2023 NHPA Top Guns

INDUSTRY LEADERS

WHAT’S INSIDE

TJ Colson PRESIDENT, WILCO

During his tenure with Wilco Stores, TJ Colson has taken on numerous roles and advocated for innovation that advances the company’s goals and serves customers.

Eric Hassett PRESIDENT & OWNER, HASSETT HARDWARE

Growing up in the industry, Eric Hassett learned early on from his grandfather and father the importance of hard work and taking care of your customers and employees.

Scott Sommers PRESIDENT, HARTVILLE HARDWARE & LUMBER

Honoring and continuing his family’s legacy of service, Scott Sommers embraces innovation and continually strives to evolve to positively benefit the operation.

Stories written by Lindsey Thompson

About the Award Program

For 17 years, the North American Hardware and Paint Association (NHPA) has recognized individuals who are leading their operations and the independent home improvement industry. Honorees are making strategic investments focused on growing the independent channel and are making a difference in their local communities.

“Our success in technology comes from a commitment to devote the necessary time, energy and manpower it needs to thrive and meet our goals.”

Scott Sommers

“Service is going to be our differentiator today, tomorrow and for the next 10 years. Anything we do with technology will follow this priority.”

Eric Hassett

“We invest in technology where it makes sense, where we'll see a return and where it supports the needs of the business and the objectives of the strategic plan."

TJ Colson

COLSON

Harnessing Innovation to Advance Goals

With a love for the land and the people who live and work on it, TJ Colson has built a successful career in the farm and ranch industry. As someone who raises cattle himself, he feels a personal connection to his customers and uses this bond to bring success to his operation. Those accomplishments in business and his commitment to his community over the past two decades have led to him being named an NHPA 2023 Top Guns Awards honoree.

TJ

Connect with

@wilco

TJ Colson

TJ currently serves as president of Wilco Stores, which is part of Wilco Co-op, a farmer-owned cooperative made up of 3,000 farmers and ranchers with stores in Oregon, Washington and northern California.

As soon as he was old enough to drive, TJ started working for a small family-owned independent feed store in central Oregon called Central Oregon Ranch Supply.

TJ worked there his junior and senior years of high school and then took time off to focus on school during his freshman and sophomore years at college. As fate would have it, he wouldn’t stay away from the industry for long. What ended up being a disappointment for his college roommate turned into a prime opportunity and the start of a remarkable career at Wilco for TJ.

In 2003, TJ’s roommate at Linn Benton Community College went into the local Wilco store to apply for a job, but the manager was looking for someone with previous industry experience.

“He came back a little discouraged but told me I should apply there because they were looking for somebody who had the unique skill set of working on the old Triad blue screen computer system,” TJ says. “I had that experience from Central Oregon Ranch Supply, so I went in to apply and was hired on the spot. That was 20 years ago, and I’ve been with Wilco ever since.”

Relishing Different Roles

TJ has spent the last two decades expanding his knowledge and experience beyond feed, ranch and farm and into hardware, paint, lawn and garden and other home improvement categories. Through it all, he says he has always had the focus of helping customers pursue the rural lifestyle they desire or love. He has had the unique opportunity to work as a team member with nearly every team within the retail division at Wilco.

While all his transitions were significant, TJ’s move in 2009 to store manager of a Wilco full model store—which are more than 20,000 square feet of retail space—in Springfield, Oregon, was one of the most impactful to his career. The Springfield location was in a new market for Wilco and the store that kicked off the company’s retail store growth strategy. TJ says he appreciated the experience of being able to build his own team.

“I wish I had more time with that team, but I was also very fortunate I had the opportunity to take the next step and become a multistore leader. With a team of more than 35 people, and doing more than $10 million in sales annually, Springfield was where I faced a lot of first challenges that allowed me to learn and grow the most,” TJ says. “My time there was career-defining for me. I was 26, and I grew up fast, learning how to become a leader and working with a larger team and more customers.”

In 2014, TJ embraced the opportunity to move home to Corvallis, Oregon, and opened a store for Wilco in that city.

“Opening the Corvallis store was a highlight for me because it was back in my hometown, which I have a passion for and love being able to serve,” he says.

Investing in People

Just as his roles with Wilco have varied, TJ’s duties within his current role cover many areas of the business, including operations, merchandising, marketing, e-commerce, technology and more. He says he appreciates the ability to continually learn, grow and develop, honing his skills, taking on new opportunities and being open to think innovatively.

“Leadership at Wilco believes in investing in their people, evolving human capital and growing teams. It is such an important part of the culture and one of the reasons it has found great success,” TJ says. “I’m very fortunate that leadership at Wilco has invested in me. Now that I am in a leadership role, I want to make sure our organization continues to invest in our teams.”

One way Wilco invests in its employees is through a positive company culture founded on the operation’s core values and continuous improvement.

From annual planning and new hire training to employees working with customers every day in the stores, Wilco’s core values—integrity, respect, excellence, accountability, community and teamwork—are foundational to everything the company does, TJ says.

“We continually communicate and share our values, mission and vision,” he says. “We want our employees to go beyond just reading the words on a poster in a break room; we want them to live those values.”

Another unique aspect of Wilco’s company culture is, like TJ, most of the company’s employees live the same rural lifestyle their customers do and can relate and connect with their customers on that level.

TJ Colson advocates for innovation that fits into Wilco’s mission, values and goals.

“Our employees, whether they live in the city or country, have an affinity and passion to be a part of this network of customers who enjoy the rural living lifestyle, from outdoor enthusiasts to gardeners to individuals who raise backyard poultry,” TJ says.

Along with a great employee discount program, employee profit sharing, flexible scheduling and many other employee perks, Wilco offers employees an opportunity for a career, not just a job. TJ says he and other leaders in the company work to hire from different audiences, including students in high school and college. They also encourage college students to work for Wilco regardless of the degree they are pursuing because the company offers positions in areas like accounting, human resources, marketing, merchandising, IT and other roles outside of the retail stores.

“You can chase the dollar, but chasing the career is where you’ll find true success and happiness,” TJ says. “Once you find something you connect with and you’re passionate about, it’s no longer about chasing the dollar. I recognize everyone needs to survive and have an income where they can thrive. But we try to offer an opportunity for employees to find a career where we invest in their personal and professional development.”

Integrating Innovation

Company culture and a desire for continuous improvement have set the foundation for Wilco’s success, but technology has helped achieve many of the goals TJ and the leadership team set forth. TJ says the company’s vision when it comes to technology is to make significant investments every year from a capital expenditure standpoint to stay relevant.

“We invest where it makes sense, where we’ll see a return and where it supports the needs of the business and the objectives of the strategic plan,” he says.

The company accomplishes these objectives through technology that supports customer privacy and security, e-commerce, communications, infrastructure and more. Wilco is utilizing handheld communications technology, including iPads, iPhones and two-way radios, to make correspondence among employees clearer and more efficient and is consistently updating its wireless technology strategies.

“With our e-commerce platform, we were very fortunate to have made those significant investments right before the pandemic,” TJ says. “It was a differentiator and an absolute game changer for us. It kept us relevant in a time of chaos and fulfilled a need for our customers.”

Grateful for a Chance

TJ is grateful to a long list of family members, fellow teammates and mentors who have guided him over the years. He says he’s fortunate to be part of a team of leaders who have contributed to his career, including current Wilco CEO Sam Bugarsky, who had the vision to encourage TJ to participate in the NHPA Retail Management Certification Program.

Others who have played a role in TJ’s professional life include former Wilco CEO Doug Hoffman and former Wilco district manager Will Barnhart, both who provided guidance early in his career.

“The team I had in Springfield during that pivotal point in my career also shaped me as a leader,” TJ says. “They challenged and rewarded me, and they did so many things that developed

me into who I am as a leader. If it wasn’t for that initial team in Springfield, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I owe so much to that team.”

On a personal side, TJ also gives much credence to his wife Samantha. At their farm, they raise show cattle together, a difficult job but one both are passionate about.

“She’s been my rock, supporting me through my long days, nights and weekends spent working and traveling. I appreciate so much what she does to take care of our home and farm when I’m away,” he says. “I’m also grateful to my parents and my friends and industry partners, Scott Jerousek, Ryan Ringer, Jason Blair, Scott Wright and the many others I have the opportunity to learn from or work with.”

As a Top Guns honoree, TJ is looking forward to advocating for the independent channel and bringing awareness to the many people and businesses that make up the industry.

“I want to share the stories of this industry, all it has to offer and recognize the vast number of dealers, cooperatives, owners and managers out there who get up every day, unlock the door, turn on the lights and serve their communities,” he says. “I want to share that passion and let people know that our industry offers tremendous opportunities and can provide a wonderful career.”

Online Goes Big

Wilco Sees Boost in E-commerce

Before the pandemic, Wilco’s total e-commerce business was less than 1% of total store sales.

Today, Wilco’s e-commerce site, farmstore.com, sees over $15 million in annual sales and the site processes more than 10,000 buy online, pickup in store and ship-to-home orders per month.

Wilco’s site has also seen an average basket size of over $125 consistently, which is nearly double its in-store average transaction. Customers buying in-store and online spend is nearly three times more.

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VISION

We are respected as a growing world-class company because of our satisfied members, engaged employees and connection with the community.

BY THE NUMBERS

• 55 years in service

• 26 stores

• 3,000 co-op members

• $329 million sales in 2022

How Flexible Scheduling Improves Morale at Wilco

With a willingness to embrace change and evolve when needed, Wilco Stores have found great success and built a strong company culture. The core values of integrity, excellence, respect, accountability, teamwork and community set the tone for the family-like atmosphere. Part of that culture is a true concern for employees and their well-being, which is why the company implemented flexible scheduling over 20 years ago, TJ says.

Many of Wilco’s employees live the same rural farm and ranch lifestyle as their customers and have a passion for the outdoors. Employees want the time outside of work to pursue those hobbies and interests, including raising animals, working on projects around the home or enjoying outdoor activities.

“Flexible scheduling allows our team members to have a healthy work-life balance,” TJ says. “No matter the hobby they have, we’ve found success in supporting our team members by providing them the flexibility to live their lifestyle.”

Wilco employees have more flexibility with their work schedules because they can select the work shifts that work best for them, TJ says.

“Scheduling the needs of the business is our priority, but experience shows us not everyone wants to work the same days or shifts,” he says. “Each of our team members’ personal lives are different. Building a standard schedule and working with the team to fill those openings has worked exceptionally well for Wilco.”

Wilco is open 362 days per year and seven days a week with 81 hours to fill each week, providing many options for work scheduling. TJ says having a wide range of hours and days provides both part-time and full-time employees with numerous schedule options.

Listen to the Podcast

Learn more about TJ’s career journey from part-time warehouse employee to now president of Wilco Stores.

YourNHPA.org/tcb-pod

Each store manager receives a labor plan with the blocks of hours that need to be filled. For example, a store might have 140 cashiering hours, and that store’s manager can hire as many full-time or part-time team members they want to fill those hours.

“While we prefer to maintain a 70% part-time employee to 30% full-time ratio, managers do have control over what might work best in their department,” TJ says. “We also have some scheduling guidelines around the busy days of the week and the busiest hours of the day. It’s important we are still available to our customers; it’s imperative we are there to serve them when they need us.”

Each store manager strives to maintain consistent scheduling week to week, which allows employees to better plan their days off and helps with finding employees to fill in when an employee is out.

Wilco Stores prides itself on hiring college students, which can get tricky with balancing class schedules, TJ says.

“We always work around their school schedules, even when it’s hard,” he says. “It’s important we focus on hiring students. They are our future customers, employees and industry advocates.”

Currently, the scheduling process is manual, but TJ says the company is working with a vendor on finding solutions for automated scheduling that will provide the same level of flexibility Wilco currently offers.

“We haven’t yet been able to find a program that also offers the human touch we need in flexible scheduling,” he says. “That human touch is imperative to provide the work-life balance and flexible scheduling we’ve found success with.”

Because he has worked in many different roles with Wilco Stores, president TJ Colson is better able to connect with and support his fellow employees.

ERIC HASSETT

Building a Culture of Service and Technology

Hardware—along with hard work and a love for people—runs in Eric Hassett’s blood. Those qualities have led to an extremely successful career at Hassett Hardware and have contributed to him being named as one of this year’s NHPA Top Guns Awards honorees.

Connect with Eric

@hassettacehardware

Eric Hassett

Eric is the owner and president of Hassett Hardware, which includes five retail stores and one outdoor power rental equipment location in the San Francisco Bay Area. The business was started in 1957 by Eric’s grandfather Bob Hassett, and Eric got his start in the company and first taste of the industry when he was 11.

“My grandfather had me come to the store after school to pump kerosene out of a 55-gallon drum into glass containers and put 49-cent stickers on the containers,” Eric says. “I moved to sweeping up the nails and then got a big promotion—sorting nuts and bolts.”

Eric’s father, Larry Hassett, who started working in the business when he was 13, became owner in 1986, carrying on the legacy of being customer-focused that Bob started at Hassett Hardware. Eric says his future in home improvement retail was solidified when his dad opened the operation’s Palo Alto location in 1993. It was the company’s first computerized store, and Eric spent weekends and breaks from college working there learning the ins and outs of retail from operations to technology to company culture. He came back to the business after graduating from the University of California, Davis with the intent to work for his parents for a year while he figured out his next career move—either go to law school or work as a political consultant.

“During that year, my dad was great about stepping back and letting me take on a leadership role,” Eric says. “I quickly realized the business was a great fit because I like entrepreneurship, managing people and solving customers’ problems.”

Culture Comes First

While Hassett Hardware has many accomplishments to its name, the biggest key to its success has been a focus on cultivating a positive company culture.

Eric prioritizes company culture, mission and values, and he can remember the exact moment he realized the operation needed a shift. He was attending an Ace Hardware event in 2012 where Linda Small was presenting on Everything DiSC®

“At that time we had four stores, and I was constantly struggling to figure out why we weren’t executing consistently across locations,” Eric says. “As Linda was presenting and I read through my profile report, I realized I was the problem. I had not been intentional with how I explained our culture.”

In 2013, Eric, his brother Richard and the Hassett Hardware leadership team rolled out the operation’s core values, mission statement and vision to employees and began the process of creating consistency across each location. The team started with nine core values and two years ago, reworked the values down to four to make them easier to remember.

“The original nine core values are still seen in the four we have now. They are now just easier to apply to what we do,” Eric says. “Everything we do is focused around our core values, so it’s important that our employees are able to remember them.”

The four core values include: Every Customer, Every Time; In It Together; Do the Right Thing, Not the Easy Thing; and Communication Makes or Breaks Us. Eric says the leadership

At age 11, owner and president Eric Hassett (center) started working in his grandfather’s hardware store. After college he fell in love with the industry, especially managing people and solving customers’ problems.

team makes sure everything they do falls in line with those four values to set an example to all employees to incorporate them into their jobs.

Core values play a large role in the hiring practices at Hassett Hardware as well. Eric says they hire with intention, looking for employees who are in line with the company’s values and mission.

“Our core values are everywhere—in our communications, on signs on the walls, talked about in our manager check-ins and more,” Eric says. “Those values are how we make sure we have a shared understanding across all stores, provide a high level of customer service, hire the right people and continue to grow and maintain who we are.”

The operation’s commitment to its values has paid off. Eric says one of his proudest moments was when The Mercury News in San Jose, California, named Hassett Hardware as one of the best places to work in the Bay Area in 2013. They have won the award ten years in a row since.

“This award is given based on employee nominations, so to win it when we are surrounded by all these Silicon Valley companies offering free massages and unlimited vacation hours lets us know we’re doing something right,” he says. “The effort we are putting in to treat everybody with kindness and respect and doing the right thing for everybody—not just the bottom line—is working.”

Tech That Works

Growing up in Silicon Valley, Eric says he has always had an interest in technology. He has taken that passion and made it work for Hassett Hardware, bringing in programs and processes that ultimately offer a higher level of customer service, which was a priority instilled by his grandfather at the beginning of the company.

“I read a study that said only 7% of an employee’s time is spent giving meaningful assistance to a customer,” he says. “I want that number to be more like 40% or 50% for our employees, so I look for technologies that can achieve that goal.”

Eric started simple, adding operation-focused technologies that eliminated pen and paper processes and allowed employees to focus more of their time and energy on the salesfloor. Now, each store requires very little employee time for ordering and inventory management thanks to programs that automate those tasks.

The operation has been testing electronic shelf labels (ESLs) as another way to save employees time and effort. With ESLs, any price changes are done digitally and without numerous hours spent physically changing price tags.

Because it is an expensive technology that requires a large upfront investment, Eric says he is also interested in other ways ESLs will improve efficiency, such as having the tag flash a light for special orders or flash to help employees find specific items when doing inventory.

During the summer of 2022, Hassett Hardware started using the Theatro mobile communication system. Eric says the system has eliminated over 50% of broadcast transmissions across the store and employees are only

hearing the conversations they need to hear and can better focus on customers.

Currently, Eric is working to bring in the autonomous robot from Badger Technologies, which roams the store each night and checks for price errors, product outs and misplaced items. Employees manning each department will get a report every morning listing the errors and can easily find and fix them.

“Rather than send the employee for an hour down an aisle to try and catch these errors, my hope is the robot does the work and then provides the checklist so my employees can get to work fixing them faster,” Eric says. “If I can cut the time they need to spend to improve the accuracy and aesthetics of their aisles from an hour to even just 15 minutes, that’s going to be more effective. They can use that saved time to focus more on customers.”

When it comes to adding technologies, Eric says he is not looking to replace employees, but rather enhance their roles within the company. Any technology Hassett Hardware has in place allows the employee more face time with customers.

“Service is going to be our differentiator today, tomorrow and for the next 10 years,” Eric says. “Anything we do will follow this priority.”

Help Along the Way

As he looks back on his career so far, Eric is grateful for his parents, who started him on his successful career path.

“My dad had the foresight to step back when I came on. He didn’t micromanage me but brought me along and empowered me,” he says. “I also had my mom in my ear saying, ‘You don’t have to do hardware.’ So I never felt trapped.”

In his career, Eric says he has been fortunate to be part of a group of Ace Hardware retailers who have been a positive influence in his professional life, including Gina Schaefer, Mark Schulein, Michael Wynn and Jeremy Melnick—all coincidentally former Top Guns.

“Whether it’s chats at conferences or being hardware dorks and talking about retail philosophy over drinks, my peer group has been really strong, and that’s contributed to my successes,” he says. “It’s a community, and I would not be able to do anything I do without it.”

The team back at Hassett Hardware has also played a huge role in Eric’s—and the operation’s—successes, helping him grow as a leader and allowing the business to thrive. He says it’s a huge honor to be named as a Top Guns honoree, and he is proud to be joining the ranks of previous honorees.

Eric attributes their current successes to having his brother Richard and the leadership team step up to the challenges of retail and embrace change as an opportunity, not a hassle.

“Ultimately, this award goes back to my team,” he says. “My name might be on the plaque but what we’ve done with our culture, our stores and taking care of our customers, that recognition goes to our 145 employees who do this work day in and day out. I want them to understand we’re being recognized for excellence by all of their efforts, not just mine.”

CORE VALUES

• Every Customer, Every Time In It Together

• Do the Right Thing, Not the Easy Thing

• Communication Makes or Breaks Us

MISSION

Provide the best customer service and product selection for the communities we serve, by empowering our family of associates to make it right for every customer, every time.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Founded in 1957

• 78% DIY focused

• 5 retail stores, 1 outdoor power rental equipment location

The Million Dollar Popcorn Machine

Hassett Hardware has seen expansive growth and success in the six decades since it opened, going from one location in 1957 to now six locations across the San Francisco Bay Area.

Eric contributes much of that success to the people who make up the operation and a strong company culture. A big part of Hassett Hardware’s company culture is empowering customers and being open to new ideas, Eric says.

“We are an open-minded and change-oriented organization,” Eric says. “And not just change for the sake of change, but change that moves us forward. There is a danger in continuing to do something just because you’ve always done it.”

This ideal is exemplified in the journey of Ismael Quevedo, now power equipment manager for Hassett Hardware, and the story of what Eric now calls the million dollar popcorn machine. Ismael started with Hassett Hardware eight years ago as a high school student, joining the team as a sales associate.

“At many places, he probably wouldn’t have made it through the interview process because he didn’t have the right look,” Eric says. “But he came into the interview at Hassett Hardware with a smile and the right attitude, and we hired him.”

Ismael’s first day working on the salesfloor was on a busy Saturday, and the popcorn machine broke. Serving popcorn to customers is part of the experience at Hassett Hardware. So the store manager at the time, Jacqueline Fenton, who now works as the company’s chief operating officer, called Eric and asked if she could order a new machine.

Overhearing Jacqueline and Eric’s conversation, Ismael asked if he could try to fix the popcorn machine himself. 15 minutes later, the machine was repaired, and the store was serving popcorn again.

Jacqueline took note of Ismael’s initiative and ability to repair items and asked him about it at their next one-on-one meeting.

At Hassett Hardware, managers strive to meet with each employee at least once a month, and while these meetings include some discussions around work, they are mainly an opportunity for each manager to get to know their employees better on a personal level.

Hear from Eric on how technology and customer service intersect and how culture is key to the operation’s successes.

YourNHPA.org/tcb-pod

Through Ismael and Jacqueline’s conversations, it came out that he loves working on motors. Ismael told Jacqueline he was working on fixing up an old car, and he wanted the job with Hassett Hardware to earn money to buy parts for his car.

“Jacqueline latched onto that nugget of information that Ismael loves working on motors and thought maybe he would like working on STIHL products, so we got him started on repairing STIHL products,” Eric says.

Very quickly, Ismael took his store, which was doing poorly in STIHL sales, and boosted revenues and created a following of customers who relied on him for repairs.

“Again, Jacqueline took notice and asked Ismael if he had the desire to grow even more,” Eric says. “When he said yes, she promoted him out of her own store, sacrificing a great employee and moving him to a store where he could build the outdoor power equipment department and grow as an employee even more.”

Ismael came through again, building an even larger following of repair customers and increasing sales. Because of the empowerment Eric and Jacqueline gave Ismael, a few years later he approached them about

expanding outdoor power equipment (OPE) into its own space.

“I told Jacqueline that if he’s got the initiative and entrepreneurial spirit to launch this thing, I’d look into it,” Eric says.

Eric found a location across the street from the operation’s Half Moon Bay location and opened up a 6,600-square-foot space for OPE. In the year before OPE moved to the new space, Ismael had sold about $500,000 worth of OPE, and in the new space with his own shop, he did $1 million in sales in the first year.

“I like to call this story the million dollar popcorn machine because here’s a kid who may or may not have made it somewhere else,” Eric says. “But because our culture is so focused on communicating, getting to know the employee and understanding what drives them, we now have a thriving outdoor power business.”

Success Passed Down

Scott grew up in the business and has worked full time for Hartville Hardware & Lumber for 28 years. During that time, he has seen the company grow exponentially.

Hartville Hardware & Lumber is part of HRM Enterprises, which also includes Hartville Kitchen, Hartville MarketPlace and Flea Market, The Shops at Hartville Kitchen, Hartville Contractors Supply and Top Advantages Surfaces.

The operation is still led by members of the Miller family, including Scott, his brother Gary Sommers, who serves as chief executive officer of HRM Enterprises, and his cousin Zach Coblentz, chief operating officer of HRM Enterprises.

Even though Scott’s grandfather and uncles didn’t formally write out the ideas behind the company’s culture when they started the business, their philosophy of leading through serving and caring for the customer set the foundation for Hartville’s success.

“We are fortunate to have inherited a great culture from our grandfather and uncles,” Scott says. “The leadership team took the steps to cement those values into formal guiding statements, which we now use for recruiting and training as we continue to expand operations.”

Following Where the Tech Leads

Growing alongside Hartville Hardware’s culture, technology has played a role in the company’s successes. Scott says their strategy is to be a “fast follower” and adopt new technologies other businesses have found success using. The leadership team at Hartville Hardware also takes part in several roundtable groups with NHPA and their wholesaler.

“These roundtables and networking opportunities give us connections and access to some of the best stores and people in the industry,” Scott says. “They have also been a wealth of information on new technology, and allow us to see how other stores are using tech. We rely heavily on the experience of other stores when assessing what makes sense to implement in our stores.”

In 1982, Hartville Hardware purchased its first computer system from Triad Systems Corporation, which is now Epicor, investing $110,000, a huge sum at the time considering the size of the store, Scott says.

“Triad became the Epicor Eagle system we still use today,” Scott says. “Our people know it well, and we use all aspects of the system, from delivery to advanced ordering and everything in between.”

In the late 1980s, Hartville Hardware offered specialty tool catalog orders through the mail. During the anthrax attacks in 2001, mail orders saw a large decline, and leadership at Hartville embraced online platforms to continue selling specialty tools, launching its first e-commerce site in 2002. Scott says it took several years to become profitable on the e-commerce side but they remained steadfast in growing and evolving online.

In the two decades since it stepped into online technology, the company has continued to implement programs and processes that improve efficiencies, enhance customer service and grow the bottom line. Scott says they have found success in technology because they have devoted the necessary time and energy.

“We realized quickly that we needed to have people focused on technology,” Scott says. “E-commerce isn’t something you can do part time and be successful. We have 13 people on the development and IT side of the business and 10 employees focused on digital marketing, putting content on the site, marketing our e-commerce, creating graphics and more.”

To keep the business on the cutting edge of new technologies, Scott says the operation has been trialing electronic shelf labels in the appliance department.

Hartville utilizes a price scraping tool that shops 15,000 items and compares those items’ prices to other retailers’ prices. As another way to analyze success,

Hartville Hardware & Lumber president Scott Sommers focuses on making sure employees provide top-notch customer service.

In It Together Positive Company Culture Equals

Long-Lasting Success

Asolid company culture is the cornerstone of Hartville Hardware & Lumber and its sister companies. Part of that culture is authentically connecting with employees, empowering them and allowing them to take ownership in their roles. HRM Enterprises has over 900 employees across all of the entities, and with that many employees, it can be difficult to stay in touch with everyone, says Hartville Hardware & Lumber president Scott Sommers. To solve that issue, Scott says the leadership team started “20 Group Meetings,” where once a year, Scott and other leadership team members meet with 20 employees at a time. These groups of 20 include a mix of employees from across the hardware division.

“These meetings are a way for us to discuss concerns, answer questions and continue promoting our culture,” Scott says. “They are also a way to connect employees with our three strategic anchors: best place to work, best guest experience and long-term sustainable results.”

During those meetings, employees consistently shared that their favorite part of their job was the people they worked with, says Gary Sommers, Scott’s brother and chief executive officer of HRM Enterprises, the umbrella company of Hartville Hardware. Around the same time, Gary and Scott also attended a seminar that discussed the concept of like drawing like.

“That concept really resonated with me—when you have a team of good people, it is going to attract other good people,” Gary says. “It shows you have a positive culture because you continue to bring in positive people.”

Another part of the Hartville Hardware culture is empowering team members and allowing them to take the necessary steps to fulfill the company’s second strategic anchor of offering a best guest experience.

“From the major tool department reset we recently underwent to the rebuilding of our Idea House, it’s the changes our staff have done that make our showroom and our store so great,” Scott says. “That’s not me pushing them; that’s the team taking initiative, and they always knock it out of the park. That culture of empowering our people has really paid dividends, and it’s one of the reasons the overall store experience is so good.”

Cody Miller, divisional merchandise manager for the lumber and building materials division, developed a gross profit mapping system that formulates the gross profit of every four feet of the store.

Scott says the company has been using technology in its onboarding process as well and has a dedicated employee for training who manages the learning management system.

Hartville Hardware & Lumber has also licensed training from NHPA, using operations, product training and other resources from the association.

Implementing technology for hiring and retention has provided consistency, which has contributed to the overall success of the operation, Scott says.

“Our learning management system has taken onboarding to a new level,” he says. “We have been able to give a consistent experience to our new hires, which makes them feel comfortable and up to speed much quicker. It also helps us share our culture initiatives to all our new team members.”

Another component that has made the business successful is Scott’s use of analytics to assess all areas of the operation. He continually reviews data and scoreboards from various departments, endcaps and other parts of the store to assess which areas are most productive and which need improvement.

“I give credit to Howard and Wayne for starting this culture of tracking a wide variety of data to see how our company measured up,” Scott says. “They also get all the credit for showing what it means to truly empower your employees; they both did that exceedingly well.”

A Solid Foundation

Looking back over his career, Scott says he owes much of his success to his father, uncles and grandfather, who set the stage for a company that cares for its employees, customers and community.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t give credit to my wife Kami. Her hard work in our home has allowed me to focus on the business,” Scott says. “My parents also deserve credit for instilling the value of hard work in me.”

Scott also gives credence and thanks to his family at work—both blood and chosen—for making him and Hartville Hardware & Lumber successful.

“The team that I get to work with every day is so special,” he says. “They are the boots on the ground that make us tick and keep us moving forward, and the visible leadership from our managers and our sales team is tremendous. They are what really makes us.”

While he is grateful to receive the Top Guns honor, Scott shies away from all the glory.

“This award means a lot, but I think our team deserves it,” he says. “They have worked hard to build this place over the years, and I’m excited and humbled to accept it for the whole team.”

CORE VALUES

• Integrity

• Respect

• Excellence

Analytics Highlight Paths to Growth

• Accountability

• Community

• Teamwork

FOUNDING PHILOSOPHY

• Always put God first.

• Treat our customers, suppliers and each other as we would like to be treated.

• Give back to our community.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Founded in 1947

• 5 brands

• 305,000 square foot retail center

From marketing to inventory management, you can track analytics for nearly every aspect of your operation. That data, while overwhelming at times, is crucial for assessing successes and determining business strategy. For Hartville Hardware & Lumber, tracking analytics has been a key part of its operational strategies since the company started in 1972.

Scott attributes the operation’s success over the years to a strong culture, commitment to community and a desire to grow and improve, including using data and analytics to make growth decisions.

Scott’s uncles, Howard Miller Jr. and Wayne Miller, passed along the focus on data to Scott, his brother Gary Sommers, who serves as chief executive officer of HRM Enterprises, and his cousin Zach Coblentz, chief operating officer of HRM Enterprises. It was important to Howard and Wayne to know which areas of the store were profitable and which areas were performing well so they could make departmental improvements to fuel overall growth, Scott says. And Scott also gives credit to Gary for taking that focus on analytics to another level to fuel further growth.

“I give credit to Howard and Wayne for starting this culture of tracking a wide variety of data to see how our company measured up, and I give credit to Gary for making it even better,” Scott says. “We continue that legacy of looking at the numbers and using the data to help us grow.”

Currently, leadership at Hartville Hardware & Lumber tracks 25 profit centers, or departments, in the store and looks at a variety of data points in each of those centers to find the areas that are performing well and those that need attention. Scott says they tie in payroll and other expenses to each of these areas to get a holistic look at the profitability of each department as part of the whole store.

For example, Scott says he can tell how profitable the paint area is compared to the clothing area compared to tools and make decisions on product assortment and merchandising based on the data.

“Our data is one of the big reasons we are now so heavily into power tools,” Scott says. “Many retailers say you can’t make any money selling tools, but thanks to analytics, we’ve found it does well for us.”

Leadership just recently started closely tracking employee hours, and every two weeks after a pay period, the managers

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meet to look at hours spent in each area. Scott says they hope to glean even more information on the profitability of different departments as a result of these labor assessments.

For an in-depth view, Cody Miller, merchandise manager for the lumber and building materials division, created a gross profit map for the store, which has allowed management to evaluate 4-foot sections of the store for profitability.

Miller graduated from the North American Hardware and Paint Association’s Retail Management Certification Program, and as part of the program, created the gross profit map as his business improvement project.

At its essence, the tool maps out each aisle and assigns sales data to those spaces. It is a layout of the store in an Excel file that displays gross profit for the last 12 months for each 4-foot section in each aisle of the store.

The gross profit map provides an overhead view of the store, similar to a house blueprint, highlighting the sections that are high performing and those that are underperforming. It identifies underperforming departments and areas of the store and Miller shares that information with purchasing

managers, floor managers and leadership so they can make an improvement plan.

“By using the gross profit map, we can easily identify these unprofitable areas. Then once identified, we can develop a plan to increase profitability in these areas,” Miller says. “We have a quick and unique visual on what sections are losing money and need attention, and those that are high performing and have potential for growth.”

Since Miller launched the gross profit map, Hartville Hardware has bought several other stores. The map was used in each of those new stores to gain a quick understanding of how those retail spaces were performing, and the data gathered led to major resets in two of the stores, Miller says. In the six months following the reset, there was a 46% increase in sales overall with the power tools department seeing 49% growth in six months and the addition of several new brands.

“Investing in Cody to attend the Retail Management Certification Program has paid dividends over and over,” Scott says. “It’s added another layer of data and tracking to help fuel our growth.”