star athlete’s performance tanks after they appear on the SI Selling cover, but this Across Generations was taking things ALSO INSIDE: to another level. While we were shocked and
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Frager’s Hardware is a D.C. Institution Regional Reports on Business Conditions Product Trends in Electrical and Lighting
6 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020
saddened, we could only imagine what Frager’s owner, employees and customers were thinking. Was this the end of the road for the 93-year-old business, which had evolved into an institution in the Capitol Hill district? The community rallied around Frager’s, helping raise money to keep paying staff and to find a temporary location, where they reopened four days later. You don’t know how much you need something until it’s gone, and then you will do everything you can to get it back. In the Capitol Hill district, the community’s prayers had been answered. Frager’s persevered, bouncing from one temporary location to another, and then was sold in 2017 to someone who had long admired the business— Gina Schaefer of A Few Cool Hardware Stores. The community rejoiced when Frager’s reopened in a new building constructed in 2019 on the original site, and then the celebration lasted the entire month of September when the iconic retailer marked its 100-year anniversary this year. Don’t ever count out a Century Club retailer. Turn to page 38 to learn more of Frager’s fascinating history. ■ www.TheHardwareConnection.com
TREND WATCH
By Craig Cope
Take Advantage of a Smart Way to Reduce Your Tax Bill
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obert Kiyosaki once said, “It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you and how many generations you keep it for.” Without a doubt 2020 is a year that will not soon be forgotten. The pandemic and subsequent shelter-in-place orders have taken a wrecking ball to the retail market. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence the U.S. retail sector bankruptcies have reached a 10-year high. However, the independent hardware channel has experienced record sales as an “essential business.” Ace Hardware CEO John Venhuizen was quick to highlight this point during an August 19, 2020 appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” While no independent hardware store owner is going to complain about record sales, it does bring with it a potential large tax liability at the end of the year. There are numerous steps retailers can take to limit their exposure and keep more of what they earned. One program is the Section 179 deduction of the tax code. Since no two
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businesses are the same, always consult with your CPA or financial advisor to discuss your specific situation. So, what is Section 179 and how can it potentially help you reduce your tax liability? Section 179 has been part of the tax code since 1943. It allows small businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software during the tax year instead of a traditional depreciation schedule. The deduction came under scrutiny when business owners began purchasing expensive SUVs and taking the full deduction. It was often referred to as the “Hummer Deduction.” The tax code has since changed and limitations and specific criteria were added for vehicles, but vehicles used in business still qualify. The deduction limit for 2020 is $1,040,000 and the spending cap is $2,590,000 before any reduction. The ability to finance the equipment over a period and still take the full deduction in 2020 creates an excellent opportunity to further invest in your store. Section179.org is a website compiling all information related to Section www.TheHardwareConnection.com
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TREND WATCH 179 and even offers a calculator to see the impact of the deduction. To the right is an example calculation illustrating a cash savings of $402,500 with an equipment purchase of $1,150,000. Just one of the benefits of Section 179 is the numerous categories considered qualifying equipment which hardware stores utilize daily. Here is a general list: machinery, computers, software, office furniture, vehicles or other tangible goods. The Section179.org website has an extensive list of qualifying equipment. In order to qualify, the equipment must be put into service during the 2020 calendar year. Even business equipment purchased to comply with COVID-19 restrictions can qualify. Additionally, if you received any Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding you are still eligible to claim the deduction. The Section 179 deduction can not only benefit your bottom line, it could also increase your end-of-the year sales on bigger-ticket items. How many
of your commercial accounts know or could benefit from the deduction? Hardware stores already stock numerous products that qualify for the deduction and could further boost sales heading into 2021. Marketing the deduction to your commercial accounts could not only boost your sales, but also enhance your relationship with these key customers. Instead of just selling them products you are also providing valuable information to improve their business. That is a true win-win scenario. ■
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had a customer come in for a key and I programmed it to his vehicle. He was having issues with his former key not working before he came to see me. I programmed the key and he left. He called back later and said he couldn’t get his car to crank and the key wasn’t working. I thought that was weird and had never had this issue before. He brought his car back in when he finally got it to crank. I programmed the key again and it wouldn’t start the car. His wife kept telling him you need gas, you need gas. So, after two failed attempts to get the key to work and the car to crank I told him to go to the nearest gas station to get some gas to put in the car to see if that would help. Low and behold, when he came back and we put the gas in and I programmed the key again—it worked! His wife was fussing at him saying the whole time ‘I told you that you needed gas!’ I laughed and told them to have a great day and come see me if they needed another key. Best key customer yet; they had me laughing the whole time. Bethany Cox Southern Home & Garden Ace Hardware Carrollton, Ga.
14 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020
C
e ustomers can b . Some pretty inventive make have wanted to never existed t’s a th g in th e m so a omer asked for st cu e n O . re fo be eets of plastic, sh t n ia g f o ch n bu ate a massive e cr ld u co e h so anted that huge w e H . g a b n w la . n in one sweep w la is h o d to g ba one worked out. t a th k in th ’t n o Id Tony Powers ware Intown Ace Hard Decatur, Ga.
C
ustomer comes in and says ‘I need hangers.’ You take them to that aisle and they say, ‘No, joist hangers, not clothes hangers.’ With a mask on, it’s hard to understand them sometimes. Barry Hight McGuckin Hardware Boulder, Colo.
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COVID-19 UPDATE:
How’s
Business? Brett Thorne is second-generation operator of Thorne Lumber Company in Chillicothe, Mo.
manufacturers, especially with items such as masks. Strongest niche categories? We’re a place for the professional, Sales and customer counts in with about 70 percent of our business 2020? What overall impact has from contractors. Construction materials COVID-19 had on your business? are what we’re known for. It’s been a good year. Across the board, What is your digital marketing we’re up, probably conservatively, 30 perstrategy? We do use digital marketing, cent. It’s sad to say but from a sales side, but I don’t know if we use it effectively. it’s been a good year. Customers have I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not our a lot of honey-do projects they’ve been strong suit. We dabble in the online putting off that they can get done now. space. We went with the new e-comCustomers aren’t spending money on merce platform from Do it Best. In years vacations, so they’re putting money into past, we’ve done some Facebook givetheir homes. Contractors, our traditional customers, have been very busy, too. I’ve aways and that’s gained some traction. What have you learned during heard that they’ve turned away more jobs COVID that will make your busithan ever because of the high demand. What’s selling well? Using non- ness stronger for the future? The biggest thing we learned is that we traditional sources of supply? can handle a lot with the resources we Paints have been very good, as has lumber. Something that was a surprise, already have. For me, efficiency has always been a big thing. If we’re efficient but looking back now makes sense, was toilet paper. When everything with and running well in normal times, then we should be able to handle a crisis, the pandemic first started, we sold such as a storm, when there’s greater more toilet paper in two weeks than demand. Inefficiencies get magnified in we’ve ever sold. For suppliers, we did times of high demand. One of the best turn to some non-traditional, different
MIDWEST
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How’s Business?:: COVID-19 UPDATE examples for us is when demand ramped up with contractors we also started doing more deliveries, even smaller-ticket items, but we were able to accommodate that increase. We had a good system in place, and we were able to scale up without too much confusion or obstacles. Brett Thorne Thorne Lumber Company | Chillicothe, Mo.
Stewart Ginsberg has operated Home Towne Hardware with wife Elaine since 2001.
area. We’re really big with Halloween and Christmas. We are known for garden supplies and decorative items. We also attract a lot of women with our housewares. What is your digital marketing strategy? We have been using Facebook and some local digital marketSales and customer ing sites. In some cases, it’s been very counts so far in 2020? effective, definitely a plus. What overall impact has What have you learned during COVID-19 had on your COVID that will make your busibusiness? Early winter, it was ness stronger for the future? about average. We closed in the Maintain the inventory that people are second week of March for about looking for. We found out we have a lot two-and-a-half weeks. After that, we of loyal customers that appreciate what did curbside pickup. Then, we had an incredibly good garden season and rest we were doing as far as cleanliness rules and being careful when we opened of the year, up about 20 percent over last year. It’s been more stressful on the again for customers. It made people more comfortable shopping here. business but good for sales. Stewart Ginsberg What’s selling well? Using nontraditional sources of supply? We’ve Home Towne Hardware | Hackettstown, N.J. sold a lot more garden products, such as plants, seeds, pots, chemicals and organics. It’s all been doing very well. Paint has been doing well, too. Housewares Sales and customer counts in and appliances have done well. In most 2020? What overall impact has cases, we rely on our regular distributors, COVID-19 had on your business? but there have been some things we just Sales are up about 12 percent, maybe cannot get, such as canning jars. 15 percent. We’ve been very busy and Strongest niche categories? our biggest problem has been shortWe’ve built a strong niche in the seasonal age of goods. We have been open every
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day. Through the spring, our customer count was down about half, but we were seeing the same people every day. Light industrial plant maintenance buyers, plumbers and electricians were constantly working. Then, all of a sudden in June, our customer count doubled and has stayed that way since. What I’m seeing is an increase in farmers, agri-business owners and cattlemen. They are doing more things to keep their farms going. I also see every plumber in the area overrun with jobs. What’s selling well? Using nontraditional sources of supply? Fasteners have done well, up about 50 percent. Plumbing is up about 25 percent. Power tools such as Milwaukee have been out the roof. For some products, we have sought some nontraditional sources, such as plumbing houses and electrical houses. Strongest niche categories? We’re a very traditional hardware store. Our biggest niches are plumbing, fasteners and power tools. We also have hunting supplies and a housewares department with a wedding registry. Cast-iron cookware and locksets have usually sold well. We have all types of drill bits, not just the fast-moving items. Same with the pipe and bolt taps and dyes. We warehouse a lot of items. Customers are willing to come in if they know we have whatever they are looking for. www.TheHardwareConnection.com
Keenan Williams owns LaGrone Williams Hardware, which has been family owned since 1961.
What is your digital marketing strategy? We have a Facebook page and are always posting things there. Our website is connected with Pointy and we pay attention to the weekly report, which is interesting to see what gets hit. We learn from what gets hit. We found out from Pointy that we picked up customers from our selections of Milwaukee power tools, Case knives and Lodge cookware. What have you learned during COVID that will make your business stronger for the future? We
learned that we have very faithful customers—that’s gratifying. The other thing we learned is that we have to be flexible enough to find any source where we can get the goods. Keenan Williams LaGrone Williams Hardware | Hope, Ark.
SOUTHWEST
Sales and customer counts so far in 2020? What overall impact has COVID-19 had on your business? We had record-breaking sales beginning about April. After that, month after month of record-breaking months in both sales and customer counts. In recent months, customer counts have
been down a little. The average, month-to-month, is about a 35 percent increase. I realize it’s been very difficult for many, and we’re in an area where enough people are doing projects. We’ve been very fortunate to be in an industry that has been strong. What’s selling well? Using non-traditional sources of supply? It’s been everything—rental items and grills to any sort of project-related products to make improvements to the home. We used a few non-traditional sources for hand sanitizer, but for the most part, our distributors, Do it Best Corp. and LBM Advantage, have been very helpful. Strongest niche categories? We do a lot with rental and drills. We have a lumberyard with a wide range of items. What is your digital marketing strategy? We’ve seen it increase, because people haven’t had much else to do. We do Facebook and a little bit on Instagram. We post sale items and also fun, interesting pieces to keep
The Skinner and Bynum families now operate three stores in Oklahoma. Mike Skinner (back right) was a starting guard for the Oklahoma Sooners’ 2000 national championship football team.
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How’s Business?:: COVID-19 UPDATE it light. Our feed isn’t just about products, but interesting things to look at. What have you learned during COVID that will make your business stronger for the future? The pandemic has reinforced the value of our ability to make quick decisions and be flexible. At the start of the pandemic, we decided to go with curbside pickup. We only allowed people back in the store when we felt good about it. Mike Skinner Tahlequah Lumber | Tahlequah, Okla.
WEST
Sales and customer counts in 2020? What overall impact has
COVID-19 had on your business? Business has been like a bullwhip. It was low and now big. It’s insane now. From a safety standpoint, early in the pandemic we closed to customers for 10 weeks and offered curbside service. So our customer counts are lower. Sales are up a little bit. There has been a positive impact, because we spotlight our customer service again and again. Later, when we had customers back, we took a chance by strongly enforcing the mask rule. It was something our customers were very receptive to. They appreciated the safety for them and our employees.
How’s Business?:: COVID-19 UPDATE So it’s been positive, because customers have really responded to how we conduct business. We’ve shown customers we care about them, not just their dollars. The really negative thing has been on the supply side. There have been times we have not been able to get the products we want. We usually do a big canning business in the fall, but our canning shelves have been empty for six weeks. What’s selling well? Using nontraditional sources of supply? Canning stuff has sold really well. There have been a lot of lawn and garden products, like rakes and shovels, that we’ve blown through. Impulse items haven’t sold as well. At the beginning, we definitely relied on non-traditional suppliers for masks or hand sanitizer. We reached out to small distilleries that converted their production from booze to hand sanitizer. It wasn’t ideal, but we made it work. Strongest niche categories? We are a category-killer in fasteners. When a Home Depot opened about two-and-a-half miles away, we focused on repair instead of new. We’re known for stocking obscure repair parts that no one else has. Canning is another strong product line for us. What is your digital marketing strategy? My wife and I took over the store from my mother-in-law the last couple years. Since then, we’ve put the pedal to the metal as far as social media. We started more heavily at the beginning of the year before the pandemic hit.
Century Club member Coast Do it Best Hardware created a customer lounge during early COVID restrictions in April.
We can’t really see direct results, but we have the inkling that we’re drawing in new customers because of social media. We’re definitely reaching a non-traditional age group. In the past, we’ve aimed ourselves at the 35 to 55 age group, but we’re seeing more younger people in their early 20s. What have you learned during COVID that will make your business stronger for the future? Maybe more planning would be better. We’ve always done everything on the fly and made a lot of decisions immediately. Long-term planning is something we’ve been trying to do. Do it Best has really done a good job helping us with that. Their member website has a listing of all vendors and details how COVID-19 has affected them. We can see when we expect certain products to be available and what plants are shut down. I print it out so employees can reference it and so we can pass that information to customers. Any stories to share about customers during COVID? During the pandemic, we had a customer come in not wearing a mask—he was aggressive. Other customers got in his face and told him to get out. Nick McCallum Coast Do it Best Hardware | Poulsbo, Wash.
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k l a T p Sho TS R C U D O R P E HARDWAR
By Craig Cope
EVIEW
PRODUCT #1: HEAVY-DUTY STRAPS WRAP-IT STORAGE As technology advances and new power tools, computer equipment and A/V equipment come out, they all seem to have one thing in common— another cable, cord or wire. Our hightech society has become a rat’s nest of cables, cords and wires running amok. That is what led entrepreneur Jim Broshat to his home basement in St. Paul, Minn., to find a better way to clean up and organize the clutter. In 2013, Wrap-It Storage was created to sell unique cable management products dedicated to decluttering. Wrap-It Storage offers cable management solutions for every room in the house, garage/shed, office and so much more. The line includes a heavy-duty storage strap for the 100-foot garden hose with clever carrying handle, straps with a built-in grommet for hanging or selfgripping perforated rolls for computer cords. We gave our testers a wide selection of Wrap-It Storage straps to test as they saw fit. We quickly discovered our testers are extremely creative. All testers used their straps for their www.TheHardwareConnection.com
intended purpose and commented on the high level of quality and design. The testers then proceeded to find other purposes such as securing scuba gear while underwater, strapping a duffle bag to a rollaboard or a water bottle to a bicycle frame, just to name a few. 2020 has been an unpredictable year, but I know one thing for sure: after the holidays are over there will be more cords, cables and wires in our lives. Take a look at Wrap-It Storage for your store’s cable management solutions and support a family-run business. To view the Wrap-it video, click here.
THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020 ■ 27
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IEW
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PRODUCT #2: 968 FORGED WIRE STRIPPER CHANNELLOCK INC. Channellock is a tool company that needs no introduction. The 134-yearold company manufactures more than 75 different types and sizes of pliers in the small town of Meadville, Pa. In 1933 the company launched its legendary multi-position, tongueand-grove, slip-joint plier. The product was named Channellock and 30 years later the company adopted the name of its signature product. The company recently launched the CHANNELLOCK® 968 7.5 forged wire stripper that is 100 percent made in the USA, including the steel. The product comes with the normal features you would expect in a wire stripper, but a few additional ones focus on ease of use. The 968 utilizes the company’s Xtreme Leverage Technology (XLT™), which www.TheHardwareConnection.com
reduces the force required to cut. The handle is also spring-loaded with CHANNELLOCK Blue® comfort grips. The forged high carbon steel is coated for rust prevention and it features screw shears specially made to prevent damaging the threads when cutting 6-32 and 8-32 machine screws. Our testers were all tradesmen and utilized the 968 throughout their normal workweek. The feedback was just as expected with comments such as high quality, exceptional ergonomics and precision. However, I think one tester said it best: “It’s a Channellock and I expected nothing less.” If you currently carry Channellock products or need a high-quality wire stripper for your assortment, then take a look at the 968.
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THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020 ■ 29
Feature
Unleashing the Power of DIGITAL MARKETING By Chris Jensen
O
ne of the advantages of being small is that independent hardware retailers can operate more nimbly, and that is especially true when it comes to digital marketing. Read on to learn how two independent hardware/home improvement retailers are learning to unleash the power of digital marketing tools to help them attract new customers and grow their businesses.
Peter and Beth Ballhaussen have relied on digital marketing tools to grow their business, Town Hardware & General Store.
Peter and Beth Ballhaussen are relative newcomers to the hardware industry, so they were not stuck on the old ways of marketing when they acquired Town Hardware & General Store in Black Mountain, N.C., back in 2013. Peter, who has an MBA, previously worked in the telecommunications industry, while Beth had experience as a nurse and a teacher. Peter was downsized from his corporate job in 2012 and
wasn’t ready to retire yet, but they discovered an old-fashioned hardware store for sale in the scenic town where they had bought retirement property. Close to Asheville and the Blue Ridge Parkway in the western part of the state, Black Mountain is surrounded by waterfalls and beautiful mountain vistas, making it a popular tourist destination. The town’s year-round population of 8,000 swells considerably during the summer and fall peak seasons. Once the Ballhaussens took over ownership of the business, they dove into their new responsibilities running a hardware store that is nearly a century old. The 5,000-square-foot Do it Best store crams a ton of products into a small space spread out over three historic buildings, with 3,000 square feet devoted to
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reaCHinG new HeiGHts
hardware and 2,000 square feet devoted to gift and housewares. With squeeky wood floors, tin ceiling and an eclectic assortment, Town Hardware is a tourist destination by itself. As Peter explains, “Locals know we’re here—since the store has been around since 1928—but other people who are in the area for a visit don’t know what we have to offer.” The old method of marketing and promoting a hardware store was to blanket a community with monthly circulars, which were either mailed or inserted in the Sunday newspaper. The biggest benefits to digital marketing are the fact it’s much cheaper and allows for greater targeting of specific people such as customers who shop regularly. The Ballhaussens subscribe to Do it Best’s Digital Dashboard, a proprietary program that allows them to plan, budget and measure their digital spend with targeted emails, Google search words and Google display ads. The Digital Dashboard provides single-site functionality to retailers like the Ballhaussens who want to utilize multiple digital tools to attract new and existing customers. “We look at the number of emails read and the number of impressions on Google. We’re getting a 20 to 25 percent www.TheHardwareConnection.com
Left: The Ballhaussens can inexpensively and efficiently target their best customers on their Facebook page and through the Do it Best Rewards program. Right: Town Hardware & General Store uses the latest digital marketing tools to promote the old-fashioned, nearly century-old store.
open rate on emails, which is pretty good,” says Peter. He adds, “The challenge is it’s hard to see why a particular customer is coming into the store. We don’t ask how they found us, but I’m sure some customers did use a Google search.” Town Hardware has adopted the Do it Best Rewards program, which has been paying dividends. “We get a lot of feedback from the loyalty program. It’s good to stay in front of those regular customers, so we send out a weekly email to them,” Peter says. They surveyed 500 of their best customers about starting a delivery service and got 100 responses. “So, we bought a delivery van in February and started that up just in time for the COVID crisis to hit,” Peter points out. “We set a marketing budget that is allocated for the year and we’ve increased our digital spend every year,” he adds. Although they still do some circulars and mailers, they got rid of the hefty
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Feature charge for the store’s Yellow Pages listing. Town Hardware has a presence on the Explore Asheville and Asheville Chamber of Commerce websites and the Destination Tours site for towns in the Southeast. Peter makes it a priority to stay on top of their Google Business Listing and he tries to respond every couple of weeks to Google reviews. He says they don’t get many Yelp reviews, which are more prevalent in bigger cities. He notes that most people have turned to their phones and social networks during the pandemic. “That’s why it’s so important to have a digital presence in order for people to still interact and do business with your store,” he points out. Although they haven’t boosted the store’s social media presence during the pandemic, they have been proactive on their website. “We added a page for curbside service and for delivery service and also promoted those some on Facebook. We will continue to offer those services after the pandemic ends,” Peter says. The Ballhaussens had a young staffer who was handling social media activity, but now they are transitioning to someone else while also looking into using a local marketing company. “We try to be regular posters on Facebook but don’t boost very many Facebook posts. We work through the Digital Dashboard, which does Facebook posts for us on a weekly basis,” Peter says. In terms of Facebook analytics, Peter looks at how many shares and likes
they get and also tracks page views on their website. Town Hardware’s website offers great promise for future growth. They use Do it Best’s proprietary e-commerce website called MOCE, which they customized to reflect their store brand. “We were doing e-commerce before and had our own website with a link to the Do it Best site. They offered a new program where it doesn’t say it’s Do it Best, and we transitioned to that last year. We can offer our customers 60,000 items available through the Do it Best warehouse,” Peter explains. He adds, “We’ve seeing much more activity on the website and have seen a significant increase in orders through the site. We used to have several hundred items on a website and it was hit and miss. Now it’s steady—most are ship-to-store orders, so we can sell them more stuff once them come into the store. We had someone requesting 48 bags of insulation when we don’t even carry that product.” Peter points out that he was an early adopter of Pointy, which helps turn online searches into in-store sales. “Pointy has been really good for our
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Lee Nabors is a big proponent of using digital marketing strategies to promote his four Nabors Do it Best Home Center stores in Mississippi.
Lee Nabors of Nabors Do it Best Home Center just bought his fourth
store in Mississippi—C&D Lumber in Amory—and he knows exactly how to go about growing that new market. “We will have to be more aggressive with digital marketing, because there is more competition in that market. We will modernize the store and make it more female friendly, then spread the word around,” he says. Nabors points out that Jackie Strong, his chief operating officer, strongly recommended they go bigger with digital and it’s really made a difference in his business. “When we use the Google tools it’s really effective,” he says. Nabors subscribes to Do it Best’s Digital Dashboard. “I analyze the metrics, but Jackie also does that. We get so many tools from Do it Best and use them as a promotional asset. During the lawn and garden season, we promote zero-turn mowers and we can see how that pays off,” he explains. He adds, “Our advertising cost went up tremendously, but it’s because people were calling the store after a Google hit—that’s a good thing. So, our revenue also went up. Digital marketing has exceeded all expectations.” Overall, since they have leveraged these digital tools, Nabors Do it Best Home Center has seen significant increased activity in website visits and a 40 percent uptick in phone calls coming into their stores. A closer look at the analytics reveals the effectiveness of their digital marketing strategy. In June of this year, using
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business. It tracks our POS and features items that are selling in the store,” he says. “We set up a monthly budget with ad spend for Pointy. You can adjust the radius—we do a 10-mile radius.” In an average month, 50,000 people are seeing their Pointy ads, and 400 to 500 people are searching the store to find out more information, according to Peter. “We get a lot of phone calls from Pointy, like asking if we have canning jars,” he says. Taking full advantage of search functions is what separates high-performance retailers from underachievers. People often end up shopping where their phone tells them to go. As Peter explains, their Digital Dashboard is focused on “Hardware Stores Near Me” and associated search words. On Pointy, they get a list of different searches that lead to their store such as “Paint Near Me.” The Ballhaussens are always eager to jump on programs and recommendations to enhance their connectivity to their customers with a focus on reaching customers wherever they are and whenever they are ready to shop. “I think our digital marketing strategies are helping us attract a younger group of customers,” Peter says. “The younger crowd uses Google searches and they look more on their phones, so we’re using all the tools to make sure they find our store.”
GrowinG in new Markets
Feature Google tools, their Houston, Miss., store received: • 3,985 page views of their current promotions • 71 directions • 70 click to call • 345 website views They did not activate the Google tools in July and received: • 87 page views of their current promotions • 0 directions • 2 click to call • 5 website views “We realize that some of this is due to COVID-10, but even before the outbreak, we experienced more traffic in the months we use the Google tools,” says Strong. Another powerful tool has been the Do it Best Rewards program, which has been a tremendous hit for the business. “We empowered our cashiers to hand out $5 instant credit for any customer who signs up for the Do it Best Rewards program. We now have over 4,500 Rewards members. That really drives customers to our stores,” Nabors says. He adds, “We focus a lot of energy into paint. We’re going to get more creative and do more promotions to our best customers. We’ve pretty much abandoned the idea of sending out fliers to everyone—we just send mailers to Rewards members.” Nabors uses Facebook because that’s something he understands, planning to get more into Instagram and Twitter
Nabors Do it Best Home Center uses Google tools to attract customers to the four-store chain.
later on. “We have one person designated to do the social media page at each store. They have a number of items to promote at each store, but they tend to pick items they are most passionate about,” he says. When it comes to traditional sources of advertising, Nabors feels a sense of responsibility to support local newspapers because there is a local benefit. Although radio and TV are still major players, he believes digital marketing is the wave of the future. “Advertising is much like fertilizer. If you throw fertilizer on a lawn, you’ll see the fruits of your labor once it rains. I can see which Rewards members have come into the store and bought something,” he points out. Nabors plans to place more focus on online shopping. “It’s growing more and more. We offer curbside pickup anyway, so we might as well expand what we have to offer them. We can compete with the big boxes and online sites by using these digital marketing tools,” he says. n
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DEALER PROFILE
By Chris Jensen
Executing a
DRAMATIC TURNAROUND
A
fter spending most of his career working in supporting roles for several hardware retailers, one thing was abundantly clear to Kent Schaper—he wanted to feed his entrepreneurial spirit and execute his own vision as a store owner. Schaper has been in the hardware industry since 1981. He worked at a small lumberyard, then spent 23 years at Westlake Ace Hardware. He helped start Nuts and Bolts Hardware as a minority owner and was involved in that company for 10 years. Nuts and Bolts Hardware had restructured, so Schaper had sold back his ownership stake but was still an employee. He came across his dream opportunity through happenstance. “I was in a restaurant eating and saw a guy with a Do it Best shirt on. I started talking about Nuts and Bolts Hardware, and he said that he wished someone would buy his hardware store. He and his wife were ready to sell and didn’t have a succession plan,” recalls Schaper. “I talked to a banker and he asked if I could close in a month.” www.TheHardwareConnection.com
Kent Schaper and his wife Erin have worked hard to revitalize Arrowhead Hardware in Baldwin City, Kan.
Middle: Arrowhead Hardware has seen a dramatic improvement since Kent Schaper acquired the business two years ago. Lower: Kent Schaper (back left) and his team have restored the community’s trust in the store.
THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020 ■ 35
DEALER PROFILE
asked for something, we’ll do whatever it takes to find it,” Schaper says. “I live The deal to acquire Arrowhead around the corner from Home Depot, so Hardware in Baldwin City, Kan., closed I’ll even go pick something up there if I quickly on November 15, 2018. have to and deliver it the next day.” Over a five-month period, Schaper In the weeks following its grand met with the former owners, Gary and reopening in April 2019, Arrowhead Robbie, to learn about the business Hardware hosted a Contractors’ Night model and implement best practices gleaned from his previous experience to to connect with local pro builders and deepen valuable relationships. formulate his own dream store. There The store now gets 15-20 percent of was a lot of work to be done. “The building is fairly new—it opened sales from pro and commercial customers. As Schaper explains, “We had conin 2009—and the location is good, a tractors asking for 15-inch drain tubes, block from a main highway. But the inventory was run down and they didn’t so we sourced them and are cheaper than TSC. The city and schools are comhave the financial means to get it back ing in asking for items, so we’ve been up. We put everything we had into it,” doing a lot of product chasing.” explains Schaper, whose wife, Erin, Schaper has been successful attractworks full time in the business. ing women with flowers and plants in Do it Best worked with them to get the spring. In fact, lawn and garden is the inventory level back up for the 11,000-square-foot store, offering incen- now the top-selling category, accounting for 25 percent of total sales. tives that brought it up to the lower Arrowhead Hardware did not do much end of where the inventory should be. “We’ve grown inventory two and a half business in green goods before. “The year I took over they did $7,000 in green times what it was,” points out Schaper. goods. We did 10 times that last year and will do 15 times that this year. They used ATTRACTING KEY CUSTOMER GROUPS to be double the price on bagged goods, Arrowhead Hardware needed help with two key customers segments: con- so it was easy to get more competitractors and women. “Contractors didn’t tive. We’re going to do 14 semi-trucks of bagged goods this year,” Schaper says. bother coming in before. We inherited “We get kids with popcorn and kids a rental department with a lot of broken knick-knack items. We’ve become known equipment. We also knew we had to attract women and restore public trust,” as the popcorn store,” he points out. When he took over, Schaper found Schaper says. every category needed attention. “Fall He began aggressively chasing the trees, fall decorating, grass seed, outdoor contractor business. “If a contractor 36 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020
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bagged goods like mulch—everything needed a boost. We developed the paint department so we can match anyone’s paint chip. Every aisle has been redone and updated. We update the planograms every month,” he says. In the first year, Schaper’s revitalized store quickly became a community staple largely due to the commitment he shows to his neighbors day in and day out. He even missed the Do it Best market to help run Baldwin City’s annual Maple Leaf Festival, opening up his parking lot and donating all of the proceeds to the local food bank. As a result, Baldwin City, a town of just 4,700 residents, has embraced Schaper as a welcome addition to the downtown business district.
TAKING THE NEXT STEP Schaper is pleased with the progress he has made so far with the business, but is not satisfied. “There’s still a lot of room to grow in faucets, hardware and other categories. I want to grow rental and have started down that path by bringing in tables and chairs. We’ve gotten into ag categories like barbed wire and pre-made sheds, which are big in a rural area,” he says. The positive feedback he receives from the community fuels Schaper’s desire to keep improving. “I still get comments every day thanking me for taking over the store. I’ll tell a customer that we can bring that item in for you, but you have to bring us cookies—and they bring us cookies,” he says. www.TheHardwareConnection.com
Lawn and garden now accounts for 25 percent of sales, helping bring in female customers.
Schaper is proud to note that he didn’t cut hours or close any during the pandemic. “I made the decision that we would be here for our customers. We did a lot of curbside pickup and home deliveries for shut-ins, which is good for building relationships,” he says. He and his office manager spend a lot of time chasing products, because Schaper doesn’t want to lose a sale. He points out that Do it Best has a good system to reserve out-of-stock items, which they have used over and over for hand sanitizer, Lysol and masks. “I just keep ordering ‘A’ items. I recently had a customer from a nursing home buy $2,000 of N95 masks. That’s one thing I learned while at Westlake—you can’t sell from an empty wagon,” he says. Schaper knew the store had potential, but he didn’t think he could execute a turnaround this quickly. “We had a three-year goal for financials and we made our second-year goal after the first year. We’ve already passed our third-year numbers in August,” he says. “I’m extremely happy with how far we’ve come with the business. It just took a lot of hard work, but it’s been fun and rewarding.” ■
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Dealer Profile
By Chris Jensen
frager’s Hardware turns 100!
Theodore Ammon shows off the 100th anniversary shirts for sale.
F
rager’s Hardware, one of the newest members of The Hardware Connection Century Club, held a month-long celebration in September to mark its 100th anniversary. It featured giveaways, custom-made products for staff and customers, daily posts on social media to lift up neighboring small businesses and fundraisers to support local non-profits. Frager’s Hardware is the second-oldest hardware store operating in Washington,
Lower Left: Zinia Brown (left) and Regina Whitaker hold the 100th anniversary Frager’s buttons worn by staff throughout the celebration month, along with the 100-year masks. Right: They gave away 100 two-packs of chocolate-covered Frager’s Oreo cookies custom-made locally in Capitol Hill by The Capital Candy Jar. 38 ■ The hARDWARe Connection ■ November 2020
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Upper Left: At the age of 5, Edward Frager (shown here) began living with his grandfather Frank in an apartment above the store he founded. Edward would become the third generation of the family to work at Frager’s, sweeping the floor for $1 a day. Upper Middle: Frager’s partnered with Capitol Hill’s Valor Brewpub to name a beer in honor of their centennial celebration. Eleven15 represents the store’s old and current address at 1115 Pennsylvania Avenue SE. Fifty cents of every draft purchased through October 31 benefitted the Frager’s Fund in support of 12 local non-profits. Upper Right: Eric Crowder wears a Frager’s 100th year face mask in front of the 100year banner calling attention to Frager’s centennial celebration.
D.C., behind W.S. Jenks & Son, which was founded in 1866. Frank Frager was a Russian Jewish immigrant who came to Ellis Island, sold ice cream cones out of a cart, worked at a lumberyard and became such a skilled cabinet-maker that he crafted many of the display cases in the original Smithsonian Museum, according to a Washington Post article. In 1920, he borrowed $5,000 and opened a hardware store that would become a Capitol Hill institution. www.ThehardwareConnection.com
Middle Left: Frager’s kept customers informed of the month-long centennial anniversary celebration with frequent posts on Facebook. Lower Left: Restoring an old tradition, Frager’s held a photo contest to encourage customers to show off their Frager’s shirts in creative and unique locations.
Frager’s is now owned by Gina Schaefer and Marc Friedman of A Few Cool Hardware Stores, who bought the historic business in 2017, four years after a devastating fire had made the store’s future look bleak. While the COVID-19 pandemic dashed some of their plans to commemorate the
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Upper: This is what Frager’s Hardware looked like shortly before it was destroyed by fire in June 2013. Middle: Frager’s was destroyed by fire on June 5, 2013, likely sparked by a cigarette butt discarded by an employee. The store quickly reopened at a series of temporary locations that would be its home for the next six years. Lower: Marc Friedman and Gina Schaefer at the grand reopening at the store’s original location in August 2019, two years after they bought Frager’s Hardware from John Weintraub.
store’s centennial anniversary, Frager’s found a way to celebrate its long and distinguished history while reaching out in new ways to serve the community. “We had a lovely time promoting the store and giving a shout-out to local non-profits. Throughout the month we featured 12 new businesses and 12 local non-profits to allow them to tell their stories. That’s a reflection of how community-minded Frager’s has been for the past 100 years,” says Courtney Belew, senior manager marketing and community engagement. “So many of those companies and groups are suffering during the
pandemic, so we were happy to help out. This was a way for our employees and customers to connect together to lift up the community spirit,” says Belew. All Frager’s employees wore 100-year masks throughout the month as well as 100-year shirts and buttons. “We sold a lot of 100-year t-shirts, which are available online and in-store,” Belew says. Customers were encouraged to share stories about Frager’s, and some recalled fond shopping memories from 20 years ago. “There was a couple who had gotten married in our garden center five years ago, so we gave them a fiveyear anniversary gift,” Belew points out. The fire in 2013, which was visible for miles, reinforced how Frager’s had evolved into an integral part of the community. The Capitol Hill Community Foundation (CHCF) provided more than $130,00 to keep Frager’s staff employed and help the store relocate. When Frager’s reopened at the original location six years later, it offered a 20 percent discount to customers who donated $5 or more to CHCF. Belew says, “It’s been really cool to revisit the store’s long history. There is
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Left: Sharon Crawford was one of the Frager’s Six employees featured in the store newsletter and Facebook page, the team from the “original” Frager’s. Right: A Frager’s 100th anniversary canvas tote, designed by a local artist, was available for purchase.
something about a local hardware store that makes it the fabric of a community. Frager’s was never a neat, clean, tidy store, but customers have always had a deep connection to it.” ■
fraGer’S HarDWare TiMeliNe: • 1920: Fritz “Frank” Frager, a Russian Jewish immigrant, opens Frager’s Hardware at 1105 Penn Ave SE. He is later joined in the business by sons Julius and George. • 1923: Frager’s relocates to a newly constructed building at 1115 Penn Ave SE. • 1931: Frank Frager joins 24 other hardware retailers in Washington to create the Consolidated Hardware Stores of Washington, who would do joint advertising for two years. • 1935: Frager expands into the building next door at 1113 Penn Ave SE. • 1950s: Frager’s opens a second location at 2301 Penn Ave SE, which closes in 1965. • 1958: Frank Frager dies of a heart attack in front of the store. • 1968: Julius Frager is shot in the neck during a robbery in the store but survives. • 1975: John Weintraub and Ed Copenhaver purchase the store from www.ThehardwareConnection.com
• •
•
•
• •
•
Julius and George Frager for $67,500. 2003: Frager’s expands by moving paint shop into the building next door. 2006: President George H. W. Bush is photographed stopping to buy dog treats. 2013: A fire guts the store on June 5. Four days later, Frager’s reopens in a pop-up shop at Eastern Market. 2013: In December, hardware and rental move into an old auto body shop two blocks from the old location. 2017: Gina Schaefer and Marc Friedman buy Frager’s Hardware. 2019: On May 3, Frager’s returns to its original store front. A grand reopening is held in August. 2020: Frager’s Hardware is voted “best hardware store” in Washington City Paper’s Best of DC issue. The store holds a monthlong 100th anniversary celebration in September.
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Our 64K+ Readers Aren’t the Only Ones Who Have Noticed Our Exceptional Editorial
12 Awards in the Past 7 Years
ER
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Award-Winning Editorial That Connects with Retailers! The Hardware Connection has won 12 awards for editorial excellence in the past seven years including the following: • 2020 FOLIO Special Recognition Award for • 2020 Regional Bronze Award for Best Individual Overall Editorial Excellence. Profile from the American Society of Business • 2020 FOLIO Eddie Award for Best Single Article. Publication Editors. • 2020 FOLIO Eddie Award for Best Series of Articles. • 2017 Eddies Digital Award from FOLIO for • 2020 FOLIO Special Recognition Award for Best Standalone Digital Magazine in the Editor of the Year. B2B category.
Just One More Reason We are the Industry’s Digital Leader
Dealer Profile
Edgewood Hardware in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, operated without power for eight days after a derecho tore through the area on August 10.
Steering the Community Through
DiSaSTer H
ardware stores are used to helping people solve problems with their homes. However, with the increasing rate of natural disasters like wildfires, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes—not to mention a deadly pandemic—hardware retailers everywhere are being called on to provide an extraordinary level of service above and beyond what they might normally expect. On August 10, a powerful line of intense windstorms known as a derecho tore through much of Iowa, packing winds up to 140 mph. The path of destruction extended to Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Minnesota. “Tornado sirens started going off and the weather report said that a severe storm was coming with 50 to 60 mph winds. We could see it was a lot worse than that,” recalls Mike Lauderdale, who owns Edgewood Do it Best Hardware & Rental in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, along with his wife Kellie. “Our sign was swaying back and forth. We could see cars were rocking back and forth.” The incredible force of the wind kept blowing the front doors open, so employees and customers worked together in the howling wind to barricade the front door. Four or five customers chose to stay www.ThehardwareConnection.com
Middle: Cedar Rapid was hit hard by the derecho, which damaged two-thirds of the city’s tree canopy. Lower: The community was still cleaning up trees two months after the storm.
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Dealer Profile inside the store to ride out the storm, which lasted for nearly three hours. Twenty minutes in, the power went out—it would stay out for eight days. With the lights off and registers inoperable, Kellie and Mike made the decision to help the community by remaining open. With no electricity, the Lauderdales and their team ran the business the oldfashioned way. They wrote down purchases and took cash or card numbers by hand — a problem exacerbated both by the lack of people with cash due to the pandemic and nearby ATMs being out of commission because of the storm. “You just had to trust people,” Mike says. “When I drove back home you could see the roots of the trees—we had a 60-foot elm tree pushed over,” Mike points out. “A block away from the store a major road was blocked with trees. People were already out cutting down trees. Power lines were down on the road.” Edgewood Hardware quickly sold out of tarps, axes, chain saws, 2-cycle oil, crowbars, chain saw blades and rakes. “I had been one-fourth through our weekly Do it Best order when the storm hit. I had to walk around with a flashlight and write down order numbers, but without being able to see our sales history,” Mike says. Jumping on the Do it Best website that night on his laptop, Mike saw there were 20 chain saws available, so he ordered all of them. When their regular delivery truck from Do it Best arrived,
Edgewood Hardware stayed open even after the power went out, writing down purchases by hand until they got a mobile card reader after two days.
they were quickly depleted of that inventory. Do it Best followed up with an emergency resupply, which helped the store continue serving the community. “At times it was just my wife and I and two other employees taking care of everything customers needed while walking around with flashlights. It got hot too with no AC running,” Mike points out. Edgewood Hardware suffered only minimal damage to the exterior of the building. Kellie and Mike say they are incredibly proud of the work of their team, whose homes and cars were subject to the same damage experienced by the rest of the community. In Iowa, the derecho directly impacted four counties, leaving 400,000 without power for as long as two weeks. It ended up causing four deaths and $7.5 billion in damage, making it the most damaging thunderstorm in U.S. history. It flattened millions of acres of crops, leaving Iowa farmers unable to harvest 850,000 acres of crops. “We’ve had tornadoes before, but nothing like this. Cedar Rapids was known for its trees, and now they say 65 percent of our tree canopy is gone,” Mike says. n
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catEgory rEPort
ELECTRICAL & LIGHTING TRENDS Sales of Lamps (Independent Hardware Channel) 12 Months % Change vs. Year Ago Light Fixtures: Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -13% Light Fixtures: Dollars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-2.2% Source: Vista Information Services, div. of Epicor Software Corp.
Unit Sales Breakdown for Lamps Total of 7,904 Items with Sales Total Category Top 5 Items % of Unit Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6% Top 10 Items % of Unit Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5% Top 20 Items % of Unit Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4% Top 30 Items % of Unit Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.9% Source: Vista Information Services, div. of Epicor Software Corp.
Seasonality of Sales of Lamps (Index=100) 135 135 128 128 116 122 122 109 109
92109
96 83
94
90
99 84
86
85
88
96
70
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 2019832019 2019 2019
Jan. Feb. March Apr. May June July Aug. 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
Source: Vista Information Services, div. of Epicor Software Corp. 70
Lamps Share of Sales by Type (Latest 12 Months) LED 0
10
49.2%
20
Incandescent
30
40
50
19.2%
Fluorescent
15.7%
Halogen
15.0%
HID
0.9% 0
10
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20
30
40
50
Source: Vista Information Services, div. of Epicor Software Corp.
Manufacturers and retailers use Vista’s retail POS and Consumer Panel data to better sell to their customers. Go to www.vistainfoservices.com.
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ElEctrical & lighting MErchandising
Top Left: All American Do it Center in Richland Center, Wis., displays outdoor lights on an end cap. Middle Left: Spahn & Rose Lumber in Iowa merchandises the latest styles in light fixtures. Lower Left: Heuser Ace Hardware in Bluffton, S.C., uses an end cap to promote energy-saving bulbs. Top Right: Southaven Supply in Southaven, Miss., displays specialty light fixtures in its kitchen and bath showroom. Middle Right: University Ace in Oviedo, Fla., uses price sign illustrations to make it easier to find the right electrical fitting. Lower Right: University Ace offers a wide selection of decorative and specialty bulbs.
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ElEctrical & lighting Products
c By gE sMart BulBs • All C by GE Smart Bulbs are available in two easy connection options: Bluetooth duolitE 2.0 MagnEtic Flashlight or Direct Connect. Both provide all the smart features you love—including • When one beam isn’t enough, the Duolite scheduling, color control and more. 2.0 Magnetic Flashlight features magnetic Choose the option that works best for base and dual beam technology that pairs your lifestyle. a 350-lumen spotlight with a 300-lumen • Pair your Smart Bulbs with a smart area light, assistant—like Amazon Alexa or Hey • Uses LED chip with a lifespan of 100,000 Google—for hands-free voice control of hours. your lights. You can set schedules, control • Four mode output: dual beam, flashlight, away from home, control with your voice, COB and red flash. save the perfect scene, dim and brighten. • Spot light features LED chip with 50-meter beam distance, while area light produces a • Choose from millions of colors. Adjust white color tone from warm to cool and wide beam to illuminate the ground below support your sleep/wake cycle. or work area. GE Lighting Police Security www.gelighting.com www.policesecurity.com 844-302-2943 866-880-9297 www.ThehardwareConnection.com
The hARDWARe Connection ■ November 2020 ■ 47
IN THE NEWS NEW STORES: • Adam Taylor opened his second Trust Hardware in Indianapolis. • Nation’s Best Holdings has acquired Simms Lumber, with two stores in Texas. • Nabors Do it Best Home Center has acquired C & D Lumber Co. in Amory, Miss. • Vassar Building Center opened a new 20,000 sq. ft. home center in Vassar, Mich. Do it Best CEO Dan Starr joined Vassar Building Center co-owners Mike and Brenda MacKay to celebrate the grand opening. • Steve Burggraf will be opening his 10th Burggraf’s Ace Hardware in Rochester, Minn. • Manhattan Ace Hardware opened in Manhattan, Mont. • Steve and Cathy LeGrand opened Ace Hardware & Home in Wayne, Neb. • Randy’s Do it Best Hardware is opening its fourth store in Ruckersville, Va. • Outdoor Supply Hardware has opened in Paso Robles, Calif. • US LBM opened a new store in Lakeland, Fla. • The Porter family opened Porters Ace Hardware in Smithville, Mo. • Crown Ace Hardware has acquired Silverado Ace Hardware in Calistoga, Calif., from Mark and Tim Petersen. • Clark Porter, owner of two Ace
Hardware stores in New York, is acquiring Noble Ace Hardware in Watertown, N.Y. • Shane Wells is opening his second store, Amory Hardware in Amory, Miss. • Bill and Carrie Babiash are the new owners of Merrill Ace Hardware in Merrill, Wis.
KUDOS TO: • David Jolly of Metzger’s Hardware in Los Alamos, N.M., was honored with the 2020 Citizen Leadership Award from David Jolly the International Economic Development Council. • Carr Hardware donated more than $8,500 worth of personal protective equipment to three local school districts through its “Round-up for the Schools” campaign.
Cutline: Bart Raser (second from left) of Carr Hardware donates PPE to Lee Public Schools.
• Jim Wieder is celebrating the 65th anniversary of Hayward Hardware in Hayward, Calif. • Chalmers Hardware & Embroidery in Galveston, Texas, is
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marking its 60th anniversary. merchandising and Michael • Ed and Susan Harry are marking the Rowe to president of Home 25th anniversary of Orbisonia True Depot Canada. Value Hardware in Orbisonia, Pa. • Costello’s Ace Hardware has • Herrick Hardware in Southampton, hired Ken Goodgame as senior vice N.Y., is marking its 155th anniversary. president of merchandising. • Overland Hardware Co. in Overland, Mo., is celebrating its 65th WHOLESALERS IN THE NEWS: anniversary. • Emery Jensen has launched a new • Kortendick Ace Hardware was turnkey merchandising program to named Best Hardware Store in help specialty retailers grow their Racine, Wis., by readers of The business called XPRESS Hardware, Journal Times. available in 800, 1,200 and 1,800 square feet formats. • Orgill Inc. announced plans to forgo PEOPLE ON THE MOVE: its in-person 2021 Spring Dealer • Do it Best Corp. Market and proceed with a more has promoted Chris flexible approach to its physical shows Beach to member Chris Beach and conferences starting next year growth manager that will incorporate online, live and and hired Taylor hybrid events. Click here for more. Tiernon as associate • House-Hasson Hardware has merchandise managerannounced that its January 28hardware. 29, 2021 dealer market will be a • Murray Bishop Teylor Tiernan virtual market. has been promoted to director of sales at STIHL Inc., OTHER NEWS: succeeding Steve • Midwest Fastener has acquired Meriam, who retired Hy-Ko Products. The combined after 35 years there. company will offer 75,000 SKUs from Murray Bishop • The Home Depot eight distribution, manufacturing, has named Edward “Ted” packaging and headquarters Decker chief operating officer and facilities. promoted Ann Marie Campbell to executive vice president of FOR THE FULL STORY: U.S. stores and international • For highlights of the 2020 Taiwan operations; Jeff Kinnaird to Excellence Hardware Showcase executive vice president of click here. www.TheHardwareConnection.com
THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020 ■ 49
UPCOMING EVENTS
All events subject to change due to COVID-19 developments! NOVEMBER Distribution America and PRO Group Virtual Executive Planning Conference November 17-19 STAFDA Annual Convention & Trade Show—Canceled!
JANUARY House-Hasson Hardware Virtual Spring Dealer Market January 28-29, 2021
FEBRUARY International Builders’ Show AllVirtual Event February 8-11 International Hardware Fair Cologne February 21-24, Koelnmesse, Cologne, Germany LBM Advantage Annual Buying Show & Shareholders Meeting February 22-24, Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, Fla.
Monroe Hardware Spring Dealer Market February 13-14, Myrtle Beach Convention Center, Myrtle Beach, S.C. Orgill Online Buying Event February 8-19 (pre-event planning period Feb. 1-7) True Value Reunion February 19-21, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla.
MARCH Ace Hardware Spring Convention March 11-13, Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Dallas Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Expo March 3-6, Music City Center, Nashville, Tenn. Home Improvement eRetailer Summit March 7-9, Aloft Chicago Downtown, Chicago
For a complete listing of calendar dates, click here. 50 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ November 2020
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Recent Features From The Hardware Connection Sept.-Oct. 2020: Striving Toward a More Diverse and Inclusive Industry—Gina Schaefer of A Few Cool Hardware Stores explains what diversity, equity and inclusion mean for her 13 Ace Hardware stores in the Washington, D.C. area.
July-August 2020: Dealer Profile: Developing a Unique Identity—Read the inspiring story how Tony Powers turned a parttime job at Intown Ace Hardware 35 years ago into an ownership stake in 1996. His hard work and ideas have helped turn the Decatur, Ga., store into one of Ace’s “Coolest Hardware Stores on the Planet.” July-August 2020: Down on the Farm: Farm and Ranch Segment Showing Strong Growth—The farm and ranch segment continues to enjoy strong growth. Discover how farm and ranch retailers are taking their business to new heights while meeting the unique needs of their customers. May-June 2020: Dealer Profile: A Ray of Sunshine in Challenging Times— Learn how Michael Wynn of Sunshine Ace Hardware in Florida has stepped up to take care of associates, neighbors and the whole community during this challenging period while maintaining high standards for 11 top-performing stores. April 2020: Special Report: Rising Up to Battle the COVID-19 Threat—Discover how hardware and home improvement retailers are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and finding new ways to serve their communities. March 2020: Retail Rebirth: Independents Thriving in Former Chain Sites—See how independent retailers around the country are taking advantage of sites abandoned by chains to open thriving stores.
Click here to see our archive of past issues.
retAil iDeAs
Customer AppreCiAtion DAy with A pAtriotiC FlAir When Karen Munson watches the news, reads an article online or talks with her customers, she hears nothing but divisiveness and angry rhetoric from both sides of the political aisle. As she goes about her day at Escalante Home Center in Escalante, Utah, she interacts with a diverse cross-section of the community and loves talking with everyone she meets—regardless of their political leanings—for one simple reason: She loves America and everyone in it. Munson recently submitted an essay on “Why I Love America” to The Epoch Times, an international multi-language newspaper, and says that it started when she felt called to jot down little reminders throughout the day: random acts of kindness she witnessed in her store, the emotions she feels watching the Star-Spangled Banner flying in the breeze and the community coming together during the COVID-19 lockdown, among other things. Overseeing an independent business, Munson works every day to achieve her own American Dream, while offering a reliable resource to her community. Within the walls of Escalante Home Center, she sees the freedom, liberty and opportunity that represents the American spirit. That same spirit is what inspired her to organize a customer appreciation day on October 9, where the local American
Karen Munson (second from right) and her husband, Reed Munson (third from right), co-owners of Escalante Home Center, were joined by Abbe and Dan Starr (fourth and fifth from right) and other members of the Do it Best sales and business development team at the event.
Legion post gathered with the citizens of Escalante to install a flagpole in front of the store, enjoy an all-American lunch complete with apple pie and homemade ice cream served by the high school cross country team and announce the winners of a store-sponsored essay contest on patriotism. With a theme of “United We Stand,” Munson wanted to share how she sees a hardware store as an example of the can-do attitude that built the nation she loves so dearly. “My goal was a more unified community and county that we serve. Rather than the divisiveness that has become so prevalent, I wanted to inspire a feeling of cooperation. We are so isolated, I feel that if things get worse, we really need to rely on each other. Unity is a hard thing to measure in good times; it is more evident during hard times. I don’t know if we achieved that, but there has been a
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Do it Best President and CEO Dan Starr attended and spoke at the event, describing the inspiration and patriotism he felt.
lot of positive feedback, so I am hopeful,” Munson says. Do it Best Corp President and CEO Dan Starr and his wife Abbe were even in attendance after receiving an invitation from Munson. Starr said he was moved by her words and impressed at her community initiative. “We were absolutely ecstatic and shocked when Dan responded. Dan and Abbe genuinely enjoyed themselves and said they hope to come back with their boys,” Munson says. For the essay contest, Munson received Capps Home Building Center in Moneta, Va., helped raise $289,533 to support three 44 entries, mainly from elementary school local non-profit charities. kids. “The essays were interesting and varied. I am so grateful I was able to read them. Several really touched my heart,” she says. Va. In late September, as local nonprofits continued to struggle with fundraising, Shelton, along with a generous group of GivinG BACk to the supporting sponsors, created a $100,000 Community in A BiG wAy match fund for three local charities for their When the community gives so much to Capps Community Charity Challenge. “The global pandemic has impacted our you, it’s your duty to give back to the comcounties more than we ever thought,” he munity. That’s long been the mentality of said in a video posted online. “These charManager Bruce Shelton and his team at ities are taxed to provide the same level Capps Home Building Center in Moneta, www.ThehardwareConnection.com
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of service, more than they were before, with dwindling resources. So, jump on board and let’s help these nonprofits.” They asked community members to help raise funds for Lake Christian Ministries, Agape Center and SML Good Neighbors, all of which help those in need access food assistance, counseling, childcare and more. These local nonprofits were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic after donations started to dry up. They surpassed $200,000 and met their About 50 vintage and hot rod cars were on display in August as part of a car show goal within three days, ultimately writheld at the Waters Hardware parking lot in ing a check for $289,533 to support three Emporia, Kan. local non-profits. As the Do it Best store posted on its Facebook page: “We are a local car club that had been forced to part of an amazing community.” cancel their annual car show in May. Hockenbury offered up the Waters GettinG Customers revveD up Hardware parking lot to host a car show, which was held on August 20. About 50 antique, vintage, rat rod and After COVID-19 and the resulting hot rod cars were on display, as the club quarantine caused the world to hit the members were able to get out of their pause button, people everywhere have homes, showcase their vehicles and slowly begun looking for ways to bring swap stories, while creating excitement back a sense of normalcy and tradition for the store’s customers. in a world reshaped by the pandemic. “Our parking lot was packed all day. It Lucas Hockenbury, manager of Waters brought an older group back to the store and Hardware in Emporia, Kan., decided he there was a lot of talk afterward. Everyone would give that experience to his community by relying on the most American had a blast,” says Hockenbury, who is hoping to again make the car show an annual of traditions: the hot rod car show. community tradition at Waters Hardware. In the past, Hockenbury’s predecessor, a classic hot rod owner himself, hosted an annual car show that was a staple of sum- leADinG the FiGht AGAinst CAnCer mers in Emporia, but ended the practice when he retired several years ago. For independent lumberyard ownTo resurrect that tradition, Hockenbury ers, it’s in their DNA to help customers reached out to Emporia Flatland Cruisers, build or repair. But how does an owner, 54 ■ The hARDWARe Connection ■ November 2020
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Stephen Coleman was 37 when he passed away from brain cancer in 2011. The Coleman family is joined by former NFL player Al Wilson (third from left), who was the guest speaker at the 2019 event. A former captain on the Tennessee Volunteers’ 1998 national championship team, Wilson has a son who survived brain cancer as a child.
Anderson Lumber Manager David Paine explains, “Steve had a brother, Jim, who was a doctor at the University of Tennessee hospital. He explained that the cancer rate is rising, but the number of doctors is not keeping up with demand. Stephen was who has lost a son to brain cancer, fix a able to travel to Duke for treatment, but not broken heart? What does he create that every family is that fortunate.” can help him overcome his grief—and According to the American Society of ensure his son’s memory endures? Clinical Oncology, the demand for canFor Steve Coleman, owner of cer treatment is expected to grow by 40 Anderson Lumber Company in Alcoa, percent over the next six years, while at Tenn., the answer to both questions was the same time, there will be a shortage of to establish Tailgating Against Cancer, more than 2,200 oncologists by 2025. which finds inspiration in supporting This year’s event, originally scheduled other cancer patients, their families and physicians who take on the battle against for May but postponed to August 20 cancer. It is a non-profit organization dedi- due to the pandemic, featured running back coach Jay Graham and assistant cated to raising funds for a fellowship in athletic director Steve Caldwell from the medical oncology at The University of University of Tennessee as guest speakTennessee Medical Center and the UT ers. With 220 golfers and numerous corGraduate School of Medicine. porate sponsors, the fundraiser brought The fellowship is named in honor them closer to their goal, and they now of Steve’s son Stephen, who passed stand at roughly $400,000 after nine years. away from brain cancer in 2011 at the “It was our biggest event yet and we age of 37 after a three-year battle. To raised a record amount. We’ll make a big honor his memory, Steve and his other push next year so we get to our goal,” son, Landon, have organized an annual Paine says. memorial golf outing to not only secure This comes after another successful $500,000 for the fellowship, but to ensure and notable fundraiser in 2018 where Stephen’s memory lives on in the comthey set a Guinness World Record for munity in the fight against cancer. www.ThehardwareConnection.com
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Tailgating Against Cancer set a Guinness World Record for most mismatched socks in 2018.
“The largest gathering of people wearing mismatched socks.” For more information, go to www.tailgatingagainstcancer.org.
home sweet home run One of the striking aspects of Intown Ace Hardware in Decatur, Ga., is the store decor. Throughout the store, customers can ogle baseball memorabilia, including game-used bats and a baseball card collection that is displayed over the keycutting counter. All the memorabilia came about through an old-fashioned swap. When co-owner Dave Jones was in the process of purchasing the store next door to expand, the owner swapped the baseball memorabilia for a few months of extra time to move out while his new store was being completed. One of the coolest items Jones picked up is a bat signed by four women from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was organized in 1943 and featured in the film “A League of Their Own.” The league was spotlighted in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, so all the players signed ‘HOF 11-88.’ Even more interesting is
Intown Ace Hardware is adorned with baseball memorabilia like game-used bats.
the fact Jones’ mother used to attend Kenosha Comets games as a teenager. “Baseball and hardware go together. Old-time players often worked in or owned hardware stores as their jobs in the off-season,” says co-owner Tony Powers, a longtime Atlanta Braves fan. In fact, Yogi Berra used to sell hardware for Sears and Roebuck in the offseason. David Clyde, the first pick in the 1973 MLB draft, worked in his father-in-law’s lumber business in Tomball, Texas, for 20 years.
supportinG younG entrepreneurs Customers at Blackhawk Hardware in Charlotte, N.C., are snapping up Philly Straps, a homemade strap that clips on to the ear loops of your face mask and holds it when you aren’t using it. This innovative item came from 11-year-old Philip, who came up with the idea and worked on prototypes while home on quarantine. Philip is donating 10 percent of his profits to charity.
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Connection
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Part II: How tHe Hardware Industry Is CoPIng wItH tHe PandemIC
E XC L U S I V E R E P O R T: S U P P LY C H A N N E L U P D AT E O N C O V I D - 1 9
April 2020 Vol. 12, No. 3
tHe Industry’s dIgItal leader
R e ta i l e R s s p e a k O u t a b O u t M a s k-W e a R i n g p R O t O c O l
May/June 2020 Vol. 12, No. 4
THE INDUSTRY’S DIgITAL LEADER
S T R I V I N G TO WA R D A M O R E D I V E R S E A N D I N C L U S I V E I N D U S T R Y
Sept/Oct 2020 Vol. 12, No. 6
July/Aug 2020 Vol. 12, No. 5
the he industRy’s Ry’s digital leade R leadeR
ThE hE INDUSTRY’ INDUSTRY INDUSTRY’S S DIGITAL LEADER
Recognizing the
SPECIAL REPORT: Rising Up to
Battle the COVID-19 Threat ALSO INSIDE: How Can Your Business Get Relief from the Coronavirus CARES Act? How to Retail During COVID-19
Industry’s Top Retailers
Developing a
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A Ray of SunShine in Challenging TiMeS ALSO INSIDE:
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Remodeling/Housing Market Outlook Report on Business Conditions Around the Country
Farm and Ranch Retailing Report Social Media Marketing Strategies in Times of Uncertainty
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T&M Hardware and Rental
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e h t d n i h e B Numbers $2.2 billion 94% Size of U.S. market for bird feeding by 2021, according to Packaged Facts.
17%
Percentage of home buyers who are single women, according to the National Association of Realtors. Single men represent about 9% of home buyers.
Percentage of women who interact with brands online, including 31% who engage daily with brands digitally, according to Influenster.
10%
Percentage of the U.S construction industry comprised by women, according to the National Association of Women in Construction.
74.9%
Percentage of women who identify themselves as the primary shoppers for their households, according to GfK market research.
85%
Percentage of women who say they will stick to buying the brands they like, according to Nielsen Scarborough research. 58 ■ The hARDWARe Connection ■ November 2020
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