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R E TA I L E R S S P E A K O U T O N L E S S O N S L E A R N E D D U R I N G C O V I D

December 2021 Vol. 13, No. 8

THE INDUSTRY’S DIGITAL LEADER

SPECIAL REPORT

Supply Chain Crisis: When Will it End? ALSO INSIDE: Succession and Exit Planning Tips Regional Reports on Business Conditions

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CONTENTS December 2021 ■ Vol. 13, No. 8

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SEASON’S HOTTEST PRODUCTS

SPECIAL REPORT: SUPPLY CHAIN CRISIS: WHEN WILL IT END?

Editor’s Note: Chris Jensen Trend Watch: Craig Cope Digby’s Hardware Cartoon: Scott Jensen How’s Business? Regional Reports on Business Conditions Shop Talk: Hardware Products Review Special Report: Supply Chain Crisis: When Will It End? Where Do I Start? Succession and Exit Planning Tips Dealer Profile: Nabors Do it Best Home Center Product Spotlight An Inside Look: Holiday Displays Category Report: Lumber and Building Materials 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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Connection

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

6 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

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 2021 by the publisher. No editorial may be reproduced without the prior permission of the publisher.

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editor’s note

By Chris Jensen

Buying Local is a Holiday Tradition

y wife Tiffany and I have two longstanding traditions when it comes to holiday shopping. We go on a dinner date night that ends with an extensive shopping excursion at Sullivan Hardware and Garden in Indianapolis, which is across the city from us but well worth the trip. One year we left with a $1,000 tree, and luckily my wallet did not sustain as much damage this year. Sullivan’s is always packed with families and kids who are excited about riding the Sullivan Express train through the extensive holiday displays for a visit with Santa. It gets us in the holiday spirit. Our other tradition is to go shopping in our village’s downtown business district. We love supporting local retailers. I especially like shopping at Akard Village Hardware, because Leigh Ann Akard has the store stocked with lots of locally made goods. The nice thing about buying locally made goods—you don’t have to wait on it to arrive on a ship from China. For more on that, see our Special Report on the Supply Chain Crisis, which starts on page 24. Here is my supply chain anecdote for the week. I was toiling away in my

8 ■ The hARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021

home office, with visions of chocolate martinis floating through my head, when out on the lawn there arose such a clatter. I could hear the music blaring a mile away as the Amazon van pulled up to the curb. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but an Amazon driver with a large package for us in his hands. Now we have a little bit of a steep hill on our lawn and a steep driveway, much to the consternation of some delivery drivers. This Amazon delivery guy was undaunted—standing beside the cargo door he turned and heaved uphill a large box high in the air like a shot put, where it landed with a loud thud on our concrete sidewalk. He quickly snapped a picture to show his delivery was complete, then returned to the van. It was an impressive toss. I sprang from my chair to register my objection to this travesty of delivery etiquette, but my attempts to get the driver’s attention were not heard due to the music being played at 300 decibels. My wife tells me it’s a gift for me, so on Christmas Day I’ll discover the extent of the damage. It did reinforce a valuable lesson—just shop local! n www.ThehardwareConnection.com

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trend watch

By Craig Cope

Raising Awareness About a Serious Subject

n my December 2020 Trend Watch column, I focused on raising awareness of mental health issues and how employers can provide free resources to their staff. The reader response I received was overwhelming, with many just saying “thank you for addressing this topic.” At this year’s Hardware Conference, I pledged to dedicate my future December articles on mental health awareness and how the industry can help. In the U.S., one in five adults experiences mental illness yearly. With a U.S. population of 332.9 million, that means about 66.5 million adults will experience mental illness this year. According to the American Psychiatric Association, “more than half of people with mental illness don’t receive help for their disorders. Often, people avoid or delay seeking treatment due to concerns about being treated differently or fears of losing their jobs and livelihood. That’s because stigma, prejudice and discrimination against people with mental illness is still very much a problem.” The stigma, prejudice and discrimination can also make it harder to recover.

With the average hardware store in the U.S. having 8.2 employees, the odds are high that your store has someone who is experiencing some form of mental illness. MentalHealth.gov lists a few early warning signs: eating or sleeping too much or too little; pulling away from people and usual activities; having low or no energy; feeling numb or like nothing matters; having unexplained aches and pains; feeling helpless or hopeless; smoking, drinking

10 ■ The hARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021

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trend watch or using drugs more than usual; feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried or scared; yelling or fighting with family and friends; experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships; having persistent thoughts and memories you can’t get out of your head; and thinking of harming yourself or others. One of the first things an employer can do for their employees is to promote awareness about the importance of mental health. Promoting awareness can decrease the stigma associated with mental health and lead to employees seeking assistance. Below are a few ideas to create a mental health awareness program in your store: 1. Display mental awareness signage in your breakroom or wherever you post employee notifications. 2. Display resources available to employees who may be struggling with mental health. 3. Add mental health awareness as a normal topic during store meetings. 4. If you provide health benefits, review the benefits associated with mental health and/or addiction. 5. Reassure employees there will be no discrimination/retaliation for anyone who asks for assistance and all conversations are strictly confidential. A newer resource available for anyone seeking help is the recent expansion of telepsychiatry and other digital platforms. Anyone with the internet can seek help in

the safety and privacy of their home from one-on-one sessions to group chats. In fact, this has now become the preferred method in many cases. Research has found the overall experience with all age groups is positive. Help can be found in numerous ways including: asking your primary care physician for recommendations, consulting your insurance provider directly and online databases like the American Psychological Association. My goal in writing this article is not just to raise awareness regarding mental health but also to implore everyone in the independent hardware channel to act. Do your part in helping spread awareness and understanding of mental health issues. Hopefully, with a higher understanding the stigma, prejudice and discrimination become a thing of the past. Here are additional resources: • Center For Workplace Mental Health – Employer Resources • Right Direction – Free Workplace Resources, Poster, and More • CDC Treatment Resources • MentalHealth.gov • Anxiety & Depression Association of America • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 800-662HELP (4357) • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, (800)-273-8255 • CDC Preventing Suicide (English and Spanish help kit) n

12 ■ The hARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021

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Connection

PREVIEW OF 2021 HARDWARE CONFERENCE IN MARCO ISLAND

S E E C O M P L E T E C OV E R AG E O F T H E H A R DWA R E C O N F E R E N C E

Sept/Oct 2021 Vol. 13, No. 6

July/Aug 2021 Vol. 13, No. 5

THE INDuSTRy’S DIgITAL LEADER

THE iNDuSTRy’S DiGiTAL LEADER

Century Club Retailers Share

SucceSS StrAtegieS

ALSO INSIDE: Region-By-Region Look at Business Conditions Amazing But True Hardware Stories

U N D E R S TA N D I N G T H E 1 0 P R I N C I P L E S O F R E TA I L I N G

November 2021 Vol. 13, No. 7

THE INDUSTRy’S DIGITAL LEADER

Wood Shed Lumber & Hardware Supply

Honoring

Industry’s Top Retailers

How America’s Biggest &

ALSO INSIDE:

Profiles of Beacon Award Winners Q&A With Ace Exec John Surane

Bomgaars

Best Hardware Store Got Better

CLICK HERE & SUBSCRIBE YOUR ENTIRE STAFF FOR FREE! Visit www.TheHardwareConnection.com and learn why The Hardware Connection has the industry’s most retailer subscribers. The Hardware Connection is a digital-only publication distributed 8 times a year via e-mail to more than 60,000 independent hardware retailers, wholesalers and hardware industry executives world-wide.

We offer the most retail-focused editorial so you’ll gain the know-how and advice you need to help grow your business. Sign up your entire team for a free subscription to the only industry magazine written by retailers for retailers.

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HARDWARE HUMOR

www.DigbysHardware.com | facebook: @DigbysHardware 14 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

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How’s

Business?

MIDWEST

Sales and customer counts in 2021? Sales are pretty good. We’re on track to be up 20 percent. We actually opened another store (in Sullivan, Ind.) this year. During COVID, we saw a lot of new faces, and once people got in the habit of coming in, we retained most of them. New initiatives planned for 2022? For 2022, we want to get the new store ironed out. In the new store, we have a POS system, and that’s new for us, so we’ll be learning about that. Strongest niche categories? We sell propone tanks. There’s a park and lake near us. What have you learned during COVID that will make your business stronger for the future? The importance and value of customer service has really come through. We offered curbside and we’ve seen how customers really want to call and have their orders ready. Tim Medley Medley’s Carlisle Hardware Carlisle, Ind. www.TheHardwareConnection.com

Upper: Tim and Kathy Medley with their son James, who manages their new store in Sullivan, Ind. Lower: Tim Medley worked for Carlisle Hardware for a decade before buying the business at the age of 34.

NORTHEAST

Sales and customer counts in 2021? They’ve been excellent. We don’t have any previous years to compare because we opened in May. We’re running just above what we projected to do. As far as customer count, since we

THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 15

Inventory Control Drives Profits

How’s Business?

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opened in May, we’ve had about 17,000 come through the doors. New initiatives planned for 2022? We want to expand and be able to add some products we don’t stock now. Strongest niche categories? We’re only an 8,000-square-foot store, and we sell a convenience assortment. This town hadn’t had a hardware store in 30 years, and the nearest big box is about 20 miles away. Looking at year-to-date totals, the best-selling department is about even between paint and lawn and garden. How have you been affected by product shortages and supply chain issues? We’ve had to be pretty creative in some cases and go outside our area looking for products. We’re really feeling the supply-chain shortages, especially in PVC. Anything that’s made with resin has been hard to come by. Pool chemicals were extremely hard to find most of the www.TheHardwareConnection.com

summer. Because we’re new, we’ve not switched vendors but added additional suppliers for specialty items. Our main distributor is True Value, but now we deal with five other suppliers and that number will grow as we become more knowledgeable. What have you learned during COVID that will make your business stronger for the future? Because of COVID, people didn’t want to travel; they wanted to stay within their community. We’ve always been big on customer service, but COVID has made us more customer-service conscious. Because our neighbors patronize our store, it makes it a more personal interaction. We wanted to make sure they felt safe coming into the store. Because we had customers in throughout COVID, it really showed that they trusted us. Pete and Sherrill Sciortino Franklinville True Value Hardware Franklinville, N.Y.

SOUTH

Sales and customer counts in 2021? After the success of 2020, we looked for it to fall off, but this year we’re ahead of where we were in 2020. The customer count is down slightly. We’ve been really surprised how demand has continued. Right now, we’re probably up a couple percentage points. I thought being within 10 www.TheHardwareConnection.com

Adam Pierce is co-owner of three Weathers Ace Hardware locations in Alabama, plus Weathers True Value in Albertville.

percent down of the previous year would be realistic, but to be ahead is really surprising. New initiatives planned for 2022? I’m hoping to start growing our grilling section. COVID restrictions have made it impossible to do live demos. We started getting back to that with Ace’s Thanksgrilling demos. Through the pandemic, we gained many new customers, and we’re looking at ways to promote loyalty, make them lifelong customers. We own a True Value store and three Ace stores with one about to begin construction. We’re looking at how to make shopping more convenient with the Ace app and ordering online with curbside pickup. Curbside pickup began with COVID and people really like the convenience. In our Madison store, people who work in Huntsville like to swing by and pick up orders and then get home to start their projects. Strongest niche categories? We’re strong in paint, with the Benjamin Moore line, Ace’s Clark+Kensington and Royal lines. Grilling has been a good niche in the last two to three years. We’ve bought into how Ace has made a concerted effort to become the grilling

THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 17

How’s Business? source with grills, fuel, wood pellets, lump charcoal, and even sauces and rubs. Around here, we’ve really become the first place people look for grills and grilling accessories. It’s been a big niche where we continue to grow—not only with basic grills and homeowner customers but grilling enthusiasts and grilling competition teams. Our success with grilling comes from our ability to bring in brands of charcoal, sauces and rubs that our customers request. Another good niche for us has been STIHL outdoor power equipment. What have you learned during COVID that will make your business stronger for the future? The importance of organization and being able to adapt. We took on the mindset that we needed to do what’s best for employees and customers. We’ve been able to see the importance of technology and how we can be more convenient. We’re in the game with ordering online. Customers can order online, and pick up the product today. People have really liked the same-day delivery for online orders. For contractors, we’re even more convenient. One example: We were able to help a contractor customer who was at a jobsite and needed batteries. Within 30 minutes, he got the batteries and never had to stop working. Another thing that COVID has taught us is how to schedule employees better. With the quarantine, we had to space out shifts.

This made us a smarter workforce. Adam Pierce Weathers Ace Hardware Madison, Ala.

SOUTHWEST

Sales and customer counts in 2021? Great! We’re down little from 2020, but we didn’t miss a beat and didn’t close a day, and we gained a bunch of customers. New initiatives planned for 2022? Probably the biggest need is to get stock numbers back up where they belong. We also want to have extra stock on hand for A and B items. Strongest niche categories? We have a really good gift department at the right price points. Our seasonal department does well, and we’re really big for Christmas. We’ve done well with pellet grills, Green Mountain and Traeger. We listened to customers and brought in local products. What have you learned during COVID that will make your business stronger for the future? It really reinforced that we’re part of the community. Our customers have been very friendly and understanding during the pandemic. COVID really hasn’t changed our practices much other than ordering heavy in items we know will sell within a year. Because of the crazy freeze here last year, we were

18 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

Duane Myers owns C&D Hardware with Jim and Kathy Stratton.

out of PVC for two months. We also had to change our return policy from 90 days to 30 days. Too many people were buying things when there was a heavy demand, then returning later. We’re trying to capture the same margin, so pricing has been crazy. This past week, we had 52 pages of price changes at about 30 products to a page. We’ve been continually adjusting PVC pipe pricing— about five times in the last six months. COVID has been an opportunity to look

at our products, kick out a few slow turners and strengthen other lines. It’s also interesting that as of late, customers are coming in with more knowledge versus six months or a year ago. They’re now coming in with lists, researched and knowing how to move forward with their projects. Customers have been more scrupulous about their purchases. Duane Myers C & D Hardware Houston, Texas

WEST

Sales and customer counts in 2021? We’re up over last year. Last year we did a little over $2 million. As

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How’s Business? of October, we’re about $400,000 ahead of October 2020. I find it hard to believe we’re so far ahead of 2020, because we haven’t been able to get half the stuff we order. My son, the store manager, is really good at forecasting what’s running low and what we’ll be able to get. We’ve been using the back room as a warehouse. Part of our strong sales is due to the area’s second homes of highincome people. When COVID started, they came to their second homes here and stayed a while. We had property management people suddenly taking care of their customers. But it’s not only the rich people, lots of people are ﬂeeing California to come here. There’s been an inﬂux of population. New initiatives planned for 2022? We’re right in the middle of finalizing financing for building a new store. We’re at about 7,000 square feet. We’re looking at expanding to about twice the retail space and have more storage and a place to work in the back room. The outdoor area will have an area to store bulk goods. We’re really out of room here. I wish I could have built the new store two years ago. We’ve been working on it for six years. We’re going to expand in size and hopefully the supply chain can get straightened out. Strongest niche categories? In summertime, we’re the place to go for Weber products. When we expand, we’ll have the ability to carry patio furniture, bulk soil and more landscaping

Left: Larry and Luanne Green purchased Hardman’s Hardware in 1999, renaming it and moving it back to Main Street Hailey in 2004. Right: L.L. Green’s Hardware has a strong home decor section called the Emporium.

products. In winter, we’re big on snow removal, ice melt and shovels. We also have what we call the Emporium, which is a home decor section that my wife and her friends keep up. It has been taking off lately and really brings women to the store. What have you learned during COVID that will make your business stronger for the future? We work really hard to keep the right employees. We look for people who are outgoing and smile and are easy to deal with. We’re shorthanded, because we can’t find those people. Having those kinds of employees gives customers a reason to come back. We go above and beyond for our customers, like going to a house to fix a lock. We’ve had that level of customer service all along, but the pandemic really made us aware of how important that kind of customer service is. Larry Green L.L. Green’s Hardware Hailey, Idaho

20 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

k l a T p Sho A TS R C U D O R P E HARDWAR

By Craig Cope

EVIEW past few shows did not disappoint, as there were numerous new or enhanced products on display. I especially like it when the new product comes from a small manufacturer and the owner/ inventor is there to tell their story.

s many trade shows have returned to in-person, it provides me with one of the best parts of my job—finding and writing about exciting new products in the independent hardware channel. The

PRODUCT #1: SIMPLE STRAP™ ALL-PURPOSE RUBBER TIE-DOWN SIMPLE STRAP One of the first products that caught my eye was Simple Strap™, an allpurpose rubber tie-down. The design requires no knots, hooks or complex ratchets. The user simply cuts the product to length, wraps it around the object a few times and then tucks the end under a previous wrap. Click here to view a brief video on how to secure just about anything. Simple Strap is made from TPE rubber and is self-gripping and weatherresistant, making it useful in countless applications—contractors, DIYers, farmers, boaters or just about anyone who needs to secure something. One of the first questions I had was how secure is the wrap and how much abuse can it take before breaking. The first question was easily handled, as I could not budge product www.TheHardwareConnection.com

secured to a pole with the strap. The next issue of durability truly left me speechless. I was shown a video of a shark trying to remove a piece of fish

THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 21

k l a T p o h S E PROD HARDWAR

UCTS REV

IEW

secured to a board. No matter how hard the shark tried, Simple Strap held the baitfish securely. Click here to view this amazing video. Simple Strap comes in two versions: the 2mm Regular Duty (800 PSI) and the 3mm Heavy Duty (1,000 PSI). We provided both versions to our testers for their feedback. Everyone was pleasantly surprised at how easy the product is to use and just how securely it holds. One of the testers is a contractor and commented that he struggles with ratchet straps or rope knots and how Simple Strap saved him time when loaded and unloaded. Simple Strap is a great addition to virtually any hardware store with its countless applications. Plus, it could make a great stocking stuffer.

PRODUCT #2: TARPVICE™ Another item that caught my eye is a new product called TarpVice™. Anyone that has worked with traditional plastic tarps knows how the grommets are the weak link. Inevitably the material surrounding the grommets fails and the entire tarp is torn to shreds in a short bit of time. The design issue is that all the force is concentrated on a small portion of the tarp, causing its failure. TarpVice has designed a product to distribute the weight of the tiedown to a greater

surface area, which reduces/eliminates tearing of the tarp. TarpVice is a two-piece textile restraint clip designed to snap over the tarp’s finished edge. Once snapped through the material, the user can secure the tarp using screws, nails or rope. While designed for the trade, the TarpVice is easy to use whether you are a gardener, camper or doing DIY projects around the house. Click here to view a video on how TarpVice easily assembles. We supplied TarpVice to a few contractors who traditionally use tarps to cover materials and one active camper who uses tarps for additional protection from the weather. All of our testers commented on how much additional tiedown force can be applied, since there is no concern about tearing the grommet through the tarp. Our camper said it was the first time they were able to tie down the tarp that prevented the pooling of heavy rainwater. If your stores sell tarps, then take a look a TarpVice versus traditional tie-down solutions.

22 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

PRODUCT #3: TRIPLELITE® 180° FLASHLIGHT TRIPLELITE LLC While not a new product, a flashlight recently caught my attention for its unique design. Over the past few years there has been an explosion of flashlights with various designs. They feature colored lights, slides, magnets and user-customized features, but all seem to share a common trait—the lighting angle. TripleLite® has taken a new spin on a product that is more than 120 years old. Instead of using a single bulb, TripleLite uses three strategically placed LEDs to create the only flashlight with a 180-degree illuminated view. The additional view eliminates the need to swing the flashlight from side-to-side to view what is ahead. The 180-degree view also creates additional placement opportunities by placing the flashlight on its back to light up a room in a power outage or camping scenario. Click here to view a company video illustrating the difference. TripleLite is offered in three versions: TL 600 (600 lumens), TL300 (300 lumens), and TL050 (50 lumens). All models are impact/water resistant and offer a limited lifetime warranty. The TL600 offers the longest run time of eight hours powered with 3 AA batteries and two power settings. The TL 300 offers 3.5 hours of run www.TheHardwareConnection.com

time with two AA batteries and the TL050 offers 1 hour with 1 AAA battery. All of our testers commented on how much easier it was to see at night with the additional view angle. One even mentioned they wished they would have been able to use the TripleLite for Halloween. The TripleLite is a great addition to any store’s selection of flashlights. ■

THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 23

special report

Supply Chain Crisis: When Will it End?

he supply chain crisis has now dragged on for nearly two years, instigated and exacerbated by an ongoing pandemic. Up and down the supply chain—from manufacturers and wholesalers down to retailers and the end users—everyone is frustrated and pointing fingers. A perfect storm of contributing factors can be identified as the cause of the crisis. So far, solutions have proven to be elusive. Many retailers and wholesalers are reporting record sales and profits, despite being out of stock on hundreds if not thousands of items. It’s easy for them to visualize how much better sales and profits would be if they were able to stock everything their customers wanted. Read on to learn some of the background behind the supply chain crisis, discover how it has impacted

24 ■ THe HARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021

By Chris Jensen

Adam Pierce of Weathers Ace Hardware in Alabama says the supply chain crisis has been frustrating to deal with, since he hates telling customers no.

retailers and others in the two-step channel of distribution, and see what experts have to say about when this crisis will end.

iMpact on retailers Hardware and home improvement retailers have been affected by product shortages and supply chain issues in a variety of ways. Last year, all retailers were clamoring to get masks, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies and even toilet paper, with non-critical products like kiddie pools, soils and canning jar lids also in short supply. This year, the list of out-of-stock items is longer and cuts to the heart of what hardware retailers traditionally have to offer their customer base. Propane tanks, electrical boxes, galvanized eye screw www.TheHardwareConnection.com

Forty percent of all imports flow through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, creating a backlog of containers due to spiked demand.

it up and warehouse it until they need it. That has been really hard to get. Our main distributor is Do it Best with a little from Orgill. We have found some local sources for hand sanitizer.” “It’s been really tough and lags, bagged goods like soils and mulch, frustrating,” explains Adam Pierce, coowner of three Weathers Ace Hardware cement board, electrical boxes, charcoal, blowers, pool chemicals and chlo- stores plus Weathers True Value in Alabama. “As good as sales have been, rine, exterior paint, spray paint, primer, wildflower seeds, shovels, axes—these we continue to see lost sales from not are just some of the many products that having product or not enough of it. Our managers have done a tremendous job retailers have sometimes struggled to of finding products.” get their hands on. Pierce adds, “We hate telling customSome retailers say they are curers no, and there have been so many rently having problems getting snow situations where we had to tell people blowers, snow shovels, sleds and we can’t get something and don’t know white Christmas lights, so it may be a when we can. Sometimes we’ve been winter of discontent. able to swap vendors. For some prodAs one hardware retailer in ucts, such as bulk pallet items like potColorado commented recently, “It’s hard to tell contractors and electricians ting soil, Ace has suggested drop-ships directly from vendors.” that we just can’t get plain old plastic Tim Medley owns Medley’s Carlisle electrical boxes.” Hardware in Carlisle, Ind., and this “When (the pandemic) first started, year he opened a second store in spray paint, air filters and masks were hard to come by. As time progressed, it’s Sullivan, Ind., which doubled his inventory challenges. He says, “The become a new norm not to expect that first problem was getting the shelves. we’d have everything,” explains Duane We were supposed to get them in late Myers of C &D Hardware in Houston. February, early March. We did not Myers adds, “If we get in gallons get them until the last week of June. of exterior paint, contractors will buy www.TheHardwareConnection.com

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special report Some products were very hard to get and some we still haven’t received such as plastic electrical boxes.” Medley adds, “We still never know what product is going to be next that’s out. What used to be less than a page of outs is now 15 pages of outs. We’re a Do it Best store and haven’t switched or looked for other suppliers, because we know everybody has been affected. We try to figure out an estimated time it will be in stock and if possible, we will reserve it right then or try to do a future reserve.” Larry Green of L.L. Green’s Hardware in Hailey, Idaho, says, “We just ran out of paint and spray paints have been hit hard. I can’t imagine how well we’d be doing if we got everything we ordered. We’ve also had problems getting anything made out of steel such as shovels, pry bars, picks and axes. We’ve used some secondary suppliers, but they’re having the same problems.” Gregg Wesche of Overland Hardware Co. in Overland, Mo., says they have turned not to non-traditional suppliers but to suppliers that they didn’t use as often. “These are suppliers that we’d order from once or twice a year, and we increased those to once a month to fill in or hit items that our major wholesaler was out of. We have used secondary suppliers to keep product on shelves,” he says. “Balancing in-stock with orders is very tricky these days, but we can’t

Upper: Tim Medley of Medley’s Carlisle Hardware is like most retailers who feel they have been shouldering a heavy load during the pandemic-induced supply chain crisis. Lower: Although Tim Medley has lots of outs in his orders, he doesn’t blame his wholesaler because he knows everyone is struggling to keep up with demand.

wait and depend on what has always been done,” says Ken Salvestrini of Bisbee Lumber in Hancock, N.Y. “We’re now always asking if there’s a better way to get products.” Dealing with the supply chain crisis is the biggest challenge facing his business today, especially on the lumber side, according to Michael Siewers of Siewers Lumber & Millwork in Richmond, Va. “Vendors have had a

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A severe shortage of truck drivers across the country compounds the problem.

hard time getting the raw materials to build windows. On the hardware side, we have had a bit of an issue with epoxies,” he says. The biggest struggle throughout COVID-19 has been supply of materials, reports Sharri Fuller of Toronto Lumber in Toronto, Kan. “It’s been tough getting metal roofing. It’s a struggle to know what to tell customers and to price products, when we don’t know the price until it comes in. The biggest thing I’ve noticed is the distributors’ attitudes. They used to try their hardest to help and give information. Now, they seem to have given up, and it’s really hard to get a straight answer out of anyone.” “We were fortunate that we had alternate sources lined up prior to the pandemic. It did cause us to be creative and opened our eyes to new offerings,” says Leigh Ann Akard of Akard True Value Hardware in Zionsville, Ind. Some retailers say their strategy has been to order products in high demand www.TheHardwareConnection.com

earlier than normal and order a higher quantity, but all that does is magnify the pressure on the supply chain. No one wants to overbuy and be stuck with excess inventory they paid too much for, but they also don’t want to have empty shelves and customers disappointed they can’t buy what they want. Select pro retailers have been saving their inventory for their builder and contractor customers, meaning homeowners are out of luck for their small projects. Independent retailers who were normally competitors in a market have been banding together to buy bulk quantities of certain items. Now retailers find themselves unsure how to forecast future buying, since they don’t trust sales histories for 2020 and 2021. Most say they expect sales to return to a new normal that is several ticks higher than their pre-2020 business.

What are the causes? When the giant 1,312-foot-long ship Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal in March, it contained 18,300 containers full of goods—about $1 billion worth. There was a long line of ships stuck behind the Ever Given that also couldn’t continue on their journey. Economists determined it cost nearly $10 billion a day in lost trade, bringing 15 percent of international trade to an immediate halt. Although the Ever Given was unstuck after six days, its

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special report Japanese owners were ordered by the Egyptian canal authority to pay $916.5 million compensation—haggling over that payment delayed the ship another three months. As of November 29, there were 47 vessels waiting off the California coast near the Port of Long Beach and 37 vessels waiting near the Port of Los Angeles—40 percent of all imports flow through these two ports. This backlog represents approximately $24 billion in goods, according to a report by CNN Business. The unprecedented backlog in these critical ports dates to the beginning of the pandemic, when everyone stayed home and started ordering products like crazy. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were both operating on 24/7 schedules as of October, but that doesn’t do any good unless the truckers and warehouses are also operating 24/7. Another issue causing the bottleneck at the ports is an outdated booking system that leads many trucks to arrive, sit for hours and then depart empty-handed. Truckers have to show up with the right empty container at the right time to exchange it for a full container. The supply chain became overwhelmed by the massive amounts of goods coming from Asia—China, Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam—not just to the ports of United States but

Canning jars and lids were in short supply last year, which caused some retailers to order heavy and hoard the product this year.

also to the ports of Europe and other areas. There are only so many big ships to carry the freight on these trans-Pacific routes, so they can pretty much name their price. The world’s largest shipping line, Maersk, recently reported record profits of $16 billion—up 68 percent from last year, according to a report on “60 Minutes.” The rail lines that deliver the goods from the coasts to the rest of the country are also engaging in price-gouging business practices, according to the “60 Minutes” report. Rail lines are now taking 30 to 45 days to deliver cargo that used to take 7-10 days. To add insult to injury, they are charging their customers excessive storage fees for the privilege of having their goods sit idle on a rail car week after week. Let’s examine some of the other causes of the supply chain crisis. The national truck driver shortage is now estimated to exceed 80,000, with 1 million more truck drivers needed over the next nine years to replace retiring

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Keeping shelves stocked and prices updated has been an ongoing challenge for retailers this year.

drivers, according to the American Trucking Association. Amazon alone needs 115,000 drivers to keep their shipments moving across the country—the company delivered over 4 billion packages last year. The Trump administration’s tariff wars with China caused some manufacturers to shift production to countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia. A COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam over the summer caused a three-month lockdown, forcing manufacturers to scramble once again, with some shifting production back to China. Of course, there’s another fly in the ointment: a new personal information protection law that took effect November 1 in China is causing further disruption to the supply chain. Most ships leaving China these www.TheHardwareConnection.com

days—90 percent at last report—have stopped sharing their Automatic Identification System signal, which allows the shipment to be tracked along its journey so ports, distributors, retailers and end users know when to expect arrival. Companies up and down the supply channel will have to proceed without having any idea the status of their goods coming from China. Lumber prices have been more volatile than normal, as some mills were forced to shut down for periods due to COVID. Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest further disrupted production and shipment of lumber and wood products, and there is the ongoing dispute over the proposed doubling of countervailing and antidumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber imports. A shortage of raw materials, also exacerbated by rising global demand during the pandemic, has greatly impacted the availability and prices of paints, sealants, construction adhesives, polyurethane foams and anything made with steel. Earlier in the year, prices skyrocketed as much as 60 percent for epoxy resins, which are used as a binding ingredient in most paints and coatings. It’s a similar situation for polyester resins, used in many powder coatings. And titanium white—a common ingredient in many paints because it has high tinting strength—has been in short supply, which is driving prices higher. THe HARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 29

special report Products that rely on semiconductor chips like refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and LED bulbs will continue to see a tight supply that will further impact availability and pricing for at least the next two years. Chips are now being installed in many more products— anything that is automated—combined with escalating global demand for these products, and chip makers have not been able to keep up with the demand.

Industry wholesalers such as Do it Best Corp. are working hard to improve efficiencies at distribution centers so they can keep up with demand.

particular widget (name the category)—there might only be two or three. “Record demand and record sales volume have tested our warehouse teams like never before. Improving What Wholesalers say efficiency became even more imporWhen wholesalers have faced vendor problems in the past, the solution tant with the huge wave of goods moving through the warehouses,” was generally a phone call away—fix said Dan Starr, president and CEO of this or else there will be consequencDo it Best Corp., during his address es, the wholesale buyer would yell at to shareholders in late September. the vendor in question. This supply chain crisis cannot be fixed with a few “Do it Best’s deployment plan for a new warehouse management sysphone calls. tem (WMS), along with reprioritizing Most vendors say their wholesale the small parcel segment, proved to customers have been understanding, for the most part, as it has finally sunk be timely as the pandemic started in that they are doing everything they impacting the flow of goods.” Starr admitted that the co-op’s sercan to supply them with product. After all, a stockout is a lost sale for the ven- vice level fell well short of where it needed to be. “And yes, we can all dor, the wholesaler and the retailer. When it comes to securing alterna- acknowledge that the pandemic… and the surge in demand...along with tives, wholesale buyers have fewer ice storms…factory fires…and power product solutions available due to grid failures all combined to create ongoing vendor consolidation over massive and unprecedented disrupthe past decade. There are no longer tions that were felt across the entire 10 or 12 companies manufacturing a 30 ■ THe HARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021

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industry. But that doesn’t change the fact that you need to be in stock,” he told members. Starr added, “I have no doubt our service level would be considerably lower if we were not pursuing solutions with our vendors. But we also know that even with our best effort and intense focus, these challenges have exposed a definite need for continued improvement. You should also know that these challenges aren’t going away as quickly as any of us would like. The prolonged surge in demand has, in many cases, depleted safety stocks and raw materials, and left little room for a speedy recovery.” He continued, “In all cases, our approach is far from ‘business as usual.’ We’re not accepting this as the new normal. We are aggressively and creatively working with our vendors to manage each situation. We’re aggressively negotiating to get more than our share of products. We’re pursuing new vendors and then building those relationships to source more products. That means we’ve never had more inventory in place than we do today. We’ve never had more on order. And, in many cases, we’re ordering a full year out.” “Our number one priority is to restore the dependability of our supply chain as quickly as we can,” says Boyden Moore, president and CEO of Orgill Inc., which is used as a secondary www.TheHardwareConnection.com

supplier by many industry retailers. “We believe we will begin to see better recovery in the coming months. However, we also believe that it will take longer into 2022 before we begin to return to our historical standards.” He continues, “One of the biggest reasons that service level hasn’t recovered more quickly is that demand for home improvement products has remained so high. While many projections in the industry for 2021 sales were flat or close to it, we had budgeted for a 7 percent increase in sales and had plans to continue to invest and prepare for continued growth. In the first half of 2021 our sales were up 21 percent.” Opening a new 780,000-square-foot distribution center in New York in June combined with a 430,000-square-foot addition that is underway to their Utah distribution center will give Orgill the capacity to handle double the volume going forward, according to Moore. The company has also identified and prioritized dozens of projects to make distribution centers more efficient, improve access to information, and enhance replenishment systems and inventory management. Moore concludes, “We’ve pulled together as a team and we’ve worked hard shoulder-to-shoulder with our retail customers and our vendors facing these challenges together.” Steve Henry, president and CEO of House-Hasson Hardware, says, “I

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special report believe that we are finally past the worst of the pandemic. However, it does continue to affect the decisions that we make each and every day. It is my opinion that our great family of dealers and our own hardware business has weathered the storm like true champions.” Henry adds, “How do you plan for something as large as what we have been through? The outcome speaks to our great resiliency and strong drive to serve our customers. I believe that in almost every case, our dealers have emerged stronger and more adaptable than they have ever been. The same for our two distribution centers—the neversay-quit attitudes of our management and staff have provided for the continued growth and success of our company through this life-changing event.”

Year to date, overall cargo volume at the Port of Los Angeles has increased 22 percent compared to 2020, which had been a recordsetting year.

A tool manufacturer commented about the escalating cost of importing goods. “Containers used to be $2,000, two months ago they were $12,000 and now it’s up to $25,000 for the same product,” he said. “These are the issues we are dealing with on a regular basis, and that’s why there are so many price increases. We can’t just absorb the extra cost on our end.” He added, “This is just so we can maintain inventory. There is a shortWhat Vendors say age of drivers and trucks. For the Vendors say the ongoing supply chain crisis continues to cause them a fall shows my drop-ship charge was great deal of stress, as they spend each $1,600 instead of $400, because domestic freight went up 30 percent.” day putting out fires with a whack-aThe Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, mole strategy that doesn’t obscure the which saw commodity prices as a fact they have little control over the headwind throughout 2021, leading to factors causing their problems. a price increase in August, is not done A vendor in the plumbing category raising prices. “We have communicatpointed out that their costs continue to rise for steel, labor and freight. “We ed to our retail partners that we will take additional pricing actions effecwere paying $661 a ton last year and now it’s up to $2,125 a ton—that’s a 217 tive in January, as we continue to battle higher costs from urea, resin, grass percent increase, which is a real cost seed and other commodities,” stated that has to be passed on,” he said.

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middle of 2022. And of course, the port backlogs are just one element of the supply chain crisis. The real answer is that no one knows when the supply chain crisis will end. However, the experience has left an indelible impression on all companies in the two-step channel of distribution, which will undoubtedly lead to improved efficiencies that will serve the industry well in years ahead. All of this may not sound like reassuring news to retailers who are keeping their fingers crossed as they navigate the current holiday selling season, while trying to forecast demand so they can plan their 2022 purchases. Henry of House-Hasson concludes, “The strength for the future comes from the fact that we all got knocked around a lot, sometimes daily, but we got back up and we put a band-aid on and went back to work. We had to hire differently, we had to deliver differently, we had to work different hours, we had to become flexible and fluid. We could not do business every What does the Future hold? day as we always had. I believe that Experts say we have not experienced product shortages on this scale because of the everyday struggles that we dealt with during the pansince the period after World War II ended, when American manufacturers demic, we have been forced to think outside of the box. It is painful, but had to transition from making Army jeeps and munitions back to everyday sometimes life’s circumstances force us to do things and make choices consumer goods. that are difficult to make otherwise. Goldman Sachs and other supThat is a good thing for the future of ply chain experts have predicted the our business.” n port backlogs will linger through the

CFO Cory Miller. Consumer purchases for Scotts are up 21 percent compared to 2019 results. “We are prioritizing meeting demand in a universally difficult supply chain environment and are actively addressing the inflationary trends impacting the business with new targeted pricing actions and increased productivity measures,” says James Loree, CEO of Stanley Black & Decker. The company saw sales rise 46 percent in the second quarter of 2021 and increase another 14 percent in the third quarter. Stanley Black & Decker has been facing the same kinds of challenges encountered by most American manufacturers. “The pandemic in general has driven a chaotic situation in the supply chain,” Loree said, in an interview with Chief Executive. “It’s added about two weeks to our supply from Asia. It’s a very intensive management issue, because demand is off-thecharts good, and supply is the challenge—things outside our control.”

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

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SuccESSIon PlannIng

Where Do I Start? Succession and Exit Planning Tips By Gary Pittsford, CFP®

eveloping a succession or exit plan for your company so you can transition to a new chapter in your life is a complicated process, and brings up new questions for all business owners. I speak at an average of 20 or more conventions each year, and talk with hundreds of business owners. The most common question that they ask me about the succession/exit planning process is “where do I start?” It is important to understand that in order to design a blueprint that allows business owners to successfully retire from their business, protect their future income and their net worth, and protect their employees, customers and

their community, they need to assemble a special team of advisors to help them. There are at least three advisors that are specifically important: First is a corporate attorney who specializes in buying and selling businesses. This attorney should know asset purchase agreements and letters of intent, inside and out. He or she needs to understand corporate law in the state where you live and operate your business and also know how to protect the seller when designing or reviewing all the legal documents necessary to sell a business. Second is an accountant who thoroughly understands your corporate tax bracket, your personal tax bracket

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and can provide advice on how to minimize taxes when it is time to sell your business either to someone inside the family, or outside the family. Minimizing income taxes is a very important part of the exit planning process. Third is a business financial advisor who understands all the aspects of selling the company. They should work with your accountant and your attorney to come up with the best plan to get the highest price for selling your company while paying the least amount of taxes. They should understand your industry and know how to calculate a fair valuation for your business. Your financial advisor should also be able to help you estimate future retirement income and build a plan to protect your net worth by designing conservative investment allocation options. They should also have the ability to work with your accountant to minimize taxes in the future, work with your attorney to update wills, trusts and beneficiary designations, and make sure all of the plans for the future fit the goals that you have established for you and your family. Once your exit planning team is assembled, you should meet with all of them for a minimum of two hours every year, for three to four years before you sell the company. During these last few years your advisors should give you ideas on how to improve the value of the company, develop a strategy for saving income taxes over the last few years before you sell the company, make sure www.ThehardwareConnection.com

ThrEE To fIvE yEarS bEforE ThE TranSITIon, buSInESS oWnErS nEED To bEcomE a coach anD TraIn ThE nExT gEnEraTIon on EvEry aSPEcT of runnIng ThE comPany. that all your tax records and legal documents are up to date, and most importantly, help you prepare for the day when you transition the company to the next owner. There are approximately 30 million business owners in the United States and five to seven million of them are baby boomers between the ages of 60 and 70. At least 40 percent of those baby boomers will be looking for an exit plan over the next five to 10 years. About 25 percent of those business owners will sell to their children. Three to five years before the transition, business owners need to become a coach and train the next generation on every aspect of running the company. The exit planning team you have chosen will be very helpful in training the next generation. Approximately 15 percent of these owners will sell to employees. The business owner needs to become a coach and make sure that their key employees have all of the financial knowledge that they can provide in order to run the business in the future. The exit planning team you have

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succession Planning

flow every year to having a lot of different assets in their net worth that chosen will be very helpful in providwill provide for them and their family ing advice to these key employees. At least 30 percent to 40 percent will in the future. This is a big change for sell to another company in their indus- every business owner and it needs to be thoroughly reviewed as part of the try. Over the next three to five years the business owner and their exit plan- exit planning process. An experienced ning team will need to get the compa- fee-only, fiduciary financial advisor is ny in better shape to sell. They should the best person to help set you up for success in retirement and beyond. work on improving the company’s This exit planning process can be a financials and discuss all of the posdaunting but not impossible task. Castle sible options for selling the company Valuation + Creative Planning works at the best price. with clients nationwide every day to Developing a future plan for the help come up with the right blueprint company goes hand in hand with that will help business owners be sucdeveloping a future plan for the business owner. When we are working with cessful as they combine new and creative ideas to protect you, your busibusiness owners across the country, ness and your family. we not only review business documents, but also review personal documents as part of the planning process. If the wills and revocable living trusts are 10 or more years old, they should be reviewed and updated to fit current tax laws in effect to better protect the owner’s net worth and their Gary family. Old wills and trusts can create Pittsford problems. Are assets owned in one name or joint names? Are the benGary Pittsford, CFP®, is chief valuation officer eficiaries of retirement accounts and of Castle Valuation + Creative Planning. Gary life insurance policies set properly to specializes in helping families and closelyfit the family at this time? Planning to held business owners with valuations, protect the company and the family succession planning, estate and income tax go together. analysis and retirement income security. For When business owners sell their more information go to www.castle3.com, business, they go from having a comcall 317-849-9559 or e-mail pany that provides them with cash gary.pittsford@creativeplanning.com. 36 ■ The hARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021

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SuccESSIon PlannIng

broWnSboro harDWarE TranSITIonS oWnErShIP To managEr Brownsboro Hardware & Paint, a Do it Best member with locations in Louisville and Prospect, Ky., has a new owner. Jim and Marilyn Lehrer have sold the wellestablished business to their trusted store manager, Doug Carroll. “After 23 years in the business here and decades in the hardware business, we decided it was time for a change,” said Jim Lehrer. “While we had interest from several out-of-state owners, we wanted ownership to stay local. Doug has been with us for more than two decades, and he knows the business. It’s in good hands, both now and in the future.” “I started working here at Brownsboro Hardware & Paint when I was 16,” said Carroll. “I have watched Jim and Marilyn run this business with integrity and passion for our customers. I have learned from the best, and I intend to continue to maintain and grow the legacy that is Brownsboro Hardware & Paint.” Carroll says there will be no changes to the staff and he intends to continue the stores’ community involvement. Philanthropic efforts, such as their wildly successful EGGFest, will continue for the business, which was founded 61 years ago. Lehrer was a member of the Do it Best board of directors for nine years, including two as board chair. He was awarded www.ThehardwareConnection.com

Upper: Jim Lehrer (right) is selling Brownsboro Hardware & Paint to longtime manager Doug Carroll (left). Lower: Readers of the Courier-Journal voted Brownsboro Hardware & Paint as the “Best Hardware Store in Louisville.”

The Hardware Connection’s Retail Beacon Award for lifetime achievement in 2019. Before owning Brownsboro Hardware & Paint, he was an executive with Our Own Hardware before it merged with HWI and became Do it Best. As part of the arrangement, Lehrer will remain at Brownsboro Hardware & Paint for at least a year to ease the transition. “The difference,” Lehrer joked, “is that I’ll only have to work 40 hours a week, instead of 60 to 70.”

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SuccESSIon PlannIng

acE chaIn TranSITIonS To EmPloyEE-oWnED comPany

Gina Schaefer and Marc Friedman are selling their 13-store company to their 250+ employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

The largest locally owned hardware store chain in Washington, D.C. is selling their company to their employees. In August, A Few Cool Hardware Stores

(AFCHS), a group of 13 Ace Hardware stores located in the DC and Baltimore metro areas, announced their plan to sell ownership of the company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). With 14 million employee owners across 7,000 companies nationally, ESOPs offer employees stake in a company through a stock allocation that accrues value over time, much like a 401(k) plan. The amount of stock distributed is determined by the number of employees receiving shares and each employee’s individual salaries—all at no cost to the employee. The benefits of this transition from privately-owned to employeeowned include increased staff engagement in decision-making processes, personal wealth building and an active investment in the success and health of the business. AFCHS owners Gina Schaefer and Marc Friedman will transfer ownership of the organization to their 250-plus employees over the next several years through the ESOP’s trust under the name “The Cool Hardware Company,” with an upfront transfer of 30 percent of the company’s ownership kicking things off on August 1, 2021. “The ESOP model allows us to give back to the employees who have done so much for our company, while still aligning with the culture we’re proud to have built over the last 20 years of business,” said Schaefer. Click here for more information. ■

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By Chris Jensen

Dealer Profile

Joined by his wife Millette and his team, Lee Nabors cuts the ribbon on the new Nabors Do it Best Home Center in Amory, Miss.

Designing a Female-

Friendly Store

hen Lee Nabors walked into C & D Lumber in Amory, Miss., for the first time, one thing felt very clear to him: This was not a welcoming place for women. When he made the decision to purchase the contractororiented lumberyard and turn it into the fourth Nabors Do it Best Home Center location, he promised himself that he would go to great lengths to appeal to the area’s female customers. For more than 30 years, Nabors has analyzed hardware industry shopping trends and has long believed that the influence women have over purchasing decisions represents an important and growing opportunity. He and his staff dedicate time to pour over www.ThehardwareConnection.com

lee NaBorS NaBorS Do iT BeST HoMe CeNTer aMorY, MiSS. popular items on social media apps like Pinterest and monitor TV shows like “Fixer Upper,” “Property Brothers,” “This Old House,” and more to find the same inspirations, ideas and trends that women in his area are seeing. Following his acquisition of C & D Lumber in late 2020, Nabors spent much of this year transitioning the store to their brand, adding approximately 6,500 square feet of retail space, as well as renovating the lumberyard and store interior. Like his other three locations throughout Mississippi in Ackerman, Eupora and Houston,

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Dealer Profile

Above: Nabors Do it Best Home Center’s new store in Amory expanded by 6,500 square feet as part of the remodel. Middle: Nabors takes pride in tailoring their product mix to local needs. Lower: The Nabors store in Eupora, Miss., attracts female shoppers with live flowers and plants.

Nabors also aimed to make this new store more welcoming to female shoppers. As for the physical location itself, Nabors set to work remodeling the lumberyard to be visually appealing, better lit and with clean and accessible bathrooms. Although it was primarily a pro lumberyard in the past, he says these are important steps

towards transitioning to a more inclusive environment. “There was just one bathroom in the old store. I told our architect that these restrooms had to be femalefriendly. Now we have large, clean, handicapped accessible restrooms,” Nabors says. Another key step was to hire more women who are knowledgeable about hardware and lumber to make other women feel more comfortable shopping in the Amory store. “We hired three smart female employees right off the bat. They are all very capable and we recently hired a fourth,” Nabors says.

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They installed all-new fixtures and signage to make the store easier to shop. “It was an afterthought and after remerchandising, but we put in new floorcovering and that just made it pop. It was vinyl plank 6’ x 3’ heavy-duty commercial flooring,” he explains. Nabors points out, “We would get comments from women as soon as they walked in, that they had a sense they came to the right place.” Previously, the store was very contractor-oriented and it didn’t have the environment to make it a destination. Nabors set about to change that. “We wanted to be dominant in three areas: keys, so we bought technology to do modern auto keys; we wanted to be known to have deep inventory on air and furnace filters; and most important was fasteners,” he says. Nabors adds, “We also added paint, which the store didn’t have before, and we added the latest color-matching equipment.” Nabors Home Center was founded in 1961 by Lee Nabors’ grandfather, Harley, so the business is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. They have been Do it Best members since 1988. www.ThehardwareConnection.com

Left: Creative merchandising at all four Nabors Do it Home Center locations is designed to appeal to female customers. Middle: Lee Nabors’ retailing principles revolve around building a strong team and making sure his stores appeal to women. Right: With a flatbed for a stage, a local band welcomed customers to the new store during the grand reopening.

The grand reopening weekend in November included store specials and giveaways, food and entertainment by a local band. It attracted a strong response from a grateful community. “We’ve been excited about the opportunity to bring the Nabors Do it Best Home Center experiences to Amory,” said Nabors. “For 60 years, we’ve built our family business on providing the communities we serve with our unique combination of product, price and service, and it’s been foundational to our continued growth and success.” In the future, Nabors hopes to find the right timing to hold a Ladies Night event. “We get lots of positive comments, especially from female customers. They say they can’t believe how nice the store is now,” says Nabors. “And we continue to hear they’re glad they don’t have to go to Lowe’s now.” n

The hARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 41

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT POWERSTACK™ 20V MAX COMPACT BATTERY • Revolutionary design that utilizes ﬂat, pouch battery cells delivering the lightest and most powerful compact battery from DEWALT. • Provides user 50% more power, enabling broad application capabilities and fast performance with cordless tools; 25% more compact and 15% lighter, designed to provide tool maneuverability, high precision and reduced fatigue when used in tight workspaces. • Ideal for cutting, drilling and fastening applications, precision and

ﬁnishing tasks, and when working in tight spaces. • Battery is compatible with all DEWALT 20V MAX tools and chargers in the 20V MAX system. DEWALT Industrial Tool Co. www.dewalt.com/powerstack 800-433-9258

AMP ADVANCED HYBRID SEALANTS

temperature use of 0°F to 140°F, • Combining the best attributes from features fast and traditional silicone and polyureefficient 30-minthane technologies, the AMP family ute paint and rain/ of sealants features superior weathwater ready times, erability and durability. They can be and is backed by used in extreme temperatures and a lifetime mold and mildew resisprevent mold and mildew growth. tance guarantee. • Developed for both exterior appli• This advanced modified polymer cations—such as windows, doors, sealant applies and tools smoothly, siding, trim, gutter, flashing and with no stringiness, is low odor and concrete—and interior applicais non-hazy during applications and tions like kitchen and bath projects, once cured. the new AMP line delivers a 100% weatherproof and waterproof seal. DAP Products www.dap.com • It can be applied on wet and 410-675-2100 damp surfaces, offers extreme 42 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

CARPENTER BEE TRAPSTIK • TrapStiks control the targeted insect and keep them from entering your home. Carpenter bees and wasps get caught on the sticky surface. They’re drawn to the trap with exclusive VisiLure technology, the colors and patterns under the glue. • Saves structures from damage and is weather-resistant, pesticide-free and odor-free. • Easy to use; hang it right where carpenter bees cause damage.

• Bird guards provide protection for birds and other small animals. RESCUE!/Sterling International www.rescue.com 800-666-6766

MORF™ R230 REMOVABLE HEADLAMP • The patented MORF™ R230 Headlamp is the world’s first headlamp with a removable flashlight and magnet light—and a base that stays lit. • The rugged, 230-lumen magnetic flashlight with 4-hour runtime lets you do what needs doing, handsfree—while the headlamp base lets you continue to see the bigger picture all around. • The MORF R230 also lets you switch between high and low, putting the right amount of light in the right place. www.TheHardwareConnection.com

• Being impact and water-resistant, it’s perfect for campers, hikers, climbers, DIYers and pros. Police Security Flashlights www.policesecurity.com 470-202-1018

THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 43

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT CRESCENT® NAILSLICER™ FRAMING CIRCULAR SAW BLADE • Use this 7-1/4” blade with cordless and corded tools for superior performance and maximum versatility. High Impact™ premium carbide teeth provide 8x blade life. • Active Shield™ protective blade coating allows 70% more cuts per charge and protects against gumstraighter cuts, while laser cut ming and corrosion. expansion slots reduces blade • Anti-nail kickback tooth design warping. resists nails on impact. Apex Tool Group • Laser cut vibration slots allow www.crescenttools.com for minimal blade vibration for 800-650-8665

STIHL SMART CONNECTOR 2 A ACCESSORY • Compatible with select STIHL battery powered tools, the STIHL Smart Connector 2 A is a powerful accessory that provides users with beneﬁcial usage data about their STIHL equipment. You can track a tool’s location, monitor run time, follow pre-installed maintenance schedules and more to help manage your ﬂeet of tools. • Attaches to a dedicated position on each powerhead with just two screws and a wired connection into the tool’s control module. After it’s attached, the STIHL Smart Connector 2 A transmits data via Bluetooth® to the STIHL cloud.

• STIHL app provides synced time, date and location data in the STIHL cloud. Also provides on-unit status updates via LED indicator light. • With just one press of the status button users can easily see if their tool has any electrical faults or if it requires service. STIHL USA www.stihlusa.com 800-467-8445

44 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

PAINTSTICK EZ ROLLER • Eliminates the need for messy roller trays by holding up to 22 oz. of paint directly in the handle. It’s great for painting walls and ceilings two times faster than a manual roller and with less mess. • The roller allows you to reload on the go. Simply attach the fill tube to your paint can, press EZ Roller fill valve onto the tube, pull back on the plunger, then squeeze the trigger to directly feed paint to the 9” x 3/8” roller cover. • Paint a 7’ x 10’ area with a single fill.

• The roller also reduces the need for a ladder or step stool by providing long reach for tall walls and ceilings. Wagner Spray Tech www.wagnerspraytech.com 800-328-8251

FROGTAPE® PAINTER’S TAPE — DELICATE SURFACE • Premium-grade, delicate-surface painter’s tape for interior use on freshly painted surfaces (24 hours old), faux ﬁnishes, primed wallboard and wallpaper. • CF 160 (FrogTape® brand painter’s tape) is a low-adhesion masking tape made with exclusive PaintBlock® Technology, a superabsorbent polymer that reacts with latex paint and instantly gels to form a micro-barrier that seals the edges of the tape to prevent paint bleed and deliver very sharp paint lines. • 60-day clean removal. www.TheHardwareConnection.com

• Widths available: 24 mm, 36 mm and 48 mm. ShurTape Technologies/FrogTape www.frogtape.com 800-321-1733

THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 45

AN INSIDE LOOK

HOLIDAY DISPLAYS

he Hardware Connection provides a pictorial look at holiday displays. Send pictures to chris@thehardwareconnection.com.

Andrews Ace Hardware, Chatom, Ala.

Bering’s Hardware, Houston

Carolina Ace, Hendersonville, N.C.

A’s Home Center, Manasquan, N.J.

Blackhawk Hardware, Charlotte, N.C.

Hartville Hardware, Hartville, Ohio

46 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

Logan Hardware, Washington, D.C.

Hollywood Hardware, Sacramento, Calif.

Sebastopol Hardware Center, Sebastopol, Calif.

O’Hara True Value, Ottumwa, Iowa Pierson Building Center, Eureka, Calif.

Nelson Agri-Center, Viroqua, Wis.

Snow’s Home & Garden, Orleans, Mass.

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

Petersburg Do it Best Hardware, Petersburg, Ind.

Sullivan’s Hardware & Garden, Indianapolis

The Hardware & Toy Center, Paoli, Pa.

THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 47

CATEGORY REPORT

Lumber and buiLding maTeriaL Trends reported that lumber futures • The Bureau of Labor Statistics increased 3.8% on November 30 to Producer Price Index report in October $824.50 per 1,000 board feet, setting a shows that the price of building matepace for the highest price since June rials has increased by more than 19 24, according to Bloomberg data. percent over the past 12 months. • Increased demand for softwood lum• Lumber futures jumped over 300% ber in the U.S. and Asia will change through mid-May as locked down the global trade flows of wood in homeowners boosted spending on the coming decade, according to home renovations and low mortgage WRI Market Insights 2021 by Wood rates spurred a building boom, leavResources International. Softwood ing sawmills with depleted inventolumber has been in high demand in ries. Anticipating a continued surge, the U.S. and Europe throughout 2021. producers ramped up supply and The limited supply resulted in tempohome centers stocked up aggresrary price surges to record high levels sively, only to see demand fall rapidly. during the spring, followed by subFutures prices plummeted more than stantial declines in early summer. The 70% in the aftermath, and lumber outlook for lumber demand is likely dealers were forced to liquidate invento be strong worldwide in the coming tory, RBC Capital Markets analyst Paul decade in most world regions, includQuinn said in a report by Bloomberg. ing North America and Asia. Both • Now lumber prices are gearing up these regions are consistently depento return to highs previously seen in dent on imported wood. June, after heavy rains and flooding • The U.S. is the largest lumber market in western Canada curtailed shipin the world and is very dependent ments. British Columbia produces on imported lumber. Imports have about 14% of North America’s lumber consistently accounted for about and that region has seen major roads 30% of consumption over the past 10 and railway tracks flooded out. years. There is expected to be con• Softwood sawlog prices have gone tinued demand growth long-term in up in 21 of 22 regions worldwide in the U.S., driven mainly by new house the past year, as tracked by the Wood construction and solid consumption Resource Quarterly. The most signifiof wood products in the repair and cant increases have occurred throughremodeling sector, according to WRI out Europe and British Columbia. Market Insights 2021. Marcy Nicholson of Bloomberg 48 ■ THe HARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

• U.S. imports from Canada have fallen • The NLBMDA recently urged the Biden administration to rescind over the last five years, and European harmful tariffs on building material lumber has mainly filled the gap. products. They suggested the adminSupply from Canada will be further istration reverse the preliminary restricted in the coming years due to determination from earlier this year the lasting effects of the mountain to double countervailing and antipine beetle in British Columbia. As a dumping duties on Canadian softresult, the U.S. will become increaswood lumber imports and negotiate ingly reliant on European imports a new long-term softwood lumber as demand grows and Canadian agreement with Canada. n imports level off.

Lumber merchandising Upper left: Henson Building Materials in Landrum, S.C. Lower left: McCoy’s Building Supply in Texas. Upper right: Keim Home Center in Charm, Ohio. Upper middle right: Oxford Lumber Company in Oxford, Ala. Lower middle right: Shell Lumber & Ace Hardware in Miami. Lower right: Talbert Building Supply in Durham, N.C.

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

THe HARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 49

IN THE NEWS NEW STORES:

Lumber have acquired Crescent Lumber in Bangor, Maine. • Koopman Lumber has acquired • US LBM has acquired Professional Fairhaven Lumber in Fairhaven, Builders Supply, with 12 locations Mass. in the Carolinas. • Doug and Mary Rodriquez have • Nation’s Best has acquired Crafty acquired Honor Hardware & Beaver Home Centers, with 3 Building Supply and Onekama locations in Chicago area. Building Supply in Michigan from • Brad Holmes opened Holmes Ace Lynn Hopkins. Hardware in Charlestown, Ind. • Don Compton is opening • Steve, Kit and Eric Eisel are Compton Ace Hardware in opening Ace Hardware in Kennett Birmingham, Ala. Square, Pa. • Builders Supply & Home Center • Martin Steffes has sold Century is opening in Airway Heights, Wash. Club retailer Steffes True Value • Craig Cowie has opened his second Hardware in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., Baller Hardware location in the to Manager Gary Booth. Highland Park area of Los Angeles. • 84 Lumber has opened its first store • Ace Hardware is opening in Reed in Boise, Idaho. City, Mich. • US LBM is acquiring Barrons, with • Burggraf’s Ace Hardware has locations in Gaithersburg, Md., and acquired Moorhead Ace Hardware Manassas, Va. in Moorhead, Minn. • Christopher and Anita Lloyd • Griffin Lumber & Hardware are opening Lloyd’s True Value in acquired Baldwin Builders Janesville, Wis. Supply in Milledgeville, Ga. • Brad Christianson is opening a 4th • Johns Ace Hardware opened in Ace Hardware store in Yakima, Wash. Pittsfield, Mass. • The General Store plans to open • Talbert Building Supply has Liberty Lake Ace Hardware in acquired Poindexter Lumber Co. Liberty Lake, Wash. in Clemmons, N.C. • Mans Lumber and Millwork has • Joe Richmond and Elizabeth formed a new partnership with Buckner have purchased Black’s Dillman & Upton, a Century Club Hardware in Irondequoit, N.Y. from retailer in Rochester, Mich. Todd Black. • R.P. Lumber Co. has opened its • Ware-Butler Building Supply and 75th location in Poplar Bluff, Mo. parent company Pleasant River 50 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

KUDOS TO: • Dieruf Do it Best Hardware & Rental in Louisville, Ky., is marking its 75th anniversary. • Shapard Lumberyard in Columbia, Tenn., is celebrating its 75th anniversary. • Campbell’s Hardware & Sporting Goods in Robertsdale, Ala., is celebrating its 75th anniversary. • Moore’s Hardware and Building Supply in Talkeetna, Alaska, is marking its 40th anniversary. • Roush Hardware, with two stores in Ohio, is marking its 70th anniversary. • Davis Ace Hardware is marking 20 years in Springerville, Calif. • Lambertville Do it Best Hardware in Lambertville, Mich., is celebrating its 50th anniversary. • Jeremy Stine, marketing director for Stine Home + Yard, won a special election in Louisiana’s 27th State Senate District. • Miner’s Ace Hardware has donated $5,000 to support new computers for students at People’s Self-Help Housing’s learning center. • Carr Hardware held a successful Carr-nniversary Weekend which led to a donation of $5,272.12 to the Berkshire Humane Society. • HPM Building Supply in Hawaii is marking its 100th anniversary this year. • Pat Sullivan, owner of Sullivan Do it Best Hardware and Garden in Indianapolis and a past Beacon www.TheHardwareConnection.com

Do it Best President Dan Starr presented a plaque to Mike and Jason Fujimoto honoring HPM Building Supply’s 100 years of service.

Award winner, was honored with the Sagamore of the Wabash from Governor Eric Holcomb. The award is one of Indiana’s highest Pat Sullivan (right) civilian honors and with the Sagamore of is given to those the Wabash award. with distinguished service for the state and its residents.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE: • Do it Best Corp. has hired Thomas Missakian as a territory sales manager, Jeff Preston as warehouse department manager and Ed Somerville as merchandise manager for building material. • Deering Lumber hired Derek Hayes as operations manager. • Short & Paulk Supply Co. promoted Chris Graddy to president. • Home Hardware appointed Laura Baker vice president-marketing. • Warner Robins Building Supply promoted Art Cassidy to vice president of operations and purchasing, Nick Witcher Jr. to CFO, Kathy Chamblee to sales

THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 51

manager and Tawana Muhammad to senior human resources manager. • Nation’s Best Holdings named Greg Smith director of purchasing. • Jon DeArment, president and COO of Channellock, has been named board president of the Hand Tools Institute. • Griffin Lumber & Hardware named Chris Baroni as general manager.

WHOLESALERS IN THE NEWS: • Distribution America (DA) and PRO Group hosted the 2022 Executive Planning Conference inperson at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa November 1618. Attendees participated in the scheduled, one-on-one meetings over the course of two days that brought together decision makers for both distributor and manufacturer partners. “It is so great to be back together again for an in-person event,” said Dave Christmas, president and CEO of DA.

from October 21-23 for its 75th edition event, gathering exhibitors, industry leaders and other attendees for a safe return to business at the Las Vegas Convention Center’s new West Hall. The Show garnered 690 exhibitors and 97 inventors. NHS’ new HABITAT Pavilion consisted of three components: HABITAT New, HABITAT Next and the HABITAT Innovation Showcase. The HABITAT Innovation Showcase was framed by five pillars impacting the evolution of hardware and home improvement businesses for 2021 and beyond: Self-Service; the Extra Mile; Health and Wellth; Trust the Process; and Safe the World. • Stanley Black & Decker has acquired the remaining 80 percent ownership stake in MTD Holdings Inc. • Hampton Products has acquired Commando Lock Company.

IN MEMORY:

OTHER NEWS: • Reliance Worldwide Corp. has acquired EZ-FLO International, a manufacturer of plumbing specialty products. • After pivoting to a virtual format in 2020 and adding a year-round, digital component in 2021, the National Hardware Show® returned in-person 52 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

• Randall Hamby, retired national sales director for WD-40 Company, passed away November 11 in Hoschton, Ga., at the Randall Hamby age of 72. He is survived by wife Joyce, children Marissa Carter (Robert), Furman Hamby (Lisa), Randall Hamby (Gayanne) and Kenny Hamby (Sara), sister Linda Williams (Henry) and 11 grandchildren. www.TheHardwareConnection.com

roduct. So we recruited d-i-yers to olicit their feedback. Each used FrogTape on multiple • Jean Feltz, retired co-owner of Feltz urfaces windows, baseboards Lumber Co. in Stevens Point, Wis., nd corners, and everyone was passed away October 16 at the age of 90. mazed by the clean lines usually • Jim Maloney Jr., former owner of nly possible pros. No one Saint with Georges Lumber Co. in Saint ad any Georges, instanceDel., of paint bleed or 15 at died September ifficultythe removing tapea even age of 82.the He was Vietnam War fter it stayed in place for over a veteran. • you Robert Potvin,do who founded week. If currently not stock and operated EagleinLumber rogTape, then bring a few Co. in passed away October 6 KUs of Stamford, their Pro Vt., Grade Painter’s at the age of 89. ape and Pro Grade Orange ainter’s which offers highFORTape, THE FULL STORY: r adhesion. ■ Club retailer Aubuchon • Century Hardware acquiring 4-store Delray

Plus True Value. Click here. • Central Network Retail Group acquiring 22 Frattallone’s Ace Hardware stores. Click here. • R.P. Lumber acquiring Century Club retailer Alexander Lumber. Click here. • Ace Hardware reported record 3Q earnings. Click here. • Independent We Stand announced the quarterfinalists of the America’s Main Streets “Road to Recovery” contest. Click here. • Ace Hardware opens 1st store under new franchise model in Mexico. Click here.

Read The Hardware Connection When and Where You Want. Try the Mobile Version Today! www.TheHardwareConnection.com

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

THe HARDWARe Connection ■ March 2021 ■ 31 THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 53

UPCOMING EVENTS JANUARY Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market January 11-18, AmericasMart, Atlanta House-Hasson Hardware Winter Dealer Market January 6-8, Opryland Convention Center, Nashville, Tenn. United Hardware Spring & Summer Buying Event January 6-8, Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, Minn.

FEBRUARY Do it Best Spring Virtual Market February 11-25 International Builders’ Show February 8-10, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla. Kitchen & Bath Industry Show February 8-10, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando LBM Advantage Annual Buying Show & Shareholders Meeting February 21-23, Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, Kissimmee, Fla. Monroe Hardware Spring Dealers Market February 12-13, Myrtle Beach Convention Center, Myrtle Beach, S.C. Orgill Spring Dealer Market and Online Buying Event February 24-26, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla.

True Value Hardware Reunion February 18-20, George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston

MARCH Ace Hardware Spring Convention March 8-10, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev. Blish-Mize Spring Dealer Market March 18-19, Overland Park Convention Center, Overland Park, Kan. Eisenwarenmesse International Hardware Fair March 6-9 (dates changed to Sept. 25-28), Koelnmesse, Cologne, Germany Emery Jensen Edge Spring Show March 11-12, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev. Hearth Patio & Barbecue Expo March 2-5, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta The Inspired Home Show March 5-8, McCormick Place, Chicago Wallace Hardware 100th Anniversary Market March 22-24, LeConte Center, Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

APRIL National Hardware Show April 5-7, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev.

For a complete listing of calendar dates, click here. 54 ■ THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021

www.TheHardwareConnection.com

Creating a Buzz with a SCavenger hunt

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The team at T & M Hardware and Rental used a fun scavenger hunt to create a social media buzz to celebrate their 30th anniversary while encouraging customers to travel to all six of their Do it Best locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Marketing Manager Samantha Post created a series of 30 family-friendly challenges on an app—Eventzee—to encourage people to make memories in their stores and see the charm in each of the communities they serve. Those customers who completed the challenges on the app qualified for prizes and could unlock deep discounts. The origins of the idea go back to the beginning of year, knowing they were faced with product shortages and price increases, Post points out. “We couldn’t guarantee prices later in the year, so there was no point in doing traditional fliers. I saw that Ikea was doing a small scavenger hunt, so that got us thinking.” She says she discovered the app through luck. “I was researching scavenger hunts and came across a community development group in Champaign, Ill., that did a successful scavenger hunt. So, I did a Zoom meeting with them and they showed me how it worked,” she says. “It didn’t take long to organize the scavenger hunt,” Post adds. “The most time was spent figuring out the challenges. I plugged everything into the app, which took half a day.” www.TheHardwareConnection.com

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ΨϱϬϬ ^,KWW/E' ^WZ The Post family, owners of T&M Hardware and Rental, had lots of fun developing a scavenger hunt to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

The Post family learned a lot of lessons last year. “Our customers didn’t know much about our overall company like the number of locations. Our sales numbers were good, but people were missing out on everything we have to offer. The scavenger hunt was a great way to show customers everything they have helped us grow,” Post says. They wanted to bill it as a family outing day, so there were GPS challenges that got customers to spend time in the community. To incentivize, the 30

THe HARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 55

retail ideaS

Scott and Samantha Post showed customers how to do it by busting a move to “Old Time Rock & Roll.”

challenges in the contest were rolled out over three weeks. “Ten challenges were unlocked every week, with two stores unlocked each week. You could go at your own pace,” Post says. About 50 to 60 customers signed up and participated, according to Post. “It combined so many different elements and was super cost-effective. It was priced at $3 per acquisition up to 100, so we were committed to $300. It was an inexpensive way to celebrate a big occasion,” she notes. Different point values were assigned to each challenge. What made the event fun for customers and employees was how creative the challenges were. Here is how one challenge was described: If you see more than one Post family member working at a store, then there’s a good chance you’ll catch us singing and dancing down one of the aisles. Join in the fun by finding the largest tool in the store and use it as a microphone to sing and dance along to the song on the radio (or play your own song).

Customers tackled fun challenges that taught them about the history of the business.

Post shares, “My brother Scott and I did that challenge in the store and posted a video, singing to ‘Old Time Rock & Roll.’ One customer picked up a pressure washer and sang ‘Under Pressure’—that was worth more points.” Another challenge asked participants to think of their go-to person at their local T&M store, then take a picture

56 ■ THe HARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021

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Chugging a soda bottle was one of the challenges, which was demonstrated by Scott Post.

Participants could see how they were doing on the app by monitoring the leaderboard.

Carhartt challenge you got free Carhartt clothing. “Coupon codes were woven with them—the employee with the most in, so if you played and didn’t win it photos will get an extra day off to spend unlocked discounts and giveaways. No one left empty-handed,” she says. with their family. According to Post, three strong Post says, “Some of the challenges involved detailing how us kids grew up players really got into the contest and in the store, how the business got start- completed all 30 challenges plus six ed, that we were featured in articles and bonus ones. “They were commenting that the scavenger hunt was so much had won awards.” fun and they told all their friends The Bellevue and Perrysville stores about it,” she says. “We’re talking featured “Skelly” during the challenge, about doing something similar for who always had great deals running the week between Christmas and through his bones. New Year’s when everyone is home Participants could see how content for the holidays.” others were unloading like pictures At their Ellwood store—the compaand videos. Click here and here to see some of the videos. Some of the chal- ny’s first store—they also did an indoor tent sale to mark their 30th anniversary. lenges involved finding something “We handed out swag bags and had in the store customers didn’t know t-shirts, rollers, paint mixers and T&M about. “That helped us identify what hats to give out,” Post says. “Every our blind spots are with customers,” store gave away 30 bags. It was a really Post explains. nice way to celebrate and show customThey built in additional prizes and ers appreciation for how they’ve helped giveaways. For example, if you did an us grow.” ■ informercial you got a flag or did the www.TheHardwareConnection.com

THE HARDWARE Connection ■ December 2021 ■ 57

e h t d n i h e B Numbers 16.3%

Increase in overall retail sales in October 2021 compared to the previous year, an indication people were starting holiday shopping earlier, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

$19.8 billion

902,644

Number of Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) processed at the Port of Los Angeles in October. Overall cargo volume has increased 22% in 2021.

46%

Percentage of shoppers who started their holiday shopping earlier this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

$997.73

Projected average spending by consumers on holiday shopping in 2021, almost exactly the same as last year, according to NRF.

Reported projected spending among U.S. consumers who shopped at independent retailers and restaurants on Small Business Saturday in 2020, according to the Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey commissioned by American Express.

40%

Percentage of U.S. imports that go through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

58 ■ The hARDWARe Connection ■ December 2021